Masking Tape & Superglue - The Greatest Luthiers Trick of All

In this episode, we have the number one luthiers tip from Ben Crowe
Most guitar builders will use double-sided tape many times throughout their week and most of them grow to loathe it!

Double-sided tape is often too strong and it is hard to separate your template and the guitar, or it is too thick and there is some give when using your bearing-cutter and router to finalize the guitar's body shape. It can also leave a sticky, hard to remove residue on your work, jig, or template and sometimes simply fails.

We have a stunningly successful double-sided tape alternative that we use at Crimson Guitars and it has replaced the use of double-sided tape and spray glues in our workshops.. watch this video to find out more!

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:35 What you need
1:28 This method means you will never have to use double-sided tape again
2:18 Sandpaper in the UK
2:57 Start with the masking tape
4:47 Once both surfaces have the masking tape - you need superglue
7:02 Moving on - a neck blank template and a piece of wood
7:44 Once again, masking tape on both pieces and burnish the tape
8:28 Superglue next making sure it does not go on the wood
9:20 This will not move!
10:48 Now comes the magic - grab the end and -
11:27 The greatest little trick you will ever learn and conclusion
______________________________________________________________________
We'd like to thank our partners for helping to make this video series possible.

SOCIAL
As always, thank you so much to our Patrons, who help make videos like this possible.

Thank you again for all your support, we really appreciate it! – Ben
Stay tuned and stay awesome!

[icarus]

Humble man divulging an apprentice taught him.. all the great masters listen and always learning

[Brandywine]

I use the double sided tape trick a lot since learning it here. It works great to make sure every board in a part of a project is the same. I just used it to "glue" 4 boards together to sand them all square and make sure they were all level and the same width and height. I love this trick! I'm tempted to try it to miter them too. I think I can stagger the boards and miter all four boards at one time. The person who invented this trick needs a huge hug and thank you for sharing it.

[gorilla]

the way this man speaks makes me happy on a level I can't describe.

[MarkLindsayCNC]

I know that this video is over a year old, but I got to use only "the masking tape trick" to mount a workpiece to my CNC router for the first time today. What I mean by that is that I used no additional clamps, screws, or any other mounting method. I was cutting some pickup trim rings out of 1/4" thick stock, and "the trick" worked like a champ. My project used drilling, pocketing, and 3 different profiling toolpaths, and the workpiece stayed rock solid - it never budged a bit. As far as I'm concerned, double sided tape is now a thing of the past for me - an archaic remnant of a bygone era. You know - like chisels and hand planes. Oh wait...

[danceswithaardvarks]

Always surprises me at how many woodworkers are still not aware of this "trick", but love to see their mind blown when you use it. I used the trick to put some HDPE sides on my table saw fence about 3 years ago (temporary job) and they are still solid.

[Chris-khfm]

I help renovate old wooden boats and that is by far the best and most useful trick I've ever seen, thank you so much for sharing it.

[nuthinbuttrubl]

I've been a builder for 8 years give/take. I saw this trick at the tail end of a 4 year hiatus from building (business travel, bands, life in general got in the way) and have used it exclusively ever since. I definitely can appreciate all that you do, Ben. I even bought the same pickup winder you did a video on recently. Received it today and wound 4 coils with it straight away. Cheers, sir.

Phil
Timpson Guitars

[GenericSpace]

This isn't what I was looking for but I'm glad I found it. Thumbs up from California!

[AidanPinsent]

Oh my goodness!

I was watching that and thought "nice little trick" ...and then it dawned on me how epic an idea that really is! Amazing!

[hbert]

For almost 1 and a half hour I just tried to find some sticking sanding paper anywhere - without success. Thank you VERY MUCH!

[bluemeadowfilms]

A touch of the Bill Bailey spirit methinks...Thank you great tip.

[resomaniac]

Outstanding idea! I don't use double sided tape very often and usually have to buy a new roll because it has dried out so badly it cant be used. This tip will save me time and money. Thank you.

[brianb]

Hi, I'm a retired engineer who owned furniture manufacturing plants for many years. I've done thousands of miles of spindle molding work on all sorts of components. Here's a full solution to your great example....Get onto either exhibition venues or carpet suppliers....YOU NEED....readily available in UK... DOUBLE SIDED CARPET TAPE which is used to hold carpets to floors without damage to either. PERFECT SOLUTION to what you show above. Using this with a power feed I could shape anything. Good luck, Brian

[dfranks]

Great tip! I used this today on templates used to route an electric guitar for a trem bar. Templates never budged, no residue from tape or super glue. Wow, this really works!

[xetaprime]

Thanks! Couldn't find the spray adhesive I needed locally today to apply a paper instrument panel to a remote control plane. Stuck the masking tape to the back of the paper image and super glued it in place! Saved me time and money. Much appreciated.

[RyanB]

I watched this a day later than I should have, I used double sided tape today to secure my routing template for the pickup and control cavity. It held the template down just fine, but as I pulled off the template it ripped out a chunk of the veneer I was using... Mistakes were made and lessons learnt! Now I know I won't have to deal with that again thanks to this video :D

[SuperBriansmoke]

This has changed my world. I'm building a superstrat at the moment, I made the back cavity covers using scratch plate material mounted to mdf templates.

I've since made sanding sticks and other things using this. No more contact adhesive all over my hands and the floor. This rules.

[bandguyjohn]

Ok this trick is MONEY!!!! I just started building my own guitars. I front my own band and would love to play more but I'm not very good cuz my fingers are so fat. I have always been a carpenter and decided to try my hand at being a Luthier and build my own guitars to build wide neck guitars to account for my sausage fingers. I've struggled building jugs and templates cuz guitars are....well very particular. But I stumbled on this tip from ya'll and we'll. Dang!!!! It is absolutely single handledly the BEST tip I have EVER been taught! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! This have saved me HOURS and HOURS and HOURS and HOURS!!! I liked and subscribed for this tip alone! You guys ROCK!!!

[johnpurser]

That is stinkin' BRILLIANT! I loathe double sided tape and had resigned myself to using 3M 77, going outside to apply it, cleaning up with turpentine, NEVER leaving it applied over night, and all because at least it was better than double sided tape.

Thank you!

[giznerbal]

I use standard masking tape, doubled over itself, and directionally staggered. Works beautifully and removes easily.