how important is it...

AndyT
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Tue May 04, 2010 5:30 am

I'm jealous of you guys with calluses that need to be sanded.
My wife complained about how rough my hands were a few years ago and changed the soap I use for bathing. Now I have this soap that has all these moisturizers built-in and it's a serious trial to build a decent callus. My finger tips are hard, but nothing that I would ever have to attack with sandpaper.
Be happy you built yours so easily and keep them smoothed down so you can play cleaner and keep away from the moisturizer! ARGHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

:laugh:


michelew
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Tue May 04, 2010 4:31 pm

I often get grooves. I sand and moisturise so they don't get all flakey and/or peel. WOrks for me. I've still got dents in my first 2 finger tips, which never really seem to 'heal'? callous over. The callous seems to build up around them (sot of), hence the sanding.


izzyhara
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Tue May 04, 2010 4:44 pm

Interesting thread. I do not have grooves in my fingers except when I have been playing too long at one sitting. When I first came back to playing after 10-ish years off, I built callouses that were so hard, and the grooving was a problem then. However, now they are softer and don't seem to dent. Moisturizers probably have something to do with that. Maybe also because I play both nylon and steel strings??? But this could explain why, after playing for a long session, I can't get the notes as clear. I always thought that my hands were just tired. But it could be that the grooves were interferring. I will have to pay attention the next time I have that problem. Never dawned on me that these grooves would affect my playing. But now that you all point this out, it certainly would. Means I have been playing the same 3 chords too long - lol.


haoli25
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Tue May 04, 2010 7:37 pm

wrench wrote:
........I will say playing seems generally easier without the grooves, so I recommend dressing your callouses with some 120 grit.




Dan, I agree with you but I think 120 grit sandpaper or common emery boards may be a little too rough. They don't do a very good job of smoothing the edges of the callouses and more often than not, remove too much skin.
A trick an old guitar player taught me many years ago was to use a sharpening stone instead. I use a 12,000 grit waterstone. It is also great for forming and maintaining your nails too. It gives the perfect smooth finish. The edge finish on your nails is so smooth, they are less likely to crack and break.
You can find them online or at a local knife/cutlery store.


Bill


tom18
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Tue May 04, 2010 7:54 pm

Bill,
I agree with you. I discovered how effective water stones were for abrading skin while sharpening a woodworking plane blade on a 5000 grit water stone. I wasn't paying attention until I noticed that I was bleeding. I hadn't cut myself, I had simply worn a small patch of skin down to practically nothing. Incidentally the ceramic Shapton water stones from Japan are excellent.
Tom


wrench
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Tue May 04, 2010 9:28 pm

haoli25 wrote:
wrench wrote:
........I will say playing seems generally easier without the grooves, so I recommend dressing your callouses with some 120 grit.




Dan, I agree with you but I think 120 grit sandpaper or common emery boards may be a little too rough. They don't do a very good job of smoothing the edges of the callouses and more often than not, remove too much skin.
A trick an old guitar player taught me many years ago was to use a sharpening stone instead. I use a 12,000 grit waterstone. It is also great for forming and maintaining your nails too. It gives the perfect smooth finish. The edge finish on your nails is so smooth, they are less likely to crack and break.
You can find them online or at a local knife/cutlery store.


Bill
AAAGGGHHH!!! I wrote 120 grit?! Sorry carpet, I used 220 grit. Thanks for picking this up Bill. But Bill is also right that sandpaper approahing the edges of the callous can go wrong. The stone sounds like a pretty good idea safety-wise. I'll try it next time.

Dan


michelew
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Tue May 04, 2010 10:09 pm

I haven't tried a waterstone. But, I will. I use a diamond file, which works well.


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