Official Luthiers Forum!

You guys all probably know this already. But I had an epiphany the other day when removing the strapping tape that I use for holding down the binding while it is drying. I have always been afraid of pulling a sliver of top off when removing the tape. It happened to my brother once, and it happened to me once, and it may have happened to others as well. But now, when removing tape I use heated air from an air gun and with just a little blast the tape fairly jumps off the guitar and better yet, it takes all the adhesive with it. It does not take much heat at all, the top barely feels warm but the tap sure does turn loose of those top wood fibers

Hesh I think you are being wise rather than cowardly. What a bad thing it is to pull up a sliver and then try to reglue it without making a noticable "thing" on the top.

one other technique which works well in not tearing grain during tape removal is to never be lift the tape straight up perpendicular to the wood surface. rather, roll the tape back over itself on a diagonal, starting at one corner and rolling diagonally across the tape, then reversing the diagonal and repeating. in this manner the tape's shear line is across many grain lines rather than being on one grain line at a time, as well as never lifting the grain away from the support of its neighbours.