Masking Tape & Superglue - The Greatest Luthiers Trick of All

[@icarus7073]

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

[@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...

[@Brandywine6969]

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.

[@Chris-kh2fm]

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.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

+Chris Hugill it's my absolute pleasure, we still use it every single working day at Crimson Guitars.

[@danceswithaardvarks3284]

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.

[@nuthinbuttrubl89]

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

[@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.

[@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!

[@dfranks50]

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!

[@bluemeadowfilms1957]

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

[@gorilla4321]

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

[@sparkimoto]

His particular BRITISH dialect delivers such a professional and formal type of vibe. Sort of like the way one would speak at a job interview. He would speak with a high degree etiquette. Too often we see the opposite from KZbin.. There are many KZbin channels created by amateurs who seem to have over estimated their public speaking skills.

[@fitandgaming4200]

His accent is somewhere between South African and British. Ben was born in Aaaaaaafricaaaaaaa.

[@elwrongo]

Like the some Kiwis, some South Africans have a sort of quaint old school British accent, spoken mannerisms thing going on; its nice

[@CaptainScarlet1961]

@@sparkimoto: Exactly right, Ben is a rather well educated & well spoken Englishman, why are so many people implying he's South African or has a South African accent ? I would say have a listen to a South African native speaker & you'll find they are nowhere near similar !

[@RyanB747]

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.

[@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.

[@melvingurganus2419]

Thanks for the tip, I'm a knife maker machinist and have used super glue to hold down metal parts for light machining, acetone or light tap to release!

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

+melvin gurganus how did it go? :) acetone is awesome too isn't it?

[@martingreen9411]

+Crimson Custom Guitars - Agreed. Most woodworkers don't know that acetone completely removes pencil lead layout lines completely with a few gentle wipes.

[@Liberty4Ever]

Great tip! 3M makes several types of VHB tape. It's a Very High Bond double sided tape. They make foam backed versions for bonding to uneven surfaces, but also very thin VHB tape that would be very good for bonding sandpaper to a leveling block. VHB is used in the automotive industry to bond auto body trim to cars that need to withstand 20 years of weathering and car washes. VHB is a bit more expensive than the inferior double sided tapes, or two pieces of single sided masking tape and super glue, but it's peel and stick quick and easy. The video mentioned replacing the sandpaper six months later. If I tried that with the tan Kraft paper masking tape we have here in the US, the adhesive would be permanently bonded and would require soaking in adhesive remover and scraping. That masking tape is for temporary jobs lasting a few days. The blue or green painter's tape can be removed better after a week or two, but even the better quality painter's tape will be stuck after six months.

[@brianb9278]

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

[@jimcsnr]

I wish I'd seen this before investing in many rolls of DS tape. I'm a very happy customer and I would like to highly recommend Crimson guitars, a great company with fantastic customer service.

[@TexasToastGuitars]

I was amazed when I tried this and it actually worked. It is a game changer.

[@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!!!

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

lol. My pleasure, thank you for this comment, made me very happy today! B

[@bandguyjohn]

@@CrimsonCustomGuitars glad it made you happy! BTW. I listen to your channel ALL the time now! Your advice has been invaluable. A master class in guitar building every day. Love it!

[@johnpurser2798]

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!

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

+John Purser my pleasure, I too despise double sided tape, this trick has saved me so much aggravation!

[@zapa1pnt]

Absolutely fantastic tip. Can be used, not only, for any wood work but any material. I hope, even if that apprentice is no longer with you, you sent him a bonus check. And thank you for sharing it.

[@GenericSpace]

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

[@philipbyrnes7501]

Here in Australia we have the same problem acquiring sticky backed sand paper now I won’t ever have to chase it or pay through the nose again. Brilliant,brilliant trick, thank you. I make wooden Grandfather clocks and I can’t tell you how useful this tip is going to be. I have some little steel strips that I buy for sanding my gear teeth on the scrollsaw and I’m going to scrape the last of the abrasive off as it lasts about as long as you can sneeze before it wears off, and use this tip there as well as in the manner that you suggest. I can’t thank you enough, brilliant tip thank tou

[@nickcoumbe]

Greatest guitar making tip I've ever seen. Particularly useful when using templates.

