Take a deep dive via the latest episode of Gibson TV’s The Process
In the latest episode of Gibson TV’s The Process, you’ll learn about the world of Plek machines and how each acoustic guitar is given the ultimate setup. All the instruments Gibson builds at the Bozeman, Montana, craftory get Plek’d, ensuring a fine playing experience.
The Plek® machine—a very specialized CNC device—handles this analytical process while the neck is under the right amount of tension, giving the best data in the form of a “string graph” to guide the removal of material from the frets during the virtual fret dress.
The Plek process also takes into consideration the nut slot depth. Don Ruffatto, Gibson Product Development Manager, says, “Slotting the nut is one of those things where that first position playability is critical as that’s where most people play, most of the time—in the first three frets. If the nut slotting isn’t right, if it’s too low, you’re going to get buzzing. If it’s too high, the guitar is difficult to play, or it won’t really play in tune as well as it could.
“All of this technology takes away nothing from the hand-building of the guitar. It just makes that first strum by the end user a much more pleasurable experience and just creates a guitar that is as dimensionally perfect as possible.”
Repair & Restoration Technician/Plek Operator Kirk Eberhard told us, “Plek scans the fingerboard’s surface with a precision of 1/1000th of a millimeter, which is finer than human hair. The scan provides a visual representation of the fret tops and fingerboard along the string paths, which the technician utilizes to make a virtual fret cut onscreen before any actual material is removed.
“No guesswork is involved, and Plek removes fret material only where directed. Plek can plane fingerboards, level frets, shape string nuts and cut nut slots, and mill acoustic bridge pin holes and saddle slots to a high degree of precision. It can even route fret markers and custom fingerboard inlay using common CNC file types. All these tasks are performed with a level of repeatability and precision associated with only the most experienced luthiers.”
Learn even more about the Plek process and shop Gibson acoustic guitars.
