Fret Leveling Lakland 55-94 21 years old

[Ric Vice]

So,
I have a lovely Lakland 55-94. Generally it plays great, but lately it's beginning to feel like
the frets need to be addressed. My question is do I have it done by hand. We have very good
luthiers here in St. Louis who will do that. The other option is to have it Pleked. I might have
to visit another town to have that done. What are your thoughts.

Much Appreciated

Ric Vice

 

[202dy]

A half dozen eggs = six eggs.

Which do you prefer?

 

[Ric Vice]

and with three you get Egg Roll?

 

[60bass]

First, are you sure there's enough fret left to work with? 21 years is a lot of playtime, especially if the bass hasn't had regular fret maintenance done on it.

 

[legalbass]

I once took a bass to get the frets dressed by a technician who advertised well but did such a bad job of the fret work on my bass, I ended up having to take that bass to a second technician to "rescue" the frets with another dressing. That sucked, and I can understand why some may feel hesitant to trust a fret job to a technician if and when PLEK is available. That said, if you have someone you can confidently trust to dress the frets properly and save some money doing it, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go that route. The frets are either properly leveled and crowned or they aren't, and although admittedly I've never played a bass that got the PLEK treatment, I'm not sure I could understand any argument that PLEK is necessarily better than a proper fret dressing by-hand.

 

[60bass]

I once took a bass to get the frets dressed by a technician who advertised well but did such a bad job of the fret work on my bass, I ended up having to take that bass to a second technician to "rescue" the frets with another dressing. That sucked, and I can understand why some may feel hesitant to trust a fret job to a technician if and when PLEK is available. That said, if you have someone you can confidently trust to dress the frets properly and save some money doing it, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go that route. The frets are either properly leveled and crowned or they aren't, and although admittedly I've never played a bass that got the PLEK treatment, I'm not sure I could understand any argument that PLEK is necessarily better than a proper fret dressing by-hand.

A PLEK job is only going to be as good as the skill of the person who's operating it. I've never had one done but Luthiers I trust have said, unless the operator has done hundreds of plek jobs, it's best to do it by hand. One said that in a production environment where the settings are already dialed in, it's a real time saver. Allowing manufacturers to quickly and accurately set-up hundreds of instruments faster and with more consistency.

 

[202dy]

The mystique around the Plek machine, maybe because it's expensive, or maybe because there are so few, is that it is more accurate than hand dressing. However, that idea is merely marketing.

Plek is a tool. The accuracy of the Plek machine is dependent on the skill of the operator.

Same is true when a fret dress is performed by hand.

Bottom line is that it who choose to do the work is more important than how they choose to do it.

 

[One Way]

I’ve had 3 of my instruments Plek’d at a local shop in Alpharetta, GA.

The first was my Gibson Les Paul guitar and the Plek process turned it from just one of my guitars to one of my favorites to play. After that positive experience I chose to have them Plek my Sire V7, and then my G&L M-2500 Tribute. Both basses were nearly new when the Plek process was done therefore worn frets weren’t being addressed, I simply wanted them to play the best they could. I then acquired a G&L L-2500 Tribute and have left the fretwork just as it came from the factory.

Results of my Plek experience? It made a world of difference to the playability of my 10 year old Gibson Les Paul. Regarding my two new basses, the fretwork was very good on all right out of the box. I can set the strings on my M-2500 maybe 0.5/64ths lower than than my untouched L-2500, and I discovered that I actually prefer playing with string height at 6/64ths at the 12th fret vs 5/64ths or lower which means the fretwork on these three basses, straight out of the box, was just fine.

In summary I 100% agree with each poster above that states the end result depends on the skill of the individual doing the work. I’m fortunate to have a local shop with the skill to properly Plek.

Here’s a link to a video of the Plek process that I find very informative. I am not associated with this shop or the the Guitar business.

 

[JTE]

Have you considered sending it to Carl Pedigo who probably did the original fretwork on your bass at the factory 21 yeas ago? While he does not work at Lakland now, he does have a shop in Chicago.

 

[Ric Vice]

First, are you sure there's enough fret left to work with? 21 years is a lot of playtime, especially if the bass hasn't had regular fret maintenance done on it.

In my particular case the Lakland 55-94 has only had either Dadario Half Rounds or Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt Flatwounds. My luthier sees it at least twice a year and has done some fret dressing when needed. That said, as best I can recall the Bass has never had a “head to toe” fret dressing” and it’s feeling like it needs that. Although I can’t see any visible pitting or dips in the frets, my guess from the way the bass feels is that it’s time. I have it adjusted with a fresh set of strings at least once a year.

 

[Arie X]

what does the person who maintains this bass suggest you do?

 

[Ric Vice]

These days the guys in the shop are doing their best to "keep things goin" I need to have a Hipshot Bass Extender installed on my Lakland 55-94 fretless, so when I get the part from Hip Shot, I'll take the other bass to
him and see what he says. I'll likely not have the work done until things open up for musicians again and I'll actually be using the bass on real gigs ( I've forgotten what those are at the moment) Thanks for the input
everyone.

 

[fhm555]

...Plek is a tool. The accuracy of the Plek machine is dependent on the skill of the operator...

Don’t forget the accuracy of the hardware. From the machines i’ve seen they are basically a purpose built 3D router and i’ve seen 3D routers built from steel, aluminum, plastic, and wood. Given the light cuts made, the machine would be fine made from pretty much what you wanted to make it from. Consideration in that regard would be durability, how many cycles per hour/day/week and build accordingly. The real trick to repeatability and accuracy would be fixturing, software, and tooling, and how well the operator could exploit those things in concert with their machine, but no matter how good the operator is if the other elements are not up to snuff the finished product will be less than what you may find acceptable.

