Plek Technology | Ultimate Guitar Setup

Deriving its name from the word 'plectrum', the Plek machine is revolutionizing the way guitar setups are traditionally done. The brainchild of German inventor Gerd Anke, the Plek still relies on the trussrod adjustment to be done by hand, but once that is accomplished -- watch out!  The Plek machine takes over with unerring accuracy; measuring, grinding and crowning each fret to 1/100th of a mm.  That's a fraction of a millimetre folks. 

If the map of Plek users in the video (1:29) is anything to go by, it appears that there are already a considerable number of Plek machines earning their keep throughout the US, with some guitar manufacturers owning several:

Martin Guitars (Nazareth) -- 13
Heritage Guitars (Kalamazoo) -- 12
Wechter (Paw Paw) -- 6
G & L Guitars (Fullerton) -- 3
Gibson Guitars (Nashville) -- 10
Suhr Guitars (Lake Elsinore) -- 4

Suhr Guitars puts their four Plek's to good use even on their imported Rasmus guitar line.  And other than guitar manufacturers, a number of repair shops have also purchased Plek machines of their own.

See the Plek in action in this video starting at 2:26.

NAMM 2010 Suhr Modern with Scalloped Fingerboard on eBay!

This Suhr Modern from NAMM 2010 is a throwback to the guitar fashion trends of the late '80s.  (Item #: 280460221922)

The metallic pearl pink paint job, Gotoh Floyd Rose, pointy headstock and those dual humbuckers would go perfectly with striped spandex pants and high-cut tennis shoes.   Don't we all long for the good ol' days when MTV videos looked like they were shot by film school dropouts and bands actually managed to sell warehouse loads of records?

But back to the guitar. 

I found it interesting that Suhr chose to go with a basswood body for this axe -- Ibanez's shred guitars have always featured basswood bodies almost exclusively.  Basswood is a softer wood that helps to temper the shrill metallic, top-end frequencies of Floyd Rose bridges.  The addition of a maple top on this Suhr Modern tightens up the top-end a little and also provides a more stable anchor for the Gotoh Floyd's bridge stud mounts.

And what about that maple 24-fret scalloped fretboard with a compound radius no less?  Dare I say -- pure CNC and Plek perfection!

Jumbo stainless steel frets, Sperzel locking tuners (kind of redundant in this case, except that they don't need any winding around the string posts), 5-way switch, single volume and tone, and Suhr Doug Aldrich signature humbuckers make this piece of guitar eye-candy a functioning instrument.

The icing and the cherry on this cake is the Suhr logo inlaid in abalone and the laser-etched wood Certificate of Authenticity.

The Suhr guitars booth at this year's NAMM show surely wins my vote for most imaginative variations on a single theme.

Rasmus Guitars By Suhr

Responding to growing demand for a more affordable instrument, Suhr Guitars has started producing their new Rasmus line of quality guitars overseas. 

Rasmus Guitars -- derived from John Suhr's family name of Rasmussen -- are currently being manufactured in limited quantities.

Built using North American maple and alder and Indonesian rosewood which are selected according to strict weight guidelines, the Rasmus line also uses the same German fretwire found on the US-made Suhr models.

To top it off, each Rasmus guitar is shipped to the US, disassembled upon arrival at the Suhr factory and then Plek'd -- an automated computer process that dresses the frets to extremely high tolerances, allowing for extremely low action.  Final assembly and set-up is also done at the Suhr factory. 

According to Suhr, it is this labor intensive involvement in the Rasmus line that is the reason for them being produced in limited quantities at the moment. 

US-made Suhr pickups and Japanese-made Gotoh 510 or Gotoh Floyd Rose bridges are standard equipment.  Each Rasmus guitar comes with a Suhr Deluxe gig bag.

I'm glad that John Suhr decided not to use the Suhr brand and logo on this line of overseas-manufactured instruments -- no matter how good the quality may be. Companies like Kramer and Hamer did so in the past with almost no regard for the integrity of their brand-name and paid the price in the end.



Go to http://www.rasmusguitars.com/ for more details.