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blisters...?

S

snapple

Nov 25, 2003
238
1
41
Victoria-Vancouver Canada
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: PCL Vintage Amps
#1
hey, does anyone have any suggestions to make a blister heal or harden asap?

im going on tour in two days and have a monster one on my middle right finger. I know, I know... I should be playing more so i don't get them but my girlfriend is pregnant and takes up most of my time.
:hiding:


What I usually do is deflate the blister, but my finger is still soft until the skin underneath matures..

thanks
 
#4
Pop it with a sterilized needle on the side receiving the least friction while playing. Ie, fingernail side on plucking hand.

Drain completely, cover repeatedly with newskin. Better than superglue, which works, but doesn't contain meds like newskin.

Also, consistent practice and efficient technique will make em go away long term. I play 40+ hours a week, and get blisters only after vacation.
 
#5
Playing a lot is the simplest way to do it.

I just took a break (summer) from playing upright, and my fingers are being drastically torn up. What I usually do is pop my blisters as soon as I get them, and before they get big, that way, at least the affected area isn't my whole finger.

After that, I play on that part, really hard, so that it builds up. If that doesn't work, sleep on it for a night. The pain should subside, and THEN play the hell out of it.

And just remember, pain is weakness leaving the body.
 
#6
You could do what Stevie Ray Vaughan used to do when he had a blister...he would Superglue his fingertip to his arm, then rip it off, and the skin from his arm would tear off and form a cover. Now that's what I call dedication!
 
#8
don't pop it! dont play with that finger for a day or two it'll deflate on its on and you'll have a layer of hard skin over it while your body heals itself. IMHO this is the best way.
 
#12
No experience on popping and super glue but newskin helped glue a gash on my left index finger a day before(and during) a gig.

Get some of these as insurance and keep them in your gigbag or bass case:
PK370-L_sm_.jpg


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Used them when starting bass in the 60's with nylon tapewound strings and ZERO callouses. I'd warm them up in very hot water and put them on the blister finger to make them fit....sort of a replacement fingertip. Took about 1/2 hour to get used to them. Back then they were only available in white or metal(banjo/bluegrass pickers use 'em).
 
#13
Cats.

I've been using the newskin method for years. Drain it and it'll heal faster.

An old tour dog taught me this trick a whiles back.

On the road once I reached into my shaving kit (perhaps hung over...) and I cut the whole callous off my first finger. Ya'll who play the upright are cringing right now. Hit it with about 20 coats of new skin and you'll get through the gig, no issues.

The whole concept behind draining a blister is like this:

The liquid inside the blister softens the new growth underneath. Essentially, when you have pus in your blister, it's like soaking the new growth underneath in water for as many days as it takes for the blister to go down. You are already softening the new growth, and making it more resistant to the new callous, which needs to be as hard and dry as the Arizona dessert.

Plus, when you drain it, with proper sanitization, the risk of infection is extremely low due to the extereme exodermis you puncture to rupture the blister. For the love of all things holy, leave the skin on there- when you newskin the heck out of it, that layer will serve as yet another layer of protection. Ask me sometime over a beer about the time I ruptured a blister on a gig with a jazz legend and bled all over my bass.

So why not pop the sucker? Bonus points for hitting your drummer with the pus spray.:bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :bassist:
 
#15
JimmyM said:
I never knew BB did the gluing to the arm trick, too. But I would be willing to bet that it wasn't that that gave him diabetes but his weight. And possibly a little too much booze when he was younger.
Click to expand...


I could very well be wrong about the diabetes (although I was pretty sure. A well-read guy drilled this into me for months).

What he used to do was cut the skin off his elbows and glue it to his fingertips.
 

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