 

[Jason Hollar]

I bought a used Lakland Skyline jazz 5 that had been sent back to their Chicago factory for a proper “plekking” (???) and it looked and felt absolutely fine to me - so there’s the factory option. However you mentioned giving some work to your local guys which is a wonderful thing if you trust their skills.

 

[bobdabilder]

I would send the bass back to lakland for plek. All of my plek basses are better than my basses with fret levels by hand regardless of who has done the leveling.

 

[thadMc]

I know this is an old thread but it came up in my algorithm. I am about to have my 55-94 Plek'd as well- if anyone (future readers of this thread) is on the fence, definitely get your instrument plek'd if you have an operator near you that you trust.

Like many have already said: the Plek is a tool, therefore subject to the skill and experience of its operator. That being said, every single one of my guitars and basses are currently plek'd (with the exception of my Lakland which is getting it in a few days).

A ** properly ** plek'd instrument plays like a dream yes, even better than a hand-level/crowning. that's where a knowledgable operator comes in hand as they're able to take what the machine reads and program it down to a finite measurement. My plek'd guitars/basses are able to get ridiculously low action (if that's your thing) without any buzz coming out of the audible amp side of things and simply feel better since the strings are not fighting with uneven frets down to the millimeter.

I also do stainless steel on all my fretted instruments- now they'll last me either the rest of my playing life or close to it, plus equipped with beautiful edged and crowns.

Makes each instrument feel like a luxury car while playing.

I came across this thread as i was looking for the factory fret size that Lakland uses on their 55-94 as of 2024

 

[Turnaround]

We've run around the PLEK debate many times here on TB. This from the PLEK marketing department blurb:

While a skilled luthier or technician can do a good job, the PLEK machine can level frets with an accuracy of up to 0.001 mm (1/1000 of a millimeter), which is far more precise than what any human can achieve by hand.

I question this statement. First an accuracy of .001mm is a challenge for a machine such as a PLEK that uses a rotary cutter. To get that kind of accuracy the neck would need to securely supported its whole length and the cutter would need to be vibration free. All the setups I have seen of a PLEK machine have the neck supported at the headstock and half way along its length. That would not be sufficient to prevent vibration in the neck caused by the rotary cutting action. It would be critical to eliminate vibration to achieve the kind of precision advertized.

PLEK's statement of accuracy is also meaningless. That level accuracy is far beyond the tolerance of the strings that will be installed. Such accuracy is analogous to brewing your coffee at precisely 197.274 F. There is an appropriate level of accuracy in fret levelling as there is in brewing coffee. A good luthier is capable of achieving and even exceeding that level of accuracy.

I have hand re-levelled a number of plekked instruments, and there are plenty of techs like myself who could have done the job.

 

[thadMc]

We've run around the PLEK debate many times here on TB.

I have hand re-levelled a number of plekked instruments, and there are plenty of techs like myself who could have done the job.

It looks like the common thing we all agree on here is that the luthier's existing skillset matters immensely. My tech who has Plek'd all of my instruments was a master luthier long before he ever got the machine and was able to incorporate the positives of both into the final product.

Like any great machine in the hands of a fool, the results will vary, ha.

It all comes down to needing a good Luthier with experience and know-how, whichever technique or tool they employ

 

[Bruce Johnson]

We've run around the PLEK debate many times here on TB. This from the PLEK marketing department blurb:

While a skilled luthier or technician can do a good job, the PLEK machine can level frets with an accuracy of up to 0.001 mm (1/1000 of a millimeter), which is far more precise than what any human can achieve by hand.

I question this statement. First an accuracy of .001mm is a challenge for a machine such as a PLEK that uses a rotary cutter. To get that kind of accuracy the neck would need to securely supported its whole length and the cutter would need to be vibration free. All the setups I have seen of a PLEK machine have the neck supported at the headstock and half way along its length. That would not be sufficient to prevent vibration in the neck caused by the rotary cutting action. It would be critical to eliminate vibration to achieve the kind of precision advertized.

PLEK's statement of accuracy is also meaningless. That level accuracy is far beyond the tolerance of the strings that will be installed. Such accuracy is analogous to brewing your coffee at precisely 197.274 F. There is an appropriate level of accuracy in fret levelling as there is in brewing coffee. A good luthier is capable of achieving and even exceeding that level of accuracy.

I have hand re-levelled a number of plekked instruments, and there are plenty of techs like myself who could have done the job.

Yes, that "accuracy" statement was obviously written by the marketing department, not by an engineer or machinist. That 0.001mm number is specification of the resolution of the Scales. In precision machines, the Scales are the long bars with sliding sensors that measure the movement of the sensor head vs the bar. The bar is made of glass, and has a "ruler" of extremely fine lines etched into it. The sensor head has an LED lamp and sensor which detects those tiny lines as they go past. Those lines are typically 0.001mm apart. So, the sensor is theoretically capable of measuring a movement as small as 0.001mm. That's the Resolution of the Scale, and it is common for most common CNC machines. The marketing guy just read that number off the spec sheet of the Scales.

However that is not the overall Accuracy of the machine. The height that the fret is ground to, as compared to the height specified in its computer data map, will depend on the summation of mechanical tolerances of the machine. End play, backlash, flexing of the frame, etc, all add up to reduce the accuracy.

The PLEK is a nicely designed and built machine, but it's in the light duty class, as CNC machines go.

The Accuracy of a PLEK is probably around +/- 0.001" or 0.025mm. That would be typical of CNC machines of that size and weight class and structural design. And that's certainly accurate enough to do precision fretwork on an electric bass.

And that's about the same accuracy that a competent Luthier can get with good technique with a leveling beam. Without all the math and computer power.

A PLEK machine, used correctly, has some advantages that can save some time correcting tricky necks. But it's not significantly more accurate than a good job done by a Luthier.