Official Luthiers Forum!

I ordered 3 rolls of this tape for $13 plus $7.50 for shipping . Still hasn/t arrived after 1 week . Does anyone out there have an alternative source for this style of tape? I have 6 guitars to bind plus 3 ukes.I/ve tried 3m blue , white and strapping or fiberglass tape. the first 2 aren/t strong enough , and even with shellac the strapping tends to pull wood fibers. Thanks. Hope your all having a good holiday.

So.. Remember that there are about 100 different thicknesses and strengths of both tape and adhesives....

If you go to Lowe's or Home Depot - you will find at least 6 different grades of blue/green/yellow painter's masking tape depending on how hard you want it to stick and how clean you want it to peel off.....

THEN... you will find more at proper paint stores... and even more if you go to Auto-Body supply type places....

What I have done is to get the Blue tape with the easiest/most clean release... Runs about $5/roll.. Then - double it up... My experience is that this is what it takes to provide enough strength but still release clean...

Thanks

Ernie my friend LMI sells the same tape and I have used both Stew-Mac and LMI tape and don't see any difference.

http://www.lmii.com/products/finishing/adhesives/binding-tape

I've never found a suitable replacement locally unfortunately. Others like other tapes but I like this stuff too. When I need stronger I double it but most off all this stuff won't lift wood fibers if you warm ahead of your removal progress with a hair drier.

Thanks hesh abt Lmi, When I run out I will get it from them. I still have the 3m blue tape I will try doubling it up. Why didn/t I thunk that ? gud idea john, thanks ,guys.

I saw this in Lee Valley's most recent catalog:
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... ,110,43466
I have not used it but I find that just about everything Lee Valley sells is really good and fairly priced. Plus, they run free shipping promotions from time to time.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Any decent auto supply place should have 3M "233+" tape. It's green in color. Excellent for binding jobs...

yep, same as the Grumpster (happy holidays Mario !!) .. 233+ from the local auto body supply, I double it up too, all the time.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Something else that is helpful to me and may help others if you also prefer a tape that can tear is this.

We've talked about on this forum how to lightly break the inner, sharp edge of bindings with a couple quick passes with a sharp scraper so that the bindings snug up better in the binding channels. If you also do the same to the outer most edge of your bindings prior to bending the sharp edge that can tear lesser tapes is now softened and your tape won't tear as easily. Easy peezy.

Happy Holidays Grumpy and Coach Tony!

Sometimes bindings can be a pita.I like the boy scout motto be prepared .I will check lee valley/s tape I/ve never seen the free shipping promo. CDNS how do you find out abt the free shipping ?is that both us an canada.? Grumpy and alex ,Never thought abt green 233 . I bought some from homeless depot and used it up for laquer jobs.Didn/t know it was useful for binding. Will dble check next time I go to lowes or HD. Thanks everyone . Hope your all relaxing today

I really like the 3M lime green tape myself. Auto part stores and wally world sells it now too.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

I'm running low on SM binding tape and thinking to try this.
Just to be sure what you're talking about, is it monofilament or crossweave tape of this type?http://www.directa.co.uk/site/scripts/product_browse.php?product_id=1949&category_id=435

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Think it/s called different names in different countries colin.In canada we call it fiberglass tape . us strapping tape.. Yes , it has the cross weave pattern in it. My brown tape is coming via donkey express aka usps.

If you like the StewMac stuff, I've seen what looks to be the same stuff at a real paint store. They had it marked as masking tape for concrete. It looked the same but I never tested it.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

does anyone by chance know what would be the equivalent in Europe to 3M´s green (233+) tape? FWIW i´ve been using regular Tesa (universal) masking tape : http://www.tesa.com/consumer/adhesive_t ... ogo,c.html .

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Thanks, the unidirectional is cheaper, but the multi roll dispenser is a bit more expensive here ($110+) so I'll try with my home built one!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Masking tape works but you need the stuff with a bit of stretch in it. I buy mine from a local auto shop. Actually the stuff I get has quite a lot of stretch in it, feels less like paper. Unfortunately it's totally unbranded.
I once bought some from another store and that particular masking tape was hopeless for binding. It had no stretch in it.

Ernie-
Lee Valley sent this announcement this morning. I'm on their email list for a ~weekly newsletter.

Thanks tarhead.I never get these deals.?I got the brwn tape. Stew-mac got hosed as they sent my packet via usps priority and it took 8 days sheesh,I do like the brwn tape I used it to glue some veneer,Much stronger than the stuff from hd an lowe.