[@hbert06]

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

[@dennyps1]

Such great tips, I've not only used this but shared it in my guitar fb groups

[@ab4877]

Sweet. Not just for luthiers, but I can see it as useful for repair work on your motorcar, or anywhere else you need to temporarily hold something together.

[@giznerbal]

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

[@bohma7519]

Great idea. I use a 23 inch (60 cm) aluminimium spirit level as a levelling bar but instead of superglue I used ordinary Pritt stick to attach the sandpaper to the spirit level. It works a treat!

[@stuartgrier5605]

Im Used this when I was repairing a LP type guitar whose fretboard had detached itself from the neck to sand and cut the fret slots. Works amazingly.

[@kamo7293]

came from someone else's channel referencing this trick. amazing. truly amazing

[@tomphilp3095]

Awesome tip! I bookmarked this video. Thanks man! On a side note, I think I want this guy to read books to me.

[@asdf9890]

Genius, thank you! I was thinking of doing this without the tape but thought I would end up ruining my level with the glue.

[@peterschmidt9942]

Clever tip. I generally used double sided tape on my levelers. But I think I'll be doing this in the future. The only thing you have to watch out for I guess is that masking tape goes off after a while, goes brittle and hard off get off as well. But great if you're just using it for sticking down templates - awesome idea!

[@catdumpling]

This reminds me of a trick I figured out a couple months back, for temporarily gluing paper templates and patterns to guitars. I was installing a Floyd on my parts Strat (a very old Non-Fine Tuner Floyd no less, but that's besides the point ;) .) Anyway, anyone who's ever installed an OFR (or many licensed variations) knows that the holes need to be dead-on 74mm apart and squared up with the centerline of the strings. Since my guitar body was already painted (black), a simple pencil line obviously wasn't going to work. So, I cut a piece of white printer paper to a manageable size, basted the back of it with some regular old Elmer's Rubber Cement (_not contact cement!!!_), and glued it down to the face of my guitar in the bridge area. I put a heavy book on top to keep out air bubbles, and let it set up for a few minutes. Once it was dry, I now had a paper surface on my guitar that I could draw and erase on like any other paper. It made drawing layout lines super easy, and once I finished drilling the Floyd pivot post holes, I was able to peel the paper right off; it left no residue aside from a few little rubber cement boogers, and those came right off with one of those white "plastic" art erasers (which, incidentally, also work great to "erase" any rubber cement that may find its way onto the paper drawing surface.) I've since used this trick a few more times with nary a problem. One thing I should note is that this was done on either bare wood or a _poly_ finish: it's probably a _really_ bad idea to try it on a nitro finish, since both the rubber and solvents in the glue will most likely react with nitrocellulose lacquer. If someone wants to try it on nitro, they're on their own of it all goes south. If it's done on bare wood that'll be painted later, it's probably a good idea to go over that area again with acetone or another solvent, just to make sure there's no invisible residue hiding that might cause problem with paint (although I touched up mine with acrylic lacquer and it's been fine.) One again, I use _rubber_ cement, not _contact_ cement! Everyone's used rubber cement in grade school art class, the stuff used to apply bicycle tube patches, and someone in your family probably uses it for scrapbooking. It's available at any office supply store for a couple dollars a bottle (I got mine at my local grocery store in the office/school supply aisle.)

[@gjw45]

Great idea. I thought you were talking about rubber cement, as in what you use on rubber tubes. I'm glad you re-enforced that at the end. I didn't know it was used for scrapbooking? Anyway, thanks for the good information.

[@JayPDeath]

Or you could have just used pieces of masking tape and written on those. Many already use that when drilling on guitars with a finish they don't want to chip and crack. Peels up real easy when you're done and I doubt it would have much if any effect on nitrocellulose. Why go through all the trouble using paper and rubber cement when the tape is easily available. To each their own I guess.

[@luthiervandross6311]

Simple, cheap and in hindsight, obvious: like many of the best tricks...thanks for uploading, Sir.

[@michaelstreets7816]

Excellent! I believe that blue masking tape has a different non-hardening adhesive that doesn't dry out. It might therefore be a better bet for longer term applications like levelling beams.

[@snjvdmolen7759]

brilliant!

