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The tape is quite embedded in the finish - which is brushed on varnish -

Should I carefully slice around it? I am afraid of going thru into the top. But I am also afraid if I try to just pull it off it will lift the finish outside the bridge outline.

As always, I appreciate the helpful answers I have been getting here, thanks a lot!

David

I always score it lightly close to the tape edge and then remove it slowly. You don't want to pull it up without scoring it.

So far, I've not had to score all the way through the finish - that guarantees you don't cut into the top. Be careful while lifting, and perhaps use something to hold the finish down by the tape like a thin steel ruler or something.

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The tape should cover an area smaller than the bridge, of course.

Use a SHARP knife to just score the finish. This is especially important on cedar and redwood tops; woods that have low splitting resistance themselves. We saw the bridge come off a Lowden in the shop with 100% wood shear. The glue line did not fail; the cut around the back edge went into the top wood, and the bridge simply peeled up. My partner and I decided that whoever was doing the bridge scribing had probably put a new blade in their knife, and was not calibrated to the sharper edge, so they cut too deeply. Thus the advice to always use a fresh blade for this.

One reason why I route the finish off now.. using the die grinder that John hall and Dave Nichols sell .... its simply too easy.

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Tony Karol
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"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Having had a nick in the finish from pulling tape even after scoring, I would rather not mask and just scrape the finish off.

I have a dedicated chisel with a hooked edge, like a card scraper.

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You shouldn't have to score the finish in order to remove a bridge mask unless you are having adhesion problems and if you are having adhesion problems they should be addressed/worked out before moving forward.
That said, I use an exacto knife to catch the very corner of a mask and then grab the corner with tweezers and peel the mask.

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I concure with those who remove the finish after all is done. But I think either way, you have pro's and con's.

Dave

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I sand the finish down somewhat on top of the masking tape, then i score lightly and remove the mask without peeling the finish up. It comes up easier without damage when made thinner that way.

This might be over kill but I just finished my bridge and what I did was to make a vacuum locating clamp. I goes around 3 sides of my bridge and using my centerline finder I locate the bridge and turn on the vacuum and set the clamp. Then I remove the bridge and put the front piece on the clamp in place and then score the line and scrape the finish with a flat point exacto blade. This bridge is already glued on but you get the idea of haow it works. I like Tony's idea and may route the finish off next time and use the clamp as the router template. This clamp also allowed me to put two small pieces of a staple in the bridge and press it down to the top to give me a location point when gluing it on so it doesn slip on me. It's a pinless bridge and there aren't any pin hole to help set the bridge. I glued the bridge in place with the clamp on and then removed the clamp and put the vacuum clamp on it.