Brilliant trick with masking tape!

[Jools4001]

Just back on here a few years after I built some Jack 12 Lites and Wedgehorn. I don't have a workshop with tablesaws etc, all the builds I've done have been with hand held tools so I make lots of use of things like circular saw sleds, router sleds and templates for things like speaker cut-outs and ports. Until now, I've held these in place with clamps or, more often, screwing it to the workpiece when I can't get a clamp on (of course this leaves holes that have to be filled and sanded). I've also tried holding templates on with double sided tape, but I've messed up a couple of pieces when the tape has slipped.

Dan, one of the guitarists in our band works for a high end woodworking machinery company who make stuff like planer thicknesses, huge tablesaws and CNC stuff (industrial sized stuff way beyond the hobbyists price range), but he showed me a custom telecaster that had been made by one of their customers, a company called Crimson Guitars here in the UK (Dan's company have the guitar on display in their foyer as an example of the top end stuff that their machinery is used on). It was superb. Dan told me all about this guy called Ben Crowe who owns Crimson, a character with tattoos all over his bald head, but a superb luthier who also has a regular YouTube channel. Since I absolutely love watching people building guitars (especially basses) I started watching the Crimson Guitars YouTube channel and came across this brilliant trick for holding sleds and templates to the workpiece. I've used it on my current build and it's fantastic; quick, as easy as screwing stuff down, totally secure and removes easily, leaving a totally clean workpiece.

Have a look. The video starts off by talking about holding sandpapers to levelling beams for fingerboard and fret levelling, but gets to templates half way through. You might find it as useful as I have.

https://youtu.be/ub6PsY4cgwg

[ketoet]

Thanks for sharing. Didn't know that trick yet

[Bruce Weldy]

I use two-sided carpet tape to hold my templates for routing. Often using it a few times on repetitive cuts without having to change it out. And there's no problem getting it off.