Huh, interesting page about “PLEK” a German designed robot guitar tuning system via Metafilter…
PLEK is a unique computer controlled precision robot developed by the German company A+D Guitarrentechnologie GmbH in Berlin. The machine measures the neck, fretboard, and frets and finds differences within a thousand of a millimetre. These differences is then sanded off with tolerances within a hundred of a millimetre, all in one machine. A machine? Can a machine really adjust something as personal as a guitar or bass? Yes, it really can! Even though great instruments are built nowadays, there are deficiencies in both factory made and hand made instruments. Small (and sometimes big, for that matter) deficiencies in precision, that makes the guitars or basses less sonic, and not as playable as they could be. These deficiencies can now be eliminated with this new technical invention. The result is a better sounding instrument, which also is a lot easier to play (video here).
6 thoughts on “Robot guitar tuner”
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I think your title may be a little misleading, yes it tunes a guitar like you would say tune an engine, but doesn’t just tune it as in tuning a string to the correct pitch. It actually takes into account any slight twist you may have in the neck which would be expensive to re-set by changing the radius of the frets. Very clever, had 2 guitars set up with this machine and both felt better than new.
Pffft! This won’t make you sound any better than your skill anyway. I doubt Guitarists like Clapton, B.B. King, or even Django Reinhardt (just for obscurity’s sake) would have thought of using this. Sometimes those deficiencies make a unique sound.
Actually, the machine can level the frets to lower the action without a buzz which I never want to hear. It measures the frets under load then when the strings are removed compares the frets under load to unloaded and grinds to compensate. And this isn’t new. I had 2 axes done 5 years ago with one of these. Makes an acoustic play much easier.