Me n Ernie

[boots]

Me and Ernie had a Ball thrashing on the Stratocaster this evening. Looks gruesome, but these are Happy Fingers!

Most days I only get to play for a few minutes, but when I get a chance, I play till my fingers are sore and black!

[xtian]

Good gawd, man, post a disclaimer! Photo has GRUESOME detail!

What Ernie Ball strings are made out of COAL? You find those in your stocking after a year of behaving poorly?!?

[Reeltarded]

:awe:

[Colossal]

Good God man. That's SRV-style shredded fingertips right there. Are you playing 11s or 12s?

[ampmike]

Dang,Ive never seen anything like that.

[Bob S]

Looks like Ernie has added a graphite lube to their manufacturing process...
Methinks new strings should be clean when you buy them.

[Reeltarded]

Looks like frostbite!

[boots]

It looks gruesome, but it washes right off. It is the nickel from the strings. I am using the Ernie Ball skinny top/heavy bottom set, 10 thru 52. I have the action set pretty high - I like the strings to fight back and twang a little.

[vibratoking]

Looks like you're having fun! My fingers look like that several times a week. The peeling skin looks bad, but does not hurt at all. For me, the real pain comes when the nail bed rips away under the finger nails. That fucking hurts for days!

[da Geezer]

Looks like you're having fun! My fingers look like that several times a week. The peeling skin looks bad, but does not hurt at all. For me, the real pain comes the nail bed rips away under the finger nails. That fucking hurts for days!

I have a cure for that! Super glue!

I used to sell medical supplies, so I knew that doctors are using super glue to close pediatric wounds instead of sutures. So I asked a doctor friend and he said it was basically the same product.

Just pull the skin down from under the nail slightly, put a drop of super glue under the nail, and hold it shut a few seconds. It will bond almost instantly, and no more pain! If it becomes unglued again before the healing is complete, just apply another drop until it heals.

That trick has got me through many gigs without pain. I keep a bottle in my guitar case at all times.

G

[rdjones]

Looks like frostbite!

Yeah, it does !

As long as all survived intact ...

rd

[Colossal]

I have a cure for that! Super glue!

There's a photo of SRV's "frog toe pad" fingertips on the net somewhere and I think taken right after an application of super glue. His calluses had expanded to look like little footballs. I had a buddy who was an absolute legato monster and his calluses looked like frog tips too!

[boots]

I'd always heard that SRV used super glue for torn nail beds. I've never had that happen. Not sure what causes the nail to tear away from the quick unless maybe the action is so high that your finger dives under the strings when bending???

Either that, or I'm just not as aggressive as SRV (ya think?).

I always thought that you could ingest toxins from super glue through your skin? Of course, it's probably no worse that all the other toxins we guitarists have ingested over the years....

[xtian]

For me, the nail trouble is on the right (strumming) hand. My downstrokes often have a lot of nail contacting the strings, which keeps wearing thru my fingernails. It's particularly bad when I play a lot of acoustic.

[Gibsonman63]

I went to hybrid strings to get aways from the nail separation issue. Problem solved, and I don't really notice a difference in sound having the three unwound strings downsized a guage.

Speaking of hybrid, I tend to hybrid pick a lot. I am not wearing through my nails on my right hand, but if I play a lot of acoustic, they get pretty sharp.