• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Finger-Ease for some uh. . . finger ease?

Chasarms

Chasarms

Casual Observer
May 24, 2001
6,109
872
56
Saint Louis, MO USA
#1
I am in the process of rehearsing through a really long set for some holiday gigs. It all DB which is not completely familiar to me. I am more used to the breaks I get when switching to slab for a tune or two. I am also playing some pizz stuff that is about at the edge of my ability as far as speed.

Anyway, after about 70 minutes last night, I was dying and was compelled to spray down the fb (to about the octave) with a product called Tone Finger-Ease. It is a spray-on substance marketed to our guitar playing friends.

It really did make playing more comfortable. So, I am curious if anyone has any experience with products like this. If so, can someone recommend a better alternative.

Also, any thoughts on the possibility of ill effects on the strings or fingerboard would be appreciated.

I don't see me doing it all the time, but I can see it making my life easier for this holiday season. Unless, of course, I spray it down in the area where I bow. That would make for some bad medicine, no doubt.
 
#3
I knew a gee-tar player back in the '80s that filed a lawsuit against the makers of Finger Ease, claiming that it made him impotent. No joke. Claimed that he'd played his guitar with that stuff on the strings and went to relieve himself. Got some of the lube on Mr. Happy and from thenceforth Mr. Happy became flaccid and useless. Don't know how it was resolved, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

:hiding:
 
#4
If I use anything I use mineral oil. I only use it when it gets humid and sticky here in Chicago summers. I think the added friction of not using a lube helps the tone.

Mineral oil is CHEAP and a bottle will last forever. You can buy it in the pharmacy. It is marketed as a lubricant laxitive.

It also works well to clean the fingerboard.


oh, btw only use a drop. Get a little bottle in the travel bottles section of the pharmacy. Also keep it in a ziploc bag. A friend of mine had a bottle leak in his bag and it made a huge mess.
 
#5
mchildree said:
I knew a gee-tar player back in the '80s that filed a lawsuit against the makers of Finger Ease, claiming that it made him impotent. No joke. Claimed that he'd played his guitar with that stuff on the strings and went to relieve himself. Got some of the lube on Mr. Happy and from thenceforth Mr. Happy became flaccid and useless. Don't know how it was resolved, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

:hiding:
Click to expand...


You sure it wasn't the sister product, "Elbow Ease?" :D
 
#8
toman said:
I used to know a drummer who used the "Lectric Shave, too. I'm not really sure how it was applied since we only played a few gigs together, but he always seemed to have a bottle hanging around.
Click to expand...

Most drummers I know can use all the "smell-good" help they can get.
 
#9
I used finger-ease on my bass strings for one gig some time ago and the bass's sound went dead for a week, until I cleaned the strings with alcohol. Saved my fingers, but I wouldn't use it again.

Before a night's playing I clean the strings and fingerboard with methylated spirit on a rag, then use a few dabs of olive oil wiped on the fingerboard, and whatever ends up on the strings i leave it there. helps a lot.

Neither finger ease nor oil nor lectric shave will help your right hand though ...
 
#10
i've used it for like 10 years with no negative affect on tone or the wood. i got turned on to it when i saw larry ridley using it, then i saw tal farlow and gary mazzaropi using it. i love it, and it hasnt damaged strings or wood in 10 years...but becareful, it does take some of the friction away, and some people will say that if it makes things easier, then its a bad thing. if anyone ever asks me what i'm spraying i tell them it's "wrong note repellent". usually, they then ask for some too (on their sax or keyboard etc.)
 
#16
mchildree said:
Does anyone else find that using these kinds of things softens your callouses? Does mine.
Click to expand...


Based on your previous post, it seems to be a general purpose softening agent. :p


As for me, I don't have callouses. I never have. In 20 years of guitar, slab and db I have nary a callous. I have gotten a few blisters from very, very active stretches of playing -- several hours daily for several straight days. But no callouses.

My DB alone time these days probably averages 40-90 minutes 4-5 days a week. About 60 percent pizz 40 arco.

My fingers get tender while playing, but they never seem to harden up. Maybe I don't play enough.
 
#17
mike da mook said:
I recall someone mentioning in a related thread that they would rub their right hand finger tips on the outside of their nose for a natural lubricant. I tried it once on a gig and yeah it works.
Click to expand...
That works for Edgar. Just saw him play the other night and he did that frequently. All the other times I've seen him, I barely but vaguely remember him doing it some. Seems he did it more at this concert, but it would precede some awesome runs during his Concerto in D. So maybe it reflected the req'ts of his material.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back