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23 May 01 - 01:29 AM (#468450) Subject: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Margo No, it's not lions and tigers and bears, but something much more horrifying! Now that it is hot here I get sweaty hands and it's the devil to try and play my guitar or banjo with them like that. I keep wiping them, but my hand won't move freely up and down the neck and I miss a lot of notes. It occured to me to try using powder on my palms. Has anyone done that? Might it do something bad to the finish, like get into the wood? Thanks for any input, Margo |
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23 May 01 - 11:22 AM (#468662) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: RichM I have sweaty palms too. When it gets to be a problem--usually during summer- or during long performances, I keep a small terry cloth towel close by. I suppose you could also use an antiperspirant on the palms of the hands, but I have no idea if it would interact with the lacquer finish of a fine guitar. I know that it wouldn't affect the polyester finish of less expensive modern guitars. Rich |
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23 May 01 - 02:14 PM (#468810) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Bluegrass Girl Don't use antiperspirant on your hands -- it will definitely harm the finish on the neck, body - anywhere you touch - on your guitar. I have a terrible time with hot stage lighting, etc. - causing my entire arm to sweat. Ruined the finish on one of my Martins from sweaty right arm where it rests on the guitar. Now I've made several material guards I call "no sweats". They are nice looking, light (don't affect the sound at all), and protect my (more expensive) Martins from possible damage. My Bass player husband uses baby powder in the summer to keep his left palm dry and moving freely up and down the neck of his doghouse bass. Hasn't hurt the bass at all. Worth a try. Good luck! BBB |
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23 May 01 - 02:20 PM (#468814) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: jeffp I use baby powder myself when things get too bad. You can substitute corn starch, as modern baby powder is just corn starch with perfumes. Several years ago I was using a shaker of baby powder that I had had seemingly forever and had a tremendous problem of buildup on the guitar. I looked at the label and the ingredients were: talc, perfumes! Old, old stuff. (For you younger catters, talcum powder was made from ground talc, the softest mineral known. It was banned as a cancer and silicosis risk.) Yes, I had rock buildup on my guitar. I guess it was appropriate, as it was an electric guitar. jeffp |
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23 May 01 - 02:37 PM (#468831) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: mousethief I keep a towel and a small container of baby powder in my guitar case. Works a charm. Alex |
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23 May 01 - 02:51 PM (#468842) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Chicken Charlie This is not exactly a fashion statement, but we have been stuck outdoors at all temperatures between 50 and 100 F, so--get a pair of "garden gloves." Hack off the fingers and the wrist band. Cotton absorbs moisture, doesn't interfere with playing. They're cheap and come in two great designer colors: (a) black and (b) white. But it's a solution. CC |
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23 May 01 - 07:03 PM (#469043) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Margo Excellent!! Thanks! I'll try both powder and glove... Margo |
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23 May 01 - 07:15 PM (#469054) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Malcolm Douglas Powder works quite well; Martin Carthy uses it, for one. |
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23 May 01 - 07:16 PM (#469055) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Jon Freeman Anyone else noticed that if you use a flat pick and your hands are sweaty, the thing slips, spins, etc but the fingerboard tends to get sticky. Sort of like it's a lubricant one way and and adhesive the other and the wrong way round! Jon |
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23 May 01 - 07:43 PM (#469074) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Malcolm Douglas Yes! At one time I used to use rosin on the right hand and talc on the left, for that very reason. |
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23 May 01 - 08:21 PM (#469095) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: GUEST,ghost I got'em too. People notice when you shake their hand with a sweaty grip. Worse than that is all the money I've had to spend on guitar strings as a result of the acids and/or oils in the persperation destroying my strings as quickly as I get them on and tuned up. It's no wonder I've got the blues all the time. I have to spend so much money just to keep a decent set of strings on my gitters that I'm being driven to the brink of poverty by my passion for performin'. Help me Obiwan Kenobi you're my only hope. Yikes!!! Talc is a carcinogen?!? Why don't they have a warning on the labels of all that baby powder. I've been using it, well, you know, in those areas that tend to get chafed on a hot and humid day but I never thought of using it for my hands. I don't think I'd like having to deal with the buildup on my instrument. Especially if it could cause cancer or silliness of any kind. Hey, I'm silly enough without it. There's no reason to compound the matter with further silliness. Come to think of it, I have been feeling sillier than usual of late. Does that mean I've contracted the dreaded silicosis? My tongue is coated too and it has two pairs of pants to go with it. Hypochondriacally yours, |
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23 May 01 - 08:54 PM (#469121) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Murray MacLeod Interesting point GUEST Ghost makes about sweat killing the strings. Some people seem to kill the strings just by tocuching them. I remember lending my guitar (freshly restrung ) to a guy in Edinburgh who played one song and gave me bacj the guitar, The strings were dead, especially the E and B, and were black up to the third fret.. Some people must have extra-acidic sweat. Murray |
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23 May 01 - 09:05 PM (#469128) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Malcolm Douglas Lactic acid in particular, I'm told. |
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24 May 01 - 01:53 AM (#469278) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Peg if you wipe off the strings with a soft cloth (chamois flannel, same kind you use to wipe off your guitar body) after playing they will last longer...
