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A Warning...watch yer fingers (for Dummies)

amerbs38

amerbs38

Jan 15, 2012
123
31
78
Santa Cruz, CA
www.youtube.com
#1
About 6 weeks ago I got me a new Mandolin Potato Slicer (stop here if you`re squeamish.) Anyway I grab a potato to try it out (not using the safety attachment of course)...the potato seems to stick so I give it a good push...and cut of the tips of my three middle fingers (thank goodness I had calluses). It hurt like hell and bled like crazy for 30 minutes but the main thought was "who would be dumb enough to do this?" I`m not a working musician so no big tragedy but I use all the fingers on my right hand finger style and now it`s thumb and little finger. Anyway, ALWAYS THINK BEFORE DOING SOMETHING STUPID. Then try not do do it.
 
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#4
Ouch! Practice potato safety, people.

I did this to myself about eight years ago loading in to the first gig with a newly formed band. Crushed and severed the end of my ring finger and broke the tip of my middle finger in a fall, holding onto the handle of a hand truck all the way down to the sidewalk right outside the venue. Both fingernails gone. Left them on the sidewalk. Needless to say, I missed the gig, but no others. It was a Wednesday. I managed to play an afternoon wedding and an evening club gig the following Saturday using only my pointer finger - a total of six hour-long sets. I tried using a pick, but my aluminum splints kept hitting the strings. It was tiring.

A few years earlier I crushed my left pinky between my bass cabinet and a door know loading out of a gig. I was out for five gigs that time.

Link RemovedLink Removed
 
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#5
I did the mandolin slicer thing to my index finger too. Luckily the tip was still attached by a tiny flap of skin so it made healing MUCH easier. Professionals can use those however they want, but I ALWAYS use the little poker/plunger guide thing that came with it now.
 
#6
Ouch, you guys, this is the most wince-enducing thread ever on TB.

I always marvel that musicians don't take greater care with their bodies, considering the implications of injury.
A favorite peeve of mine is guitarists injured by bicycle fall. Stone Roses, anyone?

Even better is guitar players who punch the wall in frustration. Tom Petty and Jackson Browne are two tantrum throwers
who come to mind. Guitarists, don't punch walls or fall off bikes! Bassists, buy your potatoes pre-diced!


P.S. OP, get well soon!
 
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#7
My friends band had just finished recording their album and were getting ready to tour. During band practice we would toss a football around for fun.

About a week before the tour the bassist fell and broke his right wrist. So they decided to use the x-ray as the CD disc artwork. Since the album was already titled "Disconnected".. it made sense :)

0fe1c3c4of5.jpg
 
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#8
Jah Wobble Fan said:
Ouch, you guys, this is the most wince-enducing thread ever on TB.

I always marvel that musicians don't take greater care with their bodies, considering the implications of injury.
A favorite peeve of mine is guitarists injured by bicycle fall. Stone Roses, anyone?

Even better is guitar players who punch the wall in frustration. Tom Petty and Jackson Browne are two tantrum throwers
who come to mind. Guitarists, don't punch walls or fall off bikes! Bassists, buy your potatoes pre-diced!


P.S. OP, get well soon!
Click to expand...
Yep, don't punch stuff, or at least limit your punching to things made to be punched, it's the reason I kinda have to use a pick on some stuff now.
 
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#10
Those things are dangerous. We had one for slicing tomatoes in a little cafe. A number of people sliced their fingers on that thing. I always was VERY cautious with it. If someone started talking to me when I was using it I would stop and put it down.
To the OP, don't feel so bad, you are one of many who have sliced themselves with a mandolin.
 
#11
Jah Wobble Fan said:
I always marvel that musicians don't take greater care with their bodies, considering the implications of injury.
Click to expand...

Me too. I live in a ski town and the amount of full-time muso's I know that snowboard is amazing. The most common injury to snowboarders is a broken wrist..... or two. Skiing accidents usually involve legs and rarely involve hands or wrists so as long as you've got help lugging your gear you can at least do a the gig and keep earning a living.
 
#12
A few years ago I bought a foreclosure and being the cheapskate and perfectionist that I am, I decided to do a lot of the restoration work myself (I work for myself so I have some control over my work schedule). While painting one night, I needed to change roller covers. To do that, usually requires a good whack on something solid. The room is empty except for my ladder. Sitting on one of the ladder rungs is my mostly full water bottle. Just as I swing the roller into the ladder a little voice goes off in my head saying, "bad idea, bad idea", but you think I listen? NOOOOoooooo! The cover is loose and there's water all over the carpet that will stain if I don't blot it up, so, 45 minutes later, I get back to painting. Ever since then, when that little voice starts talking, I stop moving and listen first. Saved me a lot of trouble more times than I can count.
 
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#13
Inertialsky said:
My friends band had just finished recording their album and were getting ready to tour. During band practice we would toss a football around for fun.

About a week before the tour the bassist fell and broke his right wrist. So they decided to use the x-ray as the CD disc artwork. Since the album was already titled "Disconnected".. it made sense :)

0fe1c3c4of5.jpg
Click to expand...

Awesome! Lol
 
#18
While I certainly sympathize with the OP's pain, my suggestion would be to exclusively eat uncut baked potatoes. We might get brain cancer from the microwave, but at least we won't be cutting up our precious little bass playin' digits. :)

M. M.
 
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#19
Note to self: Do not buy mandolin slicer.

I worked in a deli in my early 20s and sliced some of my thumb along with the turkey breast. Luckily the customer wanted really thin slices so it wasn't that horrible and healed quickly.

I'm not a fan of anything sharp that either plugs in or uses gasoline. Iffy on batteries too.
 
#20
I recall one day about 10 years ago when I was polishing my cymbals (I'm a drummer too), I took them outside to get started, carrying the smallest ones atop each consecutive bigger one. The door to the outside wasn't open enough to let me fit through with my 20" ride, so I though to myself, "I'll just turn the cymbals sideways so I can get through," and immediately went ahead and tried.

3 of the cymbals fell onto the deck immediately, one of them was a hi hat that actually landed right in between the first and second knuckle of my left "ring" toe (right next to ol' pinky toe).

Needless to say, that toe is now slightly longer than its partner on the opposite foot, but I never bothered to go get it checked out for some reason, so I don't know if I actually broke it. I'm usually pretty good getting that sort of thing looked at. It doesn't hurt at all and I have full movement so I'm chalking it up to dumb luck.

Sure was one hell of an afternoon, though.
 
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