Chris McKinley
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- Joined
- Jun 25, 2006
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I just got my blue Ibanez S-470 guitar back from Norman Music Center here in Norman, Oklahoma, where I had them perform the Plek machine process on my fretboard. The machine optically determines a height profile of all of the frets and identifies which of them are too high or have been ground to present too sharp a fretting surface. In my guitar's case, I had one note that had developed increasing buzz to the point where that note could no longer be sounded correctly regardless of pressure used, and several other frets that had started developing buzz high on the neck on the high E and B strings.
After the process was completed, I was shown the profile of my fretboard before the process and now afterward. All of the buzz points on the "before" profile matched what I had experienced in playing, and the profile after the process showed no buzz points whatsoever. I then tested the guitar in the store on a Mesa Lone Star combo, which I already knew to be a very sweet amp, both for cleans and nice singing distortion. Just as the profile claimed, there wasn't a single point of buzz anywhere on the fretboard, and I tested literally every single fret. Additionally, the action on the guitar was capable of being much lower than it had been before the process. That, combined with the fact that each fret had been optimally rounded to present the most accurate pitch as well as optimal string contact, resulted in a guitar that is much easier to play overall, a benefit that I didn't realize would be part of the process.
The guitar's intonation is night and day better than it was, and it wasn't all that bad given that it's a guitar with a locking tremolo. I didn't find a single fret with the telltale phase warble that comes from imperfect intonation, and harmonics resonated with fretted notes evenly.
The bottom line is that not only is an otherwise very nice guitar back in action now, it plays like a dream and even complex jazz chords resonate evenly all the way up the fretboard. I am very happy with both the process and its results as well as the customer service I received from the store. There are only a small number of Plek machines available nationwide, but if you have a guitar with fretting issues or that is simply finicky to play, especially in the upper registers, I recommend considering having this process done to the guitar. It's not cheap at $175, but in some cases, it's a matter of choosing between getting rid of the guitar altogether or spending the money and getting a guitar that plays better than it did brand new straight from the factory.
After the process was completed, I was shown the profile of my fretboard before the process and now afterward. All of the buzz points on the "before" profile matched what I had experienced in playing, and the profile after the process showed no buzz points whatsoever. I then tested the guitar in the store on a Mesa Lone Star combo, which I already knew to be a very sweet amp, both for cleans and nice singing distortion. Just as the profile claimed, there wasn't a single point of buzz anywhere on the fretboard, and I tested literally every single fret. Additionally, the action on the guitar was capable of being much lower than it had been before the process. That, combined with the fact that each fret had been optimally rounded to present the most accurate pitch as well as optimal string contact, resulted in a guitar that is much easier to play overall, a benefit that I didn't realize would be part of the process.
The guitar's intonation is night and day better than it was, and it wasn't all that bad given that it's a guitar with a locking tremolo. I didn't find a single fret with the telltale phase warble that comes from imperfect intonation, and harmonics resonated with fretted notes evenly.
The bottom line is that not only is an otherwise very nice guitar back in action now, it plays like a dream and even complex jazz chords resonate evenly all the way up the fretboard. I am very happy with both the process and its results as well as the customer service I received from the store. There are only a small number of Plek machines available nationwide, but if you have a guitar with fretting issues or that is simply finicky to play, especially in the upper registers, I recommend considering having this process done to the guitar. It's not cheap at $175, but in some cases, it's a matter of choosing between getting rid of the guitar altogether or spending the money and getting a guitar that plays better than it did brand new straight from the factory.