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24 May 01 - 05:07 AM (#469324) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: gnu When I get the sweaty left hand, I switch to a tuneable Hran and crank the head tight. Oh, excuse me, this is a music thread... don't mind me, I'll just leave quietly. |
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24 May 01 - 05:24 AM (#469331) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: alison OK.... but what about when the sweat runs down your head and washes your sunscreen into your eyes???? ouch!!!! I'd like to point out that I am not that sweaty... but it gets damn hot over here... and you can't wipe it off when you're playing the whistle.... *grin* I don't usually have a problem with my hands... but my chin gets sweaty in summer and makes it damn hard to keep the flute from sliding off..... anyone got good cures for foreheads and chins??? slainte alison |
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24 May 01 - 09:37 AM (#469436) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: Willie-O There's a small crescent-shaped patch along the upper edge of my Martin guitar's body where the finish has rubbed away, no doubt due to contact with my sweaty arm, but it doesn't bother me. I consider natural playing wear to be aesthetically pleasing, in fact--where player and instrument meet and become one. (OM!) (O-18, actually) Willie-O
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24 May 01 - 07:23 PM (#469884) Subject: RE: Sweaty hands (Oh my!) From: GUEST,ghost Just the other night I jumped into a jam session/open stage. I'm wary of strange jams and rarely indulged in them. Except for the kind that you can spread on toast. Those I love! My experience that night is why. The backup band wanted to join me on my set. Not considering what might transpire I agreed to have them play along. The bass player requested a song he had heard me perform once before at the open stage, my version of the Rock Island Line. I do a relatively simple rhythm on the one chord through most of the song but it does have a few variations of tempo and a couple of tricky chord changes in places that are definitely not easy to guess at unless you're familiar with how I perform it. Well, to make a long post even longer, the regular drummer got down to take a break just as I was about to start and someone with less skill took over. Of course I didn't know of his inability until the song started and I realized he could not follow what I was doing. So there I am with a virgin bunch of guys who, partially due to the volume of their respective amps, could not hear what I was doing to follow. The drummer faltered in and out of rhythm. The lead player on electric guitar, could not figure out that I was playing only one chord through most of the song and the bass player besides being too loud just got lost as well. Well, with all of this cacophony of mayhem swimming about in my ears I was having to strain to hear my carefully constructed arrangement and as if that wasn't bad enough, perspiration began to pour from my forehead like it's never done before. My eyelashes soon became so drenched in sweat that I couldn't see to look into the audience. Because I was in the middle of this rather lengthy version of this song, that the bass player had requested of me, I couldn't easily stop and take the time to mop my brow. In short it was a nightmare. I guess it was nervousness about wanting to make a good impression that got the whole sweaty brow thing going. I knew that if I had performed alone I could have done a good job with the song but with all of the other instrumentation going on and the volume being too loud, it just went from bad to worse as the song progressed. I thought my best chance of performing with others who were unfamiliar my material was to try to do a song with as few chords as possible but in this case the tempo was a stumbling block and so was my rather unusual arrangement. Well, ya live and learn, and sweat a lot because of it. |