Blisters: To Pop or Not to Pop?

[musicman5string]

Hey Paul! I was the one with the lotion notion.....

yeah, every other bass player that has seen me do this has said the same thing; "Don't you hands get sticky?", "How can you grip the strings?", etc.
All I know is that it doesn't feel sticky at all; in fact, if I don't use any my hands sweat and will feel sticky, and it dries up pretty quickly, as I only use a small amount, so it's not as though you've got all this cream on your hands....(man, this just doesn't sound good does it...)

anyhoo, yeah, Dave Holland defintely was using hand lotion; in fact when I saw him at Birdland last winter he was still using it.

[tZer]

I had no difficulty with cloth band-aids interfering with my tone - there was a little getting used to it involved, but otherwise my tone was fine. Of course it was a little different, but I would rather have a night or two of subtly different tone over days on end of messed up fingertips and ruined callouses.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by musicman5string

I don't know if this helps from getting blisters, but I saw Dave Holland years ago use hand lotion right before a set started, so I started doing that too. Soon I stopped having blister problems.
Now I use lotion each time before I play, I even apply it in between sets. Works for me, and I think it somehow improves my sound....somehow I hear more clarity from the instrument. I don't know why that is. Anyone else do this?

Everyone has their own thang....
I'm more like Damon. I clean my fingerboard after each set. I've sat in on basses that make me want to puke. These boards are like so bad, you'd need a Swiss Army knife to clean the crap off. That crud gets on your fingers. ruins your sound and slows you down. Maybe that's why Charlie Haden doesn't play alot of notes.

[musicman5string]

Yeah, I'm a big advocate of the cleaning of the fingerboard as well; after each set, I will thoroughly wipe down the strings and fingerboard with a soft rag, and at home I'll use a little rubbing alcohol on cotton balls to clean the strings and fingerboard. I sometimes carry in my case these little indivdual alcohol swabs that people who take insulin use; I clean the strings and board with them and then once more with a dry cloth.

[mje]

Originally Posted by hdiddy

I heard Superglue was invented during WWII (not Vietnam) as a soldiers emergency first aid.

No, it was invented at Eastman in 1942 and not developed commercially until the 50s. It was used sparingly by some in Vietnam as a field expedient.

The problem with using ordinary superglue medically is one of sterility. Second Skin/New Skin/collodion doesn't have that problem.

[hdiddy]

I've been messing around with a small chalk ball/sock that's used for rock climbing like I described in the other blister thread. So far it's really good. Gives me a nice and dry grip for the fingers. To use, I just dab my two pizz fingers on the chalk sock and rubbed my fingers just a little bit til they feel very dry. Apply the chalk just once was enough for a 4 hour jam session last weekend.

Last night, as an experiment, I dabbed my fingers a second time for that evening after finishing a practice session just to see what would happen. Right now, I have two visible blisters that tend to swell up after practicing - one on each finger. Anyways, despite me washing my hands sometime before going to bed, I was surprised this morning that the swelling had gone down alot. I got a similar result as if I had soaked my fingers in brine. Zeery interestink....

We'll see how this goes. So far I like the chalk alot. I dont' flub the strings anymore and get a really solid sound because of the grip.

[hdiddy]

Originally Posted by mje

No, it was invented at Eastman in 1942 and not developed commercially until the 50s. It was used sparingly by some in Vietnam as a field expedient.

FWIW: I just had a dental implant done because one of my teeth had broken and needed a replacement. (my wallet still hurts. ) After they removed the tooth, they put a membrane patch that was stitched into my gums. To keep the stitching held in place for a week, they used something that felt a hell of alot like superglue on the threads and especially on the knots. Eventually the membrane dissolves and the stitches need to be cut and taken out. Rather interesting experience.

[Damon Rondeau]

I certainly don't offer my experience as a model of what others can expect, but I can say that I have never had any kind of problem with blisters and infection. With a blood blister there may be a direct avenue to the bloodstream, but with your garden variety clear blister the only things that disturb me are the inconvenience and mitigating the damage. Infected blisters? Never encountered it, never heard of it, among bassists or any of the other working stiffs I've hung with over the years. Anyone out there with stories to straighten me out on that?

