THE PLEK MACHINE IN NORMAN, OKLAHOMA

I can tackle any kind of guitar repairs, but I'm not so good when it comes to dressing frets. To me, it's like when I trim my mustache: First a little off the left side, then a little off the right side, then back to the left side, and so on until there is practically no mustache left. With fret-dressing, I do a similar routine until the shiny new frets I just installed are filed down to nubs.

Well, this past week I got lucky. My wife, eldest son Chris, and I traveled to Norman, OK, so Chris could check out the University of Oklahoma Ph.D. physics program. While there, we got the chance to visit Norman Music Center, Inc. Norman Music Center features its very own PLEK machine. This PLEK machine is the only one around -- and I do mean the only one since the next closest ones, I'm told, are in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Nashville, Tennessee. Amazing!

What can I tell you about a PLEK machine? Well, it dresses frets... and it does it right the first time. According to the website http://www.plek.com/, the machine is a "computer controlled device that scans and dresses guitars under the actual playing conditions, strung and tuned to pitch."

Buying a PLEK machine must have been a big expense for the Norman Music Center to undertake. One of the store employees mentioned that they PLEK on average about 20 guitars per week, stating, "It pays for itself!" The store charges $175 piece rate per each guitar to be PLEKed. Figuring all the time and work involved, the customer gets a lot for the money. I don't know if $175 covers the actual work done, but it is obviously the going rate for PLEKing.

I had always visualized the PLEK machine doing all the work, but judging from the number of hand tools in the PLEK work area at the Norman Music Center, the machine operator does a lot of work, too. Larry Polk, the machine operator in Norman, demonstrated part of how the PLEK machine works. He showed me a PLEK- scan monitor view of a graph of all the frets and their string clearances, i.e., their variation from "straight." I told him that I'd similarly hand-measured the clearances on my guitars, entering the results on a Microsoft Excel graph, but then he showed me that his measurements followed each string lane/path on the fretboard, indicating the clearance from every string to every fret. Now, I surely didn't go that far! (I just did bass and treble sides to each general fret height, and -- Whew! -- that was a huge amount of work! Makes me tired just thinking about it.) I couldn't imagine myself doing all the work by hand that this PLEK machine does.

On a PLEK-scan of a guitar currently being PLEKed, Larry showed me how the fretboard originally had a giant forward bow. Just by adjusting the truss-rod, he cleared up the majority of problems. Incredible! The PLEK machine then levels each fret to a uniform clearance (straightness), all while the guitar is still strung and tuned to pitch. Larry said that guitars play beautifully after being PLEKed. I imagine they would!

The PLEK machine is such an enormously useful tool! Using this machine, the operator should be able to dress a fretboard better than any guitar technician or luthier. I was thrilled to get to see the famous PLEK machine and delighted to be able to visit about it with Larry Polk in Norman. You can see Larry's PLEK machine during business hours at the Norman Music Center, 317 W. Gray.

Reference for this article:

Norman Music Center, Inc.

317 W. Gray, Norman, OK

phone: (405) 321-8300

e-mail: larry@normanmusic.com