[@musegeek]

Fantastic trick! Started studying guitar building at college on September, this will hopefully turn me into the envy of my fellow students

[@Yahoomediaclub]

Truly the best trick I've seen

[@martingreen9411]

Absolutely brilliant! I was searching online for the best type of double-sided tape to use for attaching my table saw insert plate (saw bench to you I guess. I'm a Limey by birth but a Canadian since I was eight) to a Baltic birch plywood blank so I could rout it into a zero-clearance insert. I don't have any double-sided tape so I was going to have to go out for it, but I DO have plenty of masking tape of various types. Likewise I have super glue, so now I not only don't have to go out and buy some tape, but this looks superior to what I was going to do. Thanks a million for this idea. UPDATE: Finished making my zero-clearance inserts and this technique worked perfectly. I used Lepages Ultra Gel super glue because that is what I had handy, and I used green "Frog" painter's tape because I know it is waterproof enough to prevent superglue bleed through and it peels off cleanly with no residue. No need for accelerant, 15 seconds pressing the parts together was enough with this glue. I made two inserts and there was absolutely no movement during routing but the two faces came apart easily when I was done. Best method for routing templates on the whole Internet.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

My pleasure, I still use this trick every single day at work.. It is by far the most useful thing I learnt last year! Thanks for watching :)

[@chrisknutson5798]

I saw Adam Savage struggling with double sided tape in one of his one day builds (a headphone rack) and had to send him a link to this! Love this trick.

[@ricklavigne4466]

I like your video. I do something similar. I put masking tape on my leveling beam then I put carpet tape which is very strong then put my sandpaper on that. It works very well and when you need to change the sandpaper it comes off easily.

[@andreawalke6535]

I have been using this same method for holding material's together for a few years now except I have used a thin coat of Titebond instead of superglue, I first tried it for holding wood on a faceplate on my wood lathe where it was subject to the rotation force whilst being attacked by my bowl gauge and never had a piece fly of the lathe yet. I too use it for making sanding sticks for leveling fretboards and frets with good results though I do want one of your fret files......

[@johnmcclinton9124]

Wow. I've used general purpose spray adhesives forever. This I must try. Using lacquer thinner to remove the adhesive is a hassle. Appreciate your expert advice. I do guitar repairs, and watching your posts are great tutorials for me. I always learn something new. Thanks so much. Good stuff as usual.

[@johnmcclinton9124]

I have a unique method for cutting nut slots that is quick, fool proof and very precision. I should post my method, don't use covetional nut files, but something more precise. The bottoms where the strings rest is radiused just slightly larger than the string gauge. By slightly I'm talking about a few thousandths of an inch. Sorry, in the States we still use inches, lol

[@hpodell]

Use double sided scotch tape. Same thickness as regular Scotch tape. Says it's permanent but its not comes right up when you need it. $3-$4 a roll at Michael's, Hobby Lobby ,Target. or wherever.

[@stevecentuori924]

Just got my crimson tools in Tucson AZ. BEN ROCKS

[@ThePrimordialBeing]

Gosh, thanx lord for this idea, I've needed this today when sanding the fretboard, my double-sided tape seemed to hold only until ebony dust got underneath the board and it started moving sideways. It wasn't supposed to though, but it did.

[@BarryHarrellYouTube]

In the USA, we use tacky spray glue. You can use it and when you want to change the paper, it is easy to get off of the beam. You could use it with the tape as well, and it would cost a lot less per-use and would get a nice thin even cover of glue. Also, it has a great shelf life compared to super glue. Love you video's by the way.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I've used 3m spray glue for the sand paper to a beam thing but for the other uses, router templates etc I've not had as much luck.. this trick is much much stronger than you would think. B

[@nwimpney]

I've used double sided painter's masking tape sold as "drop cloth tape". It is like normal green painter's masking tape, but two sided. As long as it's pressed down very hard, it works well.

[@WoodomainJeremyBroun]

Double sided tape in the UK is very inexpensive and is ideal for several guitar building tasks such as holding down the face on a backing board while reducing thickness. There is nothing wrong with the tape and like masking tape has to be peeled back on itself to avoid the grain lifting because it is so strong!

[@johnmcarthur956]

Great tip! I've used this tip with other sanding blocks, DA sanders, etc saves me a lot on sand paper...Thanks for sharing!

