Meet the Plek Machine at Mass Street Music

Meet the Plek Machine

If you’ve been up to the shop in the past few months you’ve probably noticed the latest addition in our lutherie toolbox, the Plek Machine. What is a Plek you may ask? For starters, it’s a tool, an extremely accurate tool. Like an MRI or CT Scan of your guitar, the Plek machine scans an instrument’s frets and fingerboard, and presents that data to our trained crew of luthiers. From there our luthiers diagnose problems spots, and apply changes based on optimal neck relief and action. It’s also a CNC Milling Machine, allowing our luthiers to dress an instrument’s frets, removing only as much fret material as is needed, thus allowing for greater playability and longer fret life between refrets.

One of the more gratifying parts of having a Plek in the shop was to reaffirm that our luthiers were already doing Plek quality work. We loaded up the machine with instruments the crew had done hand fret work on and after a scan all of them achieved Plek quality results according to the software. What the Plek does bring to our workflow is its capabilities as the most powerful diagnostic tool we’ve had for determining the shape, and condition of a fingerboard and frets, before and after any work has been done.

Our hand work and attention to detail is still very much a part of the process. Once the instrument has been Plek’d it heads back to a luthier’s bench for final fret inspection, sanding, polishing, and hand dressing of the fret ends. We know from experience that the Plek will only do as good of job as the operator is capable of doing, and that’s where our decades of experience as a shop comes into play.

Once the Plek machine has been fully integrated into the Repair Shop it will allow us to maintain the high level of quality work our customer are used to, but with the added ability to get the instruments back in your hands faster.

Many of our favorite builders have been utilizing the Plek machine in one way our another for years, and we’re proud to bring that level of accuracy and service to our Mass Street Music customer. Give a call at 785-843-3535 or send an email to repair@massstreetmusic.com to get your instrument on the Plek schedule today!

Read more of our PLEK related posts here.

5 thoughts on “Meet the Plek Machine

    1. Hi Steve, a Plek fret dress usually runs $200 plus the cost of strings and tax. That price also includes a set up after the fret dress. If you have any addition questions feel free to reach out at repair@massstreetmusic.com or 785-843-3535. Thanks!

  1. Hi,
    I was told of the existence of the Plek Machine by a friend in Nashville when visiting there a few years ago. After I returned home, I began reading about the Plek. I found that Mass Music had a machine onsite, so made an appointment to take my 1963 ES-335 Reissue in. It had been my main guitar for a number of years, so had lots of wear on the frets.
    I was given a tour of the store (loved it), and then the machine was explained to me, and we ran an analysis of the frets. I was so impressed. I left my baby there, and a few weeks later, I received a call that she was ready for me to pickup.
    Due to the pandemic, I was not able to go into the store, so she was brought out to me. I got home, opened the case, hooked her up, and I have been in heaven ever since. The action is amazing, and there is no fret noise at all.
    If you want to breath new life into a few of your favorite guitars, I would recommend that you contact Mass Music and make an appointment. You will not be disappointed!!!

  2. Is the Plek machine used in warranty repair? I have a 414ce Taylor purchased in 2007. I know the fretboard needs some work. Also it suffers from string buzz on several strings. The third string goes dead faster than any other string deteriorates. I would like to bring it in for repair.

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