Guitar Help: instant callus ideas?

Subject: instant callus ideas?
From: Bsondahl
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 10:44 PM

Okay, though having played guitar for 25 years, I've gotten irregular enough to nearly lose my calluses between bouts. So I'm headed to a jam tomorrow. What tricks help to create instant calluses. I'd be tempted to try superglue or something if it has helped millions. At one jam I was at, they were passing a jar of some sort of grease around, (I guess so you don't cut your fingers sliding up and down strings). It didn't appeal to me, getting the strings all greasy. So let's see some suggestions, or point me to the thread if oft discussed (I didn't find much searching for callus) Brad Sondahl http://home.earthlink.net/~bsondahl

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: 53
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 10:55 PM

PUT ALCOHOL ON YOUR FINGERTIPS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BETWEEN NOW AND THE GIG, IT WILL HELP TO DRY THE SKIN AND HELP THE CALLOUS FORM QUICKER. BOB

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Deckman
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 06:43 AM

When I was a guitar teacher, I always advised them to avoid washing dishes. This was a very populiar suggestion with my teenage students. I remember one girl even asked me to send a note home to her Mother about it. I did! (no wonder my students liked me). CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: 53
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 11:47 AM

i'm the guitar teacher and i have to wash all the dishes, but my callous are formed good so i just put lotion on my hands and add a little extra alcohol to them and away i go, i try to get all my students to use the alcohol tip aosme do some don't. cheers, BOB

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Iva
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:22 PM

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:25 PM

The pitcher Al Leiter's finger problems kept him on the sidelines for years before he found a way to toughen up his finger-tips. Maybe someone could find out what he eventually did.

I know that some pitchers have used alcohol (not THAT way!) as Bob suggests and some have soaked their fingers in cold tea(!). Any commercial compounds on the market?

Rick

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Iva
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 12:29 PM

Last post didn't work. Caluses come through work. If your worth a gig you should have them all the time. Some call it practice, some rehearsal, but if you don't have them you just don't play enough.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: 53
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 01:35 PM

how true iva how true. BOB

Subject: Krazycallus!!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 02:12 PM

Baah...

A littel dab of superglue on yer fingertips works GREAT!

Just make sure it's dry BEFORE YOU PICK UP YER AX!!

LOL!!!!

I got that trick from Stephen Fearing, who said he got it from James Keelaghan, who said he got it from Garnet Rogers... so if it's good enough for them, it's sure as hell good enough for me!

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: leprechaun
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 02:22 PM

Jam your fingers into a bucket of coarse sand until they bleed. Then paint them with tincture of benzoin. Then sceam loudly for about three minutes, depending on your pain threshold. Repeat.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: wildlone
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 03:05 PM

Pack 1litre and 1/2litre ice cream in boxes for 6 hours over 3 days in 1 week you will have finger tips you can put pins in.
works for me**BG**
dave

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: 53
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 07:05 PM

boy i've never heard of those ideas. BOB

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 10:40 PM

Just play guitar. Keep your fingers out of saws. My calluses have never returned very dependably since the saw injury. But the nails grow twice as fast on that hand. Is there a connection?

I wonder.....

Don

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Dec 01 - 11:24 PM

Clinton, you're the only one who actually answered the guy's question! (One also has to be very careful not to glue one's fingers together. One may have to sit for a very long time with a razor blade and patiently try to cut through the glue without slicing one's fingers.)

I wonder if he tried anything, what it was, and what if his fingers survived the session.

I agree it's best to grow your own calluses, but it sure was too late for him to do that with only one day between him and the session.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,allie
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 09:04 PM

I used super glue when I had a three hour gig after no gigs for a month. My fingers were still raw from hopped-up practice. I recommend the super glue treatment just once, dab it on in a light layer and let it dry. After that I was able to do the gig, now I play with the Comhaltas for 3 hours once a week to keep meself in shape, besides one practice a week.

