AM I BEING SET UP?

I own a Mexican-made Stratocaster that has sentimental value – my wife bought it for me many years ago. I would like it to be as good as it can be both in sounds and playability and have found some time and cash to take lessons and upgrade the guitar. I have added

some Lindy Fralin pickups and now need the guitar set up, as my instructor tells me the neck is out of shape and is capable of being more playable. I have taken the guitar to a custom builder for the job. They have said they can set it up for $85, or get it playing like an American Strat by putting it on a Plek machine at $300. In terms of the quality of both the materials and the build of a Mexican Strat, will I benefit that much from a Plek service or should I stick to a basic set-up? Alex Morris, Seattle

It depends entirely on the guitar and what needs doing, Alex. We’ve encountered Mexicanmade Strats straight out of the box that have played as ‘well’ and better than their American counterparts, so there’s no real ‘standard’ here. Then comes the question, What does playing ‘well’ mean anyway, because it’s certainly not the same for everyone.

Can you define in what way you want it to play better? Lower action, easier to bend? Higher action, more relief in the neck? And how is the neck ‘out of shape?’ Get all that defined before handing any cash over to anyone. If all it needs is a truss-rod tweak and some basic adjustments to action and intonation, you can do all that yourself, and we would absolutely encourage you to do that first. There are so many online guides available these days – most of the guitar companies do them for starters – and unless you can’t read and/or understand basic information, you should give it a shot.

Now, your teacher might be right and it might need more serious attention, such as more involved work to the neck alignment and a fret job, which is why they’re suggesting the Plek machine. That does the job better than most humans, just be aware that a Plek fret dress in the UK is usually less than £150. Good luck.