[Anonymous75966]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

The blister has to break one way our the other...I break mine with a sterilized needle as close to the outside edge of the blister as possible. Try to kind of sculpt that dead, outer skin and keep it as long as possible 'cause that's all you got to buffer that raw inner skin which will eventually become your macho calous.
When that skin does come off, it's just the great music you're playing to keep you going!

This is pretty much exactly what I do - for me leads to the same problem Ray mentioned, having a big hole in the middle of thick callous. It does make the pizz tone a little weird.

I used to carry a sort of blister kit in my bass bag - alcohol, razor blades, and krazy glue. I've occasionally drained a blister, disinfected it, and - out of desperation - krazy glued it back together, during a set break. I've never had an infected blister or even heard of one.

I used to have a lot of trouble with this, not so much lately ... but I find even when my callouses get quite thick they stay soft and moist, instead of turning into, umm, thick, dry, horny callouses.

[ToR-Tu-Ra]

I used to get some very nasty blood blisters. I drained them most of the times to get some relief, but none ever infected. Now I'm getting small normal blisters and I don't drain them if they're not too bad, besides, most form under my little baby callous that's starting to form, so I just leave them and don't hurt that bad anymore either.

[Jazzin']

I've been playing upright for a week and now I have small regular blister on my middle finger and a giant blood blister on my index. I popped the middle finger one already. I got the blood one today from jamming for the first time on upright with no amp, plus I only used my index finger since my middle had a blister on it. I'm going to pop the blood one soon.

[Marcus Johnson]

I don't remember ever getting a blister from playing the bass. I also don't really have "callouses" like I'd get from a day working in the garden, for instance. Yet I play at least as much as anybody else does, if not more. I gig constantly, and have done so for over three decades.

I'm not bragging here, it's just kind of curious to me. I remember my lips feeling like chopped liver when I was a trumpet player, so obviously I'm not made of Teflon. Has anyone else had virtually no problems with blisters and callouses?

Fire away with the smartass remarks....

[Peck_Time]

Turpentine is good for hardening the skin, apparently the early white settlers to New Zealand used to drink it to keep away the sandflies.

I haven't gone so far as to drink it, but turps worked on my blisters.

[Ozonbass]

Originally Posted by Damon Rondeau

I find that pizzing on a drained blister toughens up the blistered area real fast.

Man, I know it's early, but I gotta admit, when I first read this, I thought, "Wow, pretty cool...just like jelly fish stings"....but then it hit me.

[fu22ba55]

(First of, I haven't played DB since my high school years, many moons ago. Not worthy... Not worthy...)

But for that newfangled electrified bass, I've used superglue on many occasions and been ok. I remember hearing in an interview that Flea used to just pour the stuff on after coming back from a hiatus and losing his calluses.

I thought DB players used superglue as a matter of course? I remember seeing a DB-playing pal 'o mine pouring superglue into his massive blister cavities before many a show.

I know the military uses a superglue-like solution in the field to heal wounds. It would be GREAT to get my hands on a tube of that stuff.

The "liquid skin" / "new skin" product I tried works more like nail polish. More a lacquer than a glue, takes too long a time to dry, too much alcohol to evaporate.

[Big B.]

Originally Posted by mje

No, it was invented at Eastman in 1942 and not developed commercially until the 50s. It was used sparingly by some in Vietnam as a field expedient.

The problem with using ordinary superglue medically is one of sterility. Second Skin/New Skin/collodion doesn't have that problem.

As a woodworker I work with superglue alot and I would not put it on any kind of open wound. There are some serious chemicals in that stuff that I dont want getting in my system. Just take a whiff. Granted, on the field of battle the drawbacks of superglue are outweighed by the severity of the wounds but I dont think a blister is worth it. Anybody have any working knowledge about cyanoacrylate and other chemicals in superglue?