I recommend a regular jam session, one where you have so much fun that you lose track of time. Your calluses will appear like magic after a couple of weeks.

allie

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 10:31 PM

Just keep poinding that "submit" key eh Bobert!

LOL!!!!!

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 10:32 PM

If all ya gotta do is play and not sing than I go with the alcohol trick. But not on the fingers but in the tummy. Oh, you don't drink? Opps. Well, all's not lost. Tune to G and get out your slide. Just funnin' with ya. Actually, I've never had this problem but I am intrigued with the super glue solution. Just keep away from boxcars cause they don't fit thru doors and wear your butt out pulling the danged things around...

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 10:32 PM

Meanwhile I'll go, try to learn to type!

LOL!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Dec 01 - 10:59 PM

Another lifetime ago, heard, Larry Norman who is frequently dubbed "the father of Christian rock," in a concert.

He had little rubber "secretary sorters" on several of his fingers; before the night was through he had ripped them off with his teeth and played with bleeding fingers.

The explanation? He had been glueing/sealing CD's and Tapes the night before - his fingers had become "super-glued" together and he had tried to separtate them with a razor blade.

Once accomplishing the same feat; I called the "Center for Poison Control" and they said to use aceytone as the solvent (they have to 3 to 5 such calls a week)....earlier that year my artist nieghbor, had glued is lips together trying to open a tube with his teeth - he ripped his lips open and couldn't kiss his wife for a week.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,me
Date: 04 May 11 - 07:40 PM

Piss on them!! I needed calluses on my feet for martial arts after two weeks off. Pissed in a bowl and soaked them for an hour or so. instant callus!!

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: kendall
Date: 04 May 11 - 10:06 PM

Gorilla glue works for me.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 May 11 - 11:00 AM

There's a glue made for repairing damaged fingernails. I'd use that, as presumably it was formulated with contact with the body in mind.

And play nylon strings rather than steel.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Dave in Michigan
Date: 05 May 11 - 04:00 PM

In the US, large supermarkets sell, in the over-the-counter medical section, something called NuSkin (TM). It comes in a bottle with a tiny brush applicator, it dries very fast, and is tough enough to prevent blisters; I've used it successfully on my feet for that purpose when walking too much in winter. It's probably very similar to using cyanoacrylic ("crazy") glue, but I've never tried that, nor have I used NuSkin for substitute finger calluses, but I probably will next time I need them. (Last time, I got through the gig fine, then couldn't play anything for about two weeks till my fingertips healed.)

I asked Molly Mason about this same issue a few years ago, and she mentioned using a old-style (hot) light-bulb to harden the fingertips. I haven't tried this :-}

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 May 11 - 10:40 PM

Collodion - I have used for:
finger calus repair
getting high (ether better than glue)
blisters on the feet
stage make-up as a feature wrinkle with tissue paper.

Sincerely,

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 May 11 - 03:40 AM

As an intermittent player (mandolin) I find myself frequently in "virgin tips" land, and the best method I've found is just to play for not more than about ten minutes, then do something else for twenty or thirty minutes before repeating.

About five or six ten-minute "sessions" is generally sufficient to be ready to play all day on the next day. I try diligently to practice at least twice a year, and it works every time for me.

For some it might take a few more cycles, and after the first half-dozen cycles you probably could try for 15 or 20 minutes of play at a time. It may take more times around for "more agressive" players.

Trying to rush it by playing for a half hour the first time I pick up the weapon makes the tips so tender that it takes three or four days of healing before I can start over and do it right. Once it hurts, there's little you can do to recover healthy meat to hang the callouses onto, but it doesn't require an extended rest between brief playing breaks as long as you don't cause pain at the start.

Of course, if you've already hurt yourself you'll want some sort of protection. You can't create a callouse where there's already a scab.

John

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Ella
Date: 08 Aug 12 - 08:23 PM

O.K. so now there is available on the market:

Gorilla tips: silicon looking slip on finger tip covers

In the Glue Dept.:
Rock tips
Nu Skin
Quik Callus
Collodion?
Gorilla Glue?