[@DreidMusicalX]

I have to say I have learned a lot from you just watching videos. I was just about to waste money on double stick tape. Now I can buy two things at once I needed anyway and save myself time and money as well as some hard labor of cleaning up crap I now do not have to. Thanks!

[@Sonicexpres]

this isnt just a luthier trick. im a cabinetmaker and suffer from the flaws of double sided tape as well. just the other day i was routering an arc and my template moved and i had to throw out some beautiful cherry. cant wait to try this out!

[@iamjguru]

That's awesome! Tried it yesterday to plane some thin pieces of wood. Thank you Ben for sharing this.

[@cb3927]

Dude that is one of the best helpful tips and tricks I've seen in a long time. Bravo man. I hope you told your apprentice just how handy that is 🖒

[@izzybuholzer]

Great idea. Not sure what the second layer of masking tape is for? Why not glue the sandpaper straight to the first layer of masking tape?

[@MrBomccorkle]

Have you ever thought of using autobody sheet rolls? Are they available across the pond? Fo autobody I use a "file board" and 3m stikit sheet rolls.

[@BenPortmanlewes]

life changing, and I'm not joking. Hope you took the apprentice on, or gave them a great reference!

[@chopsddy3]

Brilliant! I confess , I too would have scoffed at this notion. Great tip, and timely. I have three guitars that need refretted and no adhesive backed paper. It is available in the U.S. but , in my opinion , way over priced. So much so, that had I purchased two rolls, it would have fouled up my poject's budget. As I was begining to curse my lot in life, I stumbled on this video. You saved me a lot of aggravation. Thanks.

[@chopsddy3]

In the United States, adhesive backed abrasives are readily available, but overly expensive. This tip is a gem. I'm using it right now. If I survive our local property tax reassessment, I will surely buy something from you.( In case the worst happens, I was wondering if you would accept payment in muskrat pelts?)

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Good luck in your fight against 'the man' I'm glad to help and I'm sure I could find a use for a good muskrat pelt.. Block plane pouch perhaps?? Thanks for your support!

[@coreyfurlo5660]

Using a simple spray adhesive on the back of the sandpaper is a quick and inexpensive way around finding adhesive backed sand paper.

[@EvilSean62]

skinyourskunk.com/skinshop-fur-guitar-skins.php

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

a muskrat fur covered guitar would certainly be unique.

[@jimmunhall]

Do you have any tips on how to fix a raised skunk stripe on a Fender strat. It has lifted just a small amount towards the headstock side but you can feel it around the second to third fret. Can I steam and attempt to tap it down ?

[@nevmayor4617]

Hi Ben. Why not just glue the sandpaper to the masking tape attatched to the leveling beam. What have i missed?

[@xGshikamaru]

that is simply brilliant, I’ll have to try it to believe it, but the idea is simple yet effective !

[@andrewludlam5686]

Ben. Same principal as veneer planing....hence - OFF the scale AWESOME. ! Thank you.

[@MetalSlurry]

Can you skip putting the tape on the sandpaper and glue the sandpaper directly to the tape that you put on the beam?

[@RedwoodGuitarStudio]

Dude, that is genius! Thanks so much for sharing, few people understand how incredibly strong masking tape is, and how awful double-sided tape is. Cheers.

[@DerredmaxTRIAX]

Tell your apprentice thanks that is brilliant And as always Ben thank you for your time. I just thought I might mention also if it wernt for you I might never have tried building a guitar. I'm working on #7 now and I am attempting to learn inlaying the fret board. I think I have hopefully barely enough patients maybe we will see. Anyway I thank you and your father for the knowledge! Cheers

[@tarmaclice]

I understand that this question has probably come up before but does anyone have any tips on how to route into an already finished guitar? I've heard that scoring the area you with to cut and then cross hatching with a scalpull blade leads to less chance of the finish cracking, is there any merit to this method? Thanks, Nick

[@michaelhamerin3814]

I luv this trick. Just a question - why not just glue the sanding paper directly to the tape on the beam? Thus eliminating the need for a strip on the paper.

[@HondoTrailside]

I tried this and loved it, but if anything it was impossible to remove as far it coming apart by accident might be a concern. I glued two backs together and flip flopped them through the planer, got them down to my target thickness, but they were almost impossible to separate afterwards. Something flexible like sandpaper is easily peeled back, but stiff materials I could barely separate. Thumbs up.

