Here at The House of Twang, set up work is our passion. We are pleased to offer a wide variety of repair services on fretted instruments, including, but not limited to, handcrafting bone nuts/saddles, installing pickups, electronic work and our specialty, delivering personalized setups and fretwork. To provide our customers with the best possible quality, we’ve invested in the industry’s most state-of-art tool: The Plek Machine.

Those of us who love stringed instruments appreciate how crucial a good set up: it’s the make-or-break factor of how useful, fun or inspiring a particular instrument can be. Our instruments are our tools for making music, writing songs, communicating with other musicians and of course our audience. The more inviting our instruments are to play, the more rewarding the experience. The quality of the fretwork, ease of playability, proper intonation and inspiring tone are all crucial factors of an instrument’s set up, factors which make us gravitate towards one instrument versus another. The House of Twang is proud to offer expert set up services on acoustic & electric guitars, 12 strings, baritones, basses, mandolins, ukuleles, all of which can benefit from the cutting edge capabilities of The Plek.

The Plek is a state-of-art CNC tool designed specifically to address playability issues with fretted instruments. It is able to shape an instrument’s fingerboard surface, correcting for any flaws in manufacturing or issues that develop over time. It can also cut fret/nut/saddle slots, cut string slots in the nut and level & crown frets to an accuracy smaller than .001” This level of consistent precision is only possible with the cutting edge technology of The Plek.

The Plek, like any other tool, is only as good as its operator. A thorough understanding of what makes an instrument comfortable and inspiring to play is essential to getting the most out of this technology. After graduating The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, I spent over eight years working in the set up department at Santa Cruz Guitar Company. I’d already fretted and set up close to one thousand guitars by hand before the company acquired a Plek in 2012. It was my responsibility to run and manage The Plek over the next six years, processing new guitars as well as tackling refrets, fret dresses, neck resets, cutting new bone nuts & saddles etc for our repair customers.

Video courtesy of Santa Cruz Guitar Company. Featured Plek Operator in video is Gerard Egan of The House of Twang.

I left Santa Cruz Guitar Company in 2018 and took a job repairing instruments at Sylvan Music on the west side of Santa Cruz. There I had an opportunity to repair a wide variety of fretted instruments as well as work one-on-one with musicians, all of whom had different set up requirements. I’m grateful for all my time at SCGC and Sylvan… it was an invaluable education into what musicians require out of their instruments and how to set instruments up on an individual and personal basis.

I also have 30+ years of acoustic & electric guitar playing experience under my belt, having toured extensively with several bands, recorded with Grammy winning engineers and like most guitar nuts, tried to get my hands on as many high end instruments as possible.

How does the Plek work?

The Plek’s technology is based on a relatively new understanding of exactly how strings vibrate when plucked. For decades, it was assumed that a vibrating string moved the most in the center of the neck over the 12th fret. What The Plek engineers discovered is that the string’s vibrational path is much more complex. The spot where the string is plucked (typically closer to the bridge) is where 100% of the player’s energy is introduced to the string, causing it to move the most there. This energy is transferred up the string to the nut and back to the bridge repeatedly, creating a different overall movement in the string’s vibrational path than previously thought. The Plek engineers incorporate this enhanced perspective of string vibration in the machine’s software, allowing the operator to design a playing surface that more closely mimics a string’s vibrational path, with individual fingerboard relief under each string. This allows for lower, more comfortable string action and greatly improved intonation up and down the neck.

When you visit The House of Twang, we’ll discuss any playability issues you may be having, as well as your goals and expectations for the work to be done. It’s important for me to understand what kind of music you play, your playing style, your string attack, the type of strings you prefer, various tunings you use etc.

After an initial evaluation, your instrument is mounted in the cradle door of The Plek which securely holds it in place as the machine measures up and down each string, in every fret position, recording some 6000 points of measurement. Capturing these measurements with the instrument strung up and tuned to pitch is an essential aspect to Plek technology. An average set of acoustic guitar strings can put 180lbs of tension on a guitar. Considering every wood neck is unique and will react differently to the introduction of string tension (some bowing/twisting more than others, random high/low spots appearing etc.), measuring your instrument under string tension gives us a precise understanding the neck‘s geometry when it matters most: the shape it’s in when you’re playing it.

After measuring the entire fingerboard, The Plek computer displays several different digital representations of your instrument’s neck. The microscopic level of measuring detail The Plek is capable of is simply not possible to capture with traditional measuring devices. Any imperfections in fret height, neck twist, fret seating/loose frets, a poorly leveled fingerboard, neck relief etc. will be easily identified and addressed.

After programming The Plek in the ‘virtual fret dress,’ the strings are removed so the instrument can be processed. The Plek measures the instrument again, taking into account the difference in the neck geometry without string tension. The fingerboard or frets are then cut precisely to our exact specifications. Finally, the instrument is tuned back up to pitch and the machine measures the entire neck one more time to ensure it’s done its job accurately. 

Once your guitar has been processed by The Plek, it goes back on my bench where the frets are polished and the final set up work takes place. At this stage I’ll dial in other factors such as string height at the nut, string action and intonation at the bridge. Because I'm working one on one with you, I will also be dialing in the set up of your instrument for you personally, based upon our conversation about your style, needs, attack, etc. 

Carolyn, Cowboy and I look forward to working with you, thank you for visiting The House of Twang.

- Gerard Egan

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Curious if Plek service is right for you?

Contact us with any questions, and visit our testimonials page to see how it’s helped others greatly improve their playing experience.