@DarrellW Iâm only beginning to understand the âphysiologyâ of guitars, so forgive my naive question. No snark is intended here! The question: If a shop has already invested in a PLEK machine, and if the PLEK machine can diagnose as well as correct issues, and if the manual examination would be labor intensive, would it make sense to use the PLEK in a diagnostic capacity? Could it even be less expensive than the manual diagnostic process? This is assuming, of course, fair pricing. A mundane example of this: my dishwasher developed a leak recently, and the shop charged a flat fee (over $100 US) for diagnosis. The repair was charged as parts plus hourly labor, in addition to the diagnosis fee.
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Youâre correct, but only the shops (and only a few of them) can afford the cost of a PLEK machine, they are eye wateringly expensive! Whereas a setup like I was talking about by buying decent quality second hand you could get a suitable setup for around ÂŁ500.
A PLEK machine costs around ÂŁ230,000
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Plus you need qualified people to run them.
Cheers,
Keith
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You should also keep in mind that Fenders almost always has necks with a fairly small radius. Most newer/modern Strats and Telecasters has a 9.5" neck radius, and more vintage Fenders are all the way down to 7.25" neck radius. This means that itâs near impossible to have both a super low action AND be able to do big bends (above a tone bend) without âfretting outâ (the note dies / is muted out at the top of the bend). Thatâs just physicsâŚ
This is one of the reasons why more modern guitars / shredder guitars comes with much flatter necks. Most of my Music Manâs has 12" neck radius, my main axe (the Suhr) has a compound neck which is 10" at the nut but flattens to 14" further up the neck for better bends - and my Music Man Majesty (a Petrucci signature guitar) is super thin and flat⌠a 17" neck!
I once had Fender Telecaster, and I could never manage to set it up for big bends⌠sadly 
Letâs assume your Fender is one of their âmodernâ style guitar with a 9.5" neck radius. Then I would suggest aiming for around 1.5mm on the high E string and 1.75mm to 2.0mm on the low E. Thatâs how I set up my more âvintageâ instruments, and it allows me to do 1.5 tone bends almost everywhere on the neck. I have to work a bit for sustain when bending that far, but itâs (just barely) possible without fretting outâŚ
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Good points all Kasper Itâs a 9.5â radius and both my other main guitars have that 1.5mm on the low E string with a 10â radius neck.
So if we can get it down there I will feel very comfortable playing it as I do the others and should be able to bend fine on it.
I saw a video of a luthier setting up a PRS Silver Sky with a 7.25â radius and that didnât fret out. I think they used the PLEK to give it a compound radius opening up to 9â at the neck which may have helped of course.
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