[@alessandroferrillo1450]

Just tried it myself. Amazing! It sticks and it's actually strong enough :)

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

someone ripping a bong behind the camera at 11:23

[@kawmic7]

Weird sound. Hehe.

[@haraldpettersen3649]

Elephant lungs .

[@norman2999]

Hahahaha!!!! Too damned funny!! Yet true....?!

[@mjallenuk]

Keeps the staff happy and quiet during filming...

[@johnriccio5433]

yup

[@thomboy54]

whats the best double sided tape for mounting controls in a acoustic guitar sound hole

[@niallchurch2679]

Do you have to pay thru the nose for the levelling beam?

[@iAssa5sin]

Most awesome thing I've seen this month!

[@MarioinRmd]

Do you ever have a problem with the super glue leeching through the masking tape and messing up your leveling beam?

[@jason72standard]

Is there a specific grade of masking tape we should use?

[@carparelliguitarscanada]

Mate, I just purchased the Three Beams, only one thing, what are the WIDTHS? I see length, I see thickness but no widths. This will help me determine the width of the Abrasive Rolls I purchase. Thanks to your tips as well, I can purchase non stick abrasive and use the masking tape trick! thank you in advance

[@ngzcaz]

That is a slick trick... is there an optimal length for fret leveling ie 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 inches etc ? Now the question is how to put that to practice in leveling frets. If you have one high fret is it advisable to take the tension off the neck and try to straighten it or keep tension on it and use a much shorter piece perhaps 3 or 4 inches long ? Do you have a video on that ?

[@almorgan3792]

When I worked in the yacht industry we used the tape-n-glue method to hold our templates onto pre-finished parts when we had to router them to size. We used hot glue sticks instead of super glue, but same idea.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I must try it with hot glue now, thanks for the tip!... Yachts!? Awesomeness :)

[@dfranks50]

+Al Morgan I'll give it a try as well. I still need to route for a humbucker pickup and a control cavity. Thanks for sharing!

[@ThePrimordialBeing]

+Crimson Custom Guitars well hide glue is many times cheaper, makes sense.

[@1234588001]

that was a brill trick but what grade sandpapper do i start with and finsh for leveling frets thanks, keep up the good work

[@shaunm1983]

Can anyone tell what the little roller thing is called?

[@brunettesatlarge]

Ben, Wondering if you can use this method on radiused sanding blocks? Or will two strips of tape, glue and sandpaper change the radius too much, rendering it a smaller radius. I agree the price of self stick is ridiculous. Thanks in advance. mrcoux

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

I would have no problem using this with radius blocks, I would use tape over as much of the block as possible though to keep the radius accurate.. I've of the reasons I grew to hate radius blocks was the difficulty of sticking paper to them, solved now though and I will give them a try again. Have fun :)

[@jeffsymons4535]

What an incredible tip. That's awesome.

[@bobbarcus8310]

Where did you get the beam stock

[@DanyWu]

Brilliant and very timely tip! I dare say one of the best yet!

[@DavePawson]

Minor issue, if near perfect alignment needed, one piece to another - CA glue doesn't leave much wiggle room? Neat trick though. Thanks.

[@TK-11538]

i understand using masking tape on both surfaces if you are temporarily attaching two pieces of wood together. But why do you need to put masking tape on the piece of sandpaper?

[@dronephotographyireland]

A voice like this is so fucking awesome coming from a man that looks like this...

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

Well...🤔...thanks, I guess 😂

[@citylimits6446]

I do a similar thing but I hate superglue. Cant abide the stuff. So I put masking tape down on the leveling beam , then cover that with double sided tape, then stick the grit paper to to the double sided tape. Then peel off the lot when its done ! The same trick works for templates.

[@Brandywine6969]

How? Where? Where can I get rolls of sandpaper like that? I go through 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1500 (the highest I can afford, what I would give to get some 2000) the most and can never seem to find more than a few sheets in a package at the time. I would love a roll of it like that. I wish I had known the 60, 80, 100, and 120 would last so long even on red oak. I rarely need to use them long before I had better go up a grit or two or lose the rest of the wood, lol.

