Would you get this guitar plek'd?

Megadebt

Megadebt

Experienced
If you were to buy a brand new Charvel USA Select San Dimas Guitar through Sweetwater would you have the guitar plek'd before they shipped it to you?

Thanks,

Caveman
 
This is purely anecdotal, but the Charvels I've played in stores over the last few years have been just fine, so no I wold not bother getting it PLEK'ed.
 
I think PLEKing has the most value when you know that a guitar needs it, so if I were buying a new guitar I wouldn’t bother until it was in my hands to assess.

On the other hand, it may be more valuable for you to know that it has the best possible set up no matter how well it was set up from the factory.

If you have the dosh, then why not? But we seemed to get along just fine before the machine. 🤷‍♂️
 
Cave Man said:
If you were to buy a brand new Charvel USA Select San Dimas Guitar through Sweetwater would you have the guitar plek'd before they shipped it to you?

Thanks,

Caveman
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At that price point, it should be a great setup right out of the case. I don't recall any complaints from new Charvel owners regarding setup. So, I think I'd skip the plek-ing.

If it were me, I would ask your SW salesperson about a better price. I've asked about that with SW before and they did offer a much better price - over 10% off. For example, a Fender American Ultra Stratocaster was reduced to $1750.00, dropped by $250.

In case this is useful ... SW will hold an instrument for you indefinitely for a non-refundable deposit. Which is good if there's a specific guitar you want, but need to gather $ before pulling the trigger on your purchase.
 
A PLEK job requires input about the player to get the set up tuned for them. Yes you can do a generic "good" job but PLEK can do so much more in capable hand.
 
PLEKing is just a high tech fret leveling, you can accomplish the same with this:



Take a luthier class, it’s saved me time, travel and waiting.
 
luke said:
PLEKing is just a high tech fret leveling, you can accomplish the same with this:



Take a luthier class, it’s saved me time, travel and waiting.
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No way is that jig capable of replicating even a fraction of what a Plek can do. That Jig (which I have used many times) is not even a good facsimile of string tension and it provides no analytical information .
 
Cave Man said:
If you were to buy a brand new Charvel USA Select San Dimas Guitar through Sweetwater would you have the guitar plek'd before they shipped it to you?

Thanks,

Caveman
Click to expand...
I had purchased some Jackson Broderick 7 strings (the real expensive one and one of the $999 ones) and I went to get them PLEK'd but the guy said none of them needed it since they were set up really well (I did have him PLEK my Schecter guitars).

If you can get Sweetwater to lower the price a little for you then maybe you could get it done with the price difference or ask them to throw it in for you :)
 
The Plek is here to stay. It is a beast of a machine. It has single-handedly changed to playing field for modern production guitars. Like it or not, all players are enjoying the benefits of this machine-even if your instrument has never been plek'd.
 
luke said:
PLEKing is just a high tech fret leveling, you can accomplish the same with this:



Take a luthier class, it’s saved me time, travel and waiting.
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They say that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Because it may give you the idea that you can do something, without the wisdom to actually know what you're doing. I take luthier classes regularly. I built 20 guitars. In no way do I think I'm as good as a luthier yet. Or can do a job as good as a PLEK machine. The wrong kind of setup job, because you think you know what you're doing, can ruin a guitar, and experience of course comes from f***ing up several times. One might wanna get some cheap Chinese cheapies to practice first before moving on to an expensive guitar.
 
Muad'zin said:
They say that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Because it may give you the idea that you can do something, without the wisdom to actually know what you're doing. I take luthier classes regularly. I built 20 guitars. In no way do I think I'm as good as a luthier yet. Or can do a job as good as a PLEK machine. The wrong kind of setup job, because you think you know what you're doing, can ruin a guitar, and experience of course comes from f***ing up several times. One might wanna get some cheap Chinese cheapies to practice first before moving on to an expensive guitar.
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My guitars have never played better, whether new or freshly back from a shop. I grew up in machine shop, so your image of a village idiot doesn’t apply, but thanks for your concern. 🤬
 
Tom Morris said:
Andy Eagle Can you please explain what the players input parameters are. I mean aside from string gauge and desired string height what else is there?
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You can analyse your favourite guitar and cut the fingerboard geometry in to another guitar . The operator is super important though. The only limitations are how much fret hight you have to play with or are willing to loose.
 
Cave Man said:
If you were to buy a brand new Charvel USA Select San Dimas Guitar through Sweetwater would you have the guitar plek'd before they shipped it to you?

Thanks,

Caveman
Click to expand...
As others have said, the plek’s a great machine, but a new USA Charvel should be good to go already.
 
luke said:
My guitars have never played better, whether new or freshly back from a shop. I grew up in machine shop, so your image of a village idiot doesn’t apply, but thanks for your concern. 🤬
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Not everyone grows up in a machine shop and most definitely not everyone should start doing their own fretwork after taking a luthier's course. Or do you recommend taking up brain surgery too after doing an afternoon's course? I never said you were a village idiot, if that is what you took from my post then offer my apologies, but my point stands. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing if it makes people (in general, not you, apparently I have to say that now) think they can now do what it took expert craftsmen a lot of time and trial and error to perfect. If you (in general, not you, Luke) take a course into something, practice a couple of times first on something you can afford to ruin before moving on to the thing you actually wanted to learn how to fix.
 
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