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Zinc stearate
Get it in a powder.
I got a job lot from Bulgaria.
Definately enough playing to have formed them. Used to have nice tough callouses, dunno what happened...
Its still the same old shite, but i eventually got a doctors appointment, explained the whole thing etc.
He basically looked at my fingers, said theres not much obviously wrong, and then wrote down 'mindfullness' and told me to go research that..
As though its a mental thing.. which is absurd because... just because..
I did tell him its literally 24/7 when playing at home, and I've never performed or played on stage or with a band, so its not like I'm sweating or nervous!!
On the verge of packing it all in.. but hell its been like that for the last 3 years..
On a lighter note, if you're finding it's metal you're allergic to, have you tried playing country?
aye, theyre rubbish around here the Gp's, or atleast their budgets.
Funnily enough I only changed last year. Struggled to find any others in my catchment area that has more than a 1 or 2 star rating.. eeesh.
I did look at seeing a private one, but my God the cost just for the appointment is £200...
If that stings, get some Witch Hazel to rub on after.
The only thing that makes it playable for me is moisturising my hands as usual with the palmers shea butter stuff, but twice, before playing.. my hands are practically greasy even half hour after applying it...
in turn the back of the unfinished neck now feels like its a coated one... but the slides and bends are doable.. and its stayed like it.. which I dont know whether to be annoyed at or not...
Thing is, its obviously a cause for concern all that moisterizer going on the wood..
I tried not moisturising my fingers for about 2 weeks to see any difference.. it was worse. Much worse, and the callouses werent hardening at all anyway in that time, and with the grippy rubbing and fingers really catching on the strings and frets, they just ended up bloody sore.
so i went back to moisturising the tips..
its bloody frustrating.
Good luck any way, if you enjoy it don't give up
(formerly customkits)
Got some holiday to book so I'll aim to get down to a store and see what I see! Ill post my findings!
The other thing that came to mind as you describe lots of fretboard treatments that are really just chemicals that again you might have a problem with. It made me wonder about an alternative, olive oil. Teye (of Teye guitars) always recommends olive oil as a fretboard treatment as it is a natural product and is in his opinion less damaging to the wood. I've always suffered from eczema and when it has been really bad over the years I have used olive oil as a treatment -for me it works really well and I have always been concerned by the use or petroleum in many creams. You may find olive oil on your hands and your fretboard are less likely to cause adverse reactions.
May be of absolutely no use but sounds like anything is worth a try. Best of luck sorting this.
Maple board does sound worth a shot if it is the wood. I presume theyre easy to clean too without any open pores to trap whatever could be gunking up my ebony and rosewood boards.
When I first noticed this problem it was with an epiphone les paul, with rosewood and a really open grain/ big pores, the frets were lower than I was used to as well, so I immediately thought it was my finger tips grabbing the board, that was less smooth than my other more dense rosewood board.
Then again its still prevalent on the ebony chapman which at first touch feels very smooth and dense.
But I'd be interested to give a maple board a go and even if no joy, at least it can eliminate the wood itself being a factor!
I've been playing for about 25yrs with no issues until about a year or two ago when this thing started. Figured I'd developed sweatier/oilier hands over the years and just started washing thoroughly before playing to mitigate effects, but it only partially helps. I have several guitars, maