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Blisters - leave 'em / pop 'em / superglue ?

#21
superglue+antiseptic=Newskin

every bassist should carry newskin with em all the time.

for what it's worth, my vetrenarian buddies claim to use superglue on our pets all the time...

good point btw about popping away fromt the affected area.

ask me over a beer sometime about how I poorly popped a blood blister on my first gig with a major jazz artist and bled all over my bass...
 
#23
chicagodoubler said:
Pop it and drain as soon as it fills up with clear liquid. DO NOT remove the layer of skin unless it's flapping around. The secret is to pop close to your fingernail, so the whole you created doesn't snag on the string.

If you leave the liquid in there it's softening the underneath layer, and impeding your next callous. Simple anatomy.

After it's drained and cleaned, apply several layers of newskin. You'll be able to play the gig the same night, no problems.
Click to expand...

22pauld22 said:
the old double bass dudes would rub metholated spirits on the tips of their fingers to keep them really dry and hard ..

its pretty hard core also but keeps the skin on the end of your fingers really dead .. I tried this for a while and my calouses actually got too hard and I coudln't feel what I needed too .. so don't over do it if you try it
Click to expand...

chicagodoubler said:
once again.

anatomy 101.

the purpose of the pus is to soften the skin below.

pop it and drain it, apply newskin. the pus will only make your next recovery time longer.

secret road lessons of professional touring musicians, volume 1.
Click to expand...

All good especially the metho tip
 
#25
ignoring them and playing on? can lead to a blood blister. even if you pop a blood blister the right way, it can get real messy. see above reference to my first gig with a major jazz artist, where I bled on my bass so much it looked like a horror movie. by the second set I was walking with my ring finger. and by the end of the third set, I had a blister there too.

:eek:
 
#27
I occasionally get blisters from upright. If you have fluid form under the skin you need to get rid of it pronto or you WILL lose the skin that is over it. As has been previously stated, lance it with a sterile needle and drain. I always lance the blister away from the side that I will be plucking the string. That helps keep the small needle hole from snagging on the string and enlarging. If the skin gets fairly loose I will go ahead and trim it off with some fingernail clippers and then file down edges to prevent them from snagging and enlarging the wound.

If I wind up trimming away skin, I've had excellent results with using very hot (ie: steaming) brine to harden the new skin underneath. This method isn't for everyone as it involves sucking up a little pain but it seems to work better for me than using alchohol to toughen up new skin. I will take a coffee mug fill it halfway with water, dump a lot of salt into it then nuke it for approximately 45 seconds to a minute. I will then dip my hand into it briefly. I usually can't keep it in the water for more than a few seconds at a time before I need to remove it do to pain (this is steaming water after all). Eventually I can just leave my hand in as the water has cooled off. I keep this up till the water cools down to roughly room temp and then reheat and repeat a couple times. This really sucks the moisture out of the new skin and encourages it to form a callous. After doing this once a day for a week I've usually got my callous back. Once again this method isn't for everyone but it has been useful for me. Don't blame me if you scald yourself silly. ;)
 
#29
Great to see people talking about blisters!
the way I keep them at bay is to,
pop them with a sterilized needle on the side where the string was not going to aggrevate itand get the liquid out.
then do the old metholated spirit soak
it is a great suggestion to play a lot lighter but still a hot night club playing full on tends to get the sweat happening!
another thing to do is wear surgical gloves when having a shower...yeah sounds pretty funky but as my bass playing friend pointed out that getting your hands wet can lead to watching your hard earned callouses go down the drain!!!
rock on
BASS PIG
 
#31
Hey all ( and Chicago Doubler---I'm sure we must know eachother)
Haven't had a blister in 25 years, but occasionally get a cut or whatever. I do know that (with blisters) I had good results with sterilized needles and popping them.(and keeping antibioic cream on when not playing) These days if I get a cut I use flexible fabric bandages. I can actually play fine with them on (right or left hand) First couple of days I'll wear a bandage with antibiotic ointment all the time, but clean the wound and use a bandage without the ointment when playing. The ointment can come through the bandage and make it pretty much impossible to play. When done playing, clean it and put on the ointment and bandage. When it's getting near healed, I'll still use the bandange when playing, but let it air out otherwise. Keep the bandages onhand so that if the area is feeling tender you can put one on. If on a finger tip I'll put one strip over the finger and one wrapped around.They also make them in fingertip bandages.
I always have some in my car. This is not a paid advertisment for Johnson and Johnson.
 
#34
I just keeps it real and play with em. but i have to say that it hurts SUBSTANTIALLY more when you bite em off, if you have a gig and the blister bothers you, use the sterile needle method, but if you want to develop thick skin, leave em, the skin under will develop harder than the past layer.

quick note on building calouses, try your hardest to play just long enough that your fingers are "sore" and note blistered, because it sets you back in the long run
 
#35
I'm not sure if it's manufactured anymore, but when I was in the military, (due to the job that I had) blisters were quite common and we used a product called moleskin over the blister once we drained it. The product felt like suede with an adhesive backing. It would allow you to continue performing your task while minimizing friction in the affected area, thereby reducing irritation. Some guys would even place moleskin in areas prone to blisters BEFORE getting one in order to prevent the blisters all together!
 
#36
Pop with a sterilized needle (poke one small hole, preferably on the side, not the playing surface). I generally chuck a bandaid on there after that. Don't get blisters from Bass Guitar as I play hours daily, but my double bass time is few and far between, and that's killer on your plucking hand (especially on a bass set up for bowing :|)
 
#37
I've found that using a little Vitamin E after the gig works well, and this technique really only works if you've got several hours of downtime before you play again.
1)Lance a liquid Vitamin E capsule with a sterile needle
2)Lance the blister with a sterile needle
3)Pick up the Vitamin E with the unaffected hand
4)Squeeze the blister
5)Maintain pressure on the blister and cover it with Vitamin E
6)Release the blister, go to sleep, get loaded and make fun of the drummer, whatever...
Again, this doesn't work mid-gig as you've effectively created a Vitamin E blister, but the next day you'll be set.
 

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