Too Much of a Good Thing?

[dane]

I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but for the last couple of months I play my guitars every chance I get. I’m talking hours a day ladies and gents! And it’s even worse on the weekends. Today for example I started at noon, it’s now about 9:30 and I’m just getting ready to bag it up until tomorrow. I will admit that I probably have about an hours worth of brakes in there checking the message board and getting coffee. Sounds good, right? Well there is a price to pay. Besides being able to crush a doorknob with my left hand if I’m not careful, I’m developing TOO much callous on my fingertips. I really noticed this today when playing a song that has pull-offs in it. When doing the pull-offs the callous on my fingers would literally grab the strings and pluck it…hard! It doesn’t hurt my fingers but it really sounds like crap. Imagine pulling a string between your index finger and thumb and letting it snap loose…that’s the sound. Any suggestions to soften calluses? I’m serious…this is really affecting my playing. By the way, not playing is not an option...I’m sure you understand.

 

[jazzmang]

find a good set of coated strings! Since switching to coated strings (find ones that you like), my callouses are minimal. Theres the really thick coatings like Elixir polyweb, but thats not quite the sound that I'm particularly drawn to, but different strokes for different folks...

 

[dane]

Thanks for the thought. I started using Elixir Nanoweb strings yesterday for the first time. There OK but really not blowing my sox off. Trouble is I think at this point the callous is not going lessen even with coated strings…but what the hey, I’ll try it for a while and see what happens.

 

[jazzmang]

Thanks for the thought. I started using Elixir Nanoweb strings yesterday for the first time. There OK but really not blowing my sox off. Trouble is I think at this point the callous is not going lessen even with coated strings…but what the hey, I’ll try it for a while and see what happens.

You'd be surprised. Mine started actually shrinking to a more reasonable size pretty quickly (give it a few weeks).

 

[taabru45]

Thats why God invented sandpaper. Others find it useful too. :lol: :lol: Steffan

 

[markus]

… sandpaper …

Yep, and use skin cream regularly!
Markus

 

[killdeer43]

For dealing with callouses, I second the sandpaper solution (fine grit), and I'll add that one of my wife's emery boards works really well, too. And, if you allow a couple of nails (index/middle) to grow longer for fingerpicking, it's better to sand them down than to cut them down. Works for me!

Cheers,
Joe

 

[Scratch]

For dealing with callouses, I second the sandpaper solution (fine grit), and I'll add that one of my wife's emery boards works really well, too.

Cheers,
Joe

+1 on the wife's emory board. She's always looking around asking if I've seen them... She hasn't checked my guitar cases yet... :? :wink:

 

[Jeff]

Thats why God invented sandpaper. .. Steffan

Ken,

Yep, couple times a month I sand the callouses off my fretting fingers. Wife's emory boards work well, don't they.

Same problem, they start to hang up on frets & strings.

 

[TonyT]

Thats why God invented sandpaper. .. Steffan

Ken,

Yep, couple times a month I sand the callouses off my fretting fingers. Wife's emory boards work well, don't they.

Same problem, they start to hang up on frets & strings.

Dang, I'm glad to read this. I'm now getting grooves in my calluses. If I miss the groove, my fingers occasionally slide a bit. I'm such a newb that I thought the thicker the callus the better, but these grooves seem to get in the way some.

 

[Graham]

I file 'em down with emery board as well. I'm just man enough to admit that it's my emery board! :mrgreen:

 

[walrus]

Emory board here, too! Also, and I hate to admit this, but every once in a while I end up peeling a callous off - I just can't help myself! Then I need to play easy for a few days (or play the nylon-stringed ukulele) while my fingertip toughens up again...

walrus

 

[jcwu]

I play my guitars every chance I get

Serious? I thought guitars were for collecting!

I’m developing TOO much callous on my fingertips.

Ok, I am TOTALLY not being a wiseass or anything, but I've discovered that these callouses are a total bummer when it comes to romantical interactions with the softer parts of my lovely wife. Well, I guess I should trim my fingernails, too, but...

Any suggestions to soften calluses?

You know how some people have REALLY thick skin on the bottom of their feet? Well, I do, too. My wife once gave me foot treatment - soaking my feet in some nice-smelling concoction, and them rubbing them with this pumice-thing. It rubbed off some of the thick skin, but left enough that I could still walk. Maybe something similar would work for the callouses?

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

I use sand paper on a stick.
That sounds more masculine than emory board.

It also works quite well on dressing up my saddles, when needed.

 

[Dr. Spivey]

Real men use a belt sander, the Binford 2400.

Smart folks use an emery board or fine sandpaper.

Working as a metal fabricator, my hands get dried out from wearing unlined leather gloves, oil, solvents and industrial hand soap. So I need to use hand lotion, but too much and the guitar callouses get soft. Too little and they fall off. I actually end up using superglue to protect my callouses from hand lotion, or to make artificial ones. After 30 years in the trade, I don't have a lot of feeling in my fingertips anyway, but it's a constant battle. :roll:

 

[RussD]

My workbench had emery paper for shaping callouses and Corona Horse Ointment (that's really the name, not a beer reference!) for maintaining skin moisture content. I can promise that your significant other won't borrow anything called "hoof ointment."

 

[dane]

I can promise that your significant other won't borrow anything called "hoof ointment."

Russ,
You made me chuckle on this one. Please notice that I live in Wisconsin. My wife is a genuine farm gal that has no qualms about using Clover Bag Balm (cow udder cream) on her hands, so trust me when I say a little Horse Ointment would be fair game too. To tell the truth her hands are very soft. I think I’ll be hitting the Bag Balm too, along with a “Semi-flexible Silicon File” (aka an emery board). It sound more manly. :lol: Also keep using coated strings for a while.

 

[West R Lee]

I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but for the last couple of months I play my guitars every chance I get. I’m talking hours a day ladies and gents! And it’s even worse on the weekends. Today for example I started at noon, it’s now about 9:30 and I’m just getting ready to bag it up until tomorrow. I will admit that I probably have about an hours worth of brakes in there checking the message board and getting coffee. Sounds good, right? Well there is a price to pay. Besides being able to crush a doorknob with my left hand if I’m not careful, I’m developing TOO much callous on my fingertips. I really noticed this today when playing a song that has pull-offs in it. When doing the pull-offs the callous on my fingers would literally grab the strings and pluck it…hard! It doesn’t hurt my fingers but it really sounds like crap. Imagine pulling a string between your index finger and thumb and letting it snap loose…that’s the sound. Any suggestions to soften calluses? I’m serious…this is really affecting my playing. By the way, not playing is not an option...I’m sure you understand.

You might try JP 80/20's. Our member Mr. P put me onto them sometime back, explaining that they are a bit more plyable for fingerpicking, they're all I'll play. Of course, I've never played for hours a day, they tell me that's how you get good.

West