Wearing out my fingers...

[socialleper]

First, for anyone that doesn't know me, I'm not a newbie. Been playing over 30 years, always active, have toured lots with lots of different groups, played in bands that play 5X a week, yada, yada...

My new band however is a new animal. I've had a string of gigs like never before. Played 7 shows in the past 2 weeks, and they're all three 1 hour sets of fairly high energy music. In between those gigs I'm learning new songs, so I'm playing now more than ever before.

My right hand fingers are for the first time ever getting ripped to shreds and I have to do something about it. It's painful and I'm starting to get concerned about permanent damage, or infection. I started using a liquid band-aide thing before playing, but it only helps minimally. It allowed the cut to heal, but my finger is raw, and if I don't lay off the bass for a couple of days it's going to open right up again.

I've heard of the crazy glue method of doing things, but I'd like to know more. Anyone know if that can cause serious damage to an open wound? Is it a safe thing to do? Does it really work?

Are there any other options aside from the idea of lightening up, which I have - but sometimes don't want to.

I may have to resort to a pick playing till this thing heals completely, but I don't want really want to do that either, unless absolutely necessary.

Thoughts? Help? Info on crazy glue? Experience?

I have no personal experience with this, but my sets are short and rarely back-to-back days. I read an article that interviewed Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots and he said he has done this on occasion. He a pretty monster player, so I'd take what he says about this at face value. When I was a kid I built a lot of models and miniatures with Crazy Glue, so i got it on my fingers a lot. I see the logic.

 

[Admiral Akbar]

First, for anyone that doesn't know me, I'm not a newbie. Been playing over 30 years, always active, have toured lots with lots of different groups, played in bands that play 5X a week, yada, yada...

My new band however is a new animal. I've had a string of gigs like never before. Played 7 shows in the past 2 weeks, and they're all three 1 hour sets of fairly high energy music. In between those gigs I'm learning new songs, so I'm playing now more than ever before.

My right hand fingers are for the first time ever getting ripped to shreds and I have to do something about it. It's painful and I'm starting to get concerned about permanent damage, or infection. I started using a liquid band-aide thing before playing, but it only helps minimally. It allowed the cut to heal, but my finger is raw, and if I don't lay off the bass for a couple of days it's going to open right up again.

I've heard of the crazy glue method of doing things, but I'd like to know more. Anyone know if that can cause serious damage to an open wound? Is it a safe thing to do? Does it really work?

Are there any other options aside from the idea of lightening up, which I have - but sometimes don't want to.

I may have to resort to a pick playing till this thing heals completely, but I don't want really want to do that either, unless absolutely necessary.

Thoughts? Help? Info on crazy glue? Experience?

Nerve - I didn't take the time to read through this thread, so I don't know if my advice is redundant. But I can tell you it works for me. Like you, I've been playing gigs for about 25 years. When I have high intensity gigs that are close together, my right hand tends to callous up, skin cracks pretty bad. I'm usually switching between upright jazz, big band jazz, R&B, and even blues-rock. So you get the picture. Wrapping my right hand index and middle fingers in cloth band aid (Johnson's) works very well for me. It takes a couple of tunes to get used to not "feeling the strings", but I find my playing is none the worse.

If your skin cracks, immediately apply bacitracin (or triple antibiotic, neosporin, Bactroban) or perhaps Betadine solution to prevent bacterial invasion/colonization/infection/pain.

I do not "pop" blisters. Simply cover with cloth bandaid and change as often as needed throughout the evening. Popping blisters creates loose skin that can become infected. Or at least exposes sensitive skin that will be even more uncomfortable than the blister itself.

Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

 

[James Collins]

Is that true, or is it just something someone once said that people have come to believe? Are they using actual crazy glue, as in the same chemical compound? Or something that surgically glues wounds together that seems to work just like crazy glue?

It is absolutely true. The glue is a cyanoacrylate. Common medical brands are dermabond and octacyl. I'm pretty sure the original use was wounds in one of the world wars.

If you use it though, make sure your fingers are clean. I've seen people put it on and get infections from not being clean enough.

 

[Dougie44]

Tight fitted goat skin glove