[@RuinBird]

You can do this trick with double sided tape between the masking tape. You have to be more careful with avoiding creases and lumps between the layers but it's perfectly doable.

[@gordonsteeves9950]

Wow!! thanks, Ben, for yet another miracle :), I'm just going to use 1" wide shop roll, which is really available here in Canada

[@7blueblaze]

Saw your video and though it's not address for a reason, just in case I thought I'd mention it. I noticed when you placed the blank stock there was no way to accurately see the best grain patterns. You may already know this, but you could cut 'clear acrylic' profile the same shape and use it as a view finder - mark the best spots with some locator Identifier marks (in same place as wood guitar profile) and wella you've found your best location for astectics. You probably know this already, but thought I'd chime in. Great tip on the SP.

[@tiacho2893]

I use my own shop made polycarbonate or acrylic (perspex on your side of the Atlantic I think) templates and hate double sided tape with a blinding passion (think Montague and Capulet). A quick question though, do you use the standard adhesion masking tape or have you tried this with the low adhesion "painter's" tape? I have found the adhesive on the standard masking tape to get gummy after in as little as two days and more so when warm and humid. I have found that the 3M blue painter's tape doesn't seem to suffer from this. Have you tried this already or do I foresee some shop tests in my near future. It does give me one more use for CA glue.

[@louh9211]

Is it normal to be very excited by this tip? LOL. I think it is! Awesome trick and I'm gonna set aside the 3m double sided crap that I bought. I got lots of masking tape and super glue!

[@Alberto.dance.tonight]

So double side masking tape would be amazing for woodwork?

[@alllivesmatter5750]

Hi CCG, I put my charvel / jackson guitar in for a neck repair and the chap said the trust rod had snapped..... how can you tell if the trust rod has snapped. The problem with the guitar is the fretboard at the nut end has lifted or raised up slightly and theres a slight crack in the neck, but i dont think the crack is a big issue. Do you have an email addess where i can send you some pictures for you to give me a rough estimate on what the cost of repair would be. I've looked everywhere on the net and on ebay for a new neck but no luck as of yet. Many Thanks Dave

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

David Evans hey Dave, email through to office @ crimsonguitars.com I would love to see some pics. basically if the truss rod doesn't move the neck or if spins freely then it is probably snapped..

[@DeevoC]

I just bought my first leveling beam, and I was looking at adhesive sand paper. I let out an audible "What the fuck???" when I saw the prices. You just saved me a lot of Canadian monopoly money. You're my new favourite human being.

[@rumpanuthabetha]

Would it work for hanging pictures on the wall? and would it leaving a mark on the paint when I take the masking paper off? Or should I use painters tape? Trying to find an alternative for Command strips which is quite expensive.

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

+Cathy L. It would work in the short term but over a long time the glue in the tape fails and either comes unstuck or more problematically it would leave residue so not ideal

[@rumpanuthabetha]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

[@401ja]

Impressive! Im not sure what kind of double sided tape you have there across the pond, but I have never had a problem with it here in the US. It is typically thin or very thin depending on the brand, equal to or thinner than masking tape, sometimes closer to scotch tape. Some 3M stuff is almost too thin (i.e. difficult to apply and peel away the backing without wrinkling or folding over). I have yet to have anything move on me. Common practice (at least for me) is to use tape sparingly in a few sections as to allow removal of the parts afterwards. This is then low surface area with high tack tape. The key difference here is very high surface area with low tack tape, making lateral resistance to force much stronger while still allowing it to be peeled off easily. The place where this will be most useful for me is sanding blocks and lapping boards, curved or flat, that are wider than standard double stick tape widths. I have tried spray adhesive and ruined a few blocks that way. Double sided tape is never quite wide enough, so in the example of a sanding block for fine tuning the radius in a fretboard, I have applied it perpendicular rather than in axis, as not to leave a ridge at the tape seam. However, this solution wouldn't be practical for applying abrasive to a large reference surface used to level the edges of acoustic guitar sides before joining them to the top or back. Masking tape however is easy to find in numerous widths and would be far more versatile. I just did a search and found some industrial masking tape that is 24" wide! I might even be willing to put some low tack tape over a small granite surface plate, something I wouldn't do with double sided.