I haven't tried any of these things yet. Personally I have been using Calendula oil and DMSO to heal my finger tips. I now have soft calluses that are just starting to toughen more and they are not delaminating at least. I also soak my fingers in cooled yarrow or comfrey tea, sometimes.   I heard about using alcohol but I worry that will dry them too much and make them fail, but since I am using so much oil I will give it a try, once, at least. I am afraid Gorilla glue takes too long to dry and may just peal off good callus in the end. (Maybe I will try it on a less important finger of my other hand.)

I may have to drop a dime on some of this other stuff. . .

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Ella
Date: 08 Aug 12 - 10:28 PM

I just realized I do use a little rubbing alcohol. I soak arnica flowers, that I buy in bulk online, in rubbing alcohol for at least two weeks, then use as needed for inflammation. It is much stronger than the homeopathic version and cheaper! Which is fine as long as you are not allergic to arnica. I have used this on my fingers occasionally without thinking. Anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and drying. If I have to use alcohol, arnica alcohol is what I will use. Don't use arnica stuff on broken skin.

Nu Skin is New Skin liquid bandaid and there are other liquid bandaid products around including house brands of your local drug store. Much cheaper than the official guitar stuff.

Collodian just means glue.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 09 Aug 12 - 10:46 PM

The easiest way to get and maintain calluses is to practice daily.

If strings are cutting your fingertips one or more of a few things should be looked at.

a) Have the action on your guitar/banjo/mandolin, etc., checked.

b) If you haven't changed your strings for a year maybe the trebles are corroding and when you dive into that rock solo with a slide from fret 0 to fret 15 and stretch it, all in a trice--well, look out. May as well run a hacksaw over the ends of your fingertips.

c) A string that can cut skin can cut calluses, which are just dead skin and deadened nerves. You'll find that in winter the tips of your callused fingers will freeze very easily, and you'll also find out how deadened your nerves are when your fingertips thaw. Hurts like a sonuvbitch.

d) The nails on your chord hand are too long for standard tuning. That could cause your fingers to angle down, thus having that thin line between callus and 'live' skin exposed to a string and slit-ouch-&%$#@^& - #*)&%^$%^@# it goes.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 10:10 PM

sometimes you are bored and your hand sits on a table and you're tapping your fingers....put some fairly coarse sandpaper under your fingers and tap away for a while.

Calluses are formed by the healing of the small cuts/scratches you create. No cuts... no calluses. No need to draw blood here.

Sandpaper gives a good coverage unlike a string.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 10:18 PM

I'm surprised no one's mentioned using a cold wet teabag on your fingertips.

It's an old picker's trick. The tannic acid toughens the fingertips.

The cold tea bag's also great for after you've played your fingertips sore. Just feels good and takes the pain away.

It isn't an instant remedy, but will toughen your fingertips in a few days max.

And you can have a cup of tea off the bag first before you do all this. Win-win all around.

Bob

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,Deez Nutz
Date: 23 May 22 - 11:12 PM

Superglue will work just fine.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 24 May 22 - 06:00 AM

When I was little and we used to throw off our shoes in the summer, we'd treat our feet a few days running with methylated spirit to harden them up. Didn't work immediately, though.

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 May 22 - 06:12 AM

All you need is love.
Love oh love oh callus love ???

Subject: RE: Help: instant callus ideas?
From: gillymor
Date: 24 May 22 - 07:10 AM

I play so much that I don't even think about calluses any more but I used to soak my finger tips on both hands in pickle brine, (it helped with my picking hand as well because I couldn't keep fingernails during my working life). Claussen pickles are my favourites. I wouldn't go crazy with the super glue because we used to use it with a spray activator to put together architectural moldings and one fellow used his fingers too much in it's application and wound up having surgery due to skin loss.

Subject: RE: Guitar Help: instant callus ideas?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 28 May 22 - 04:14 PM

When you clip or file your nails be careful not to cut your callouses.

Even if they disappear occasionally, distributed practice throughout the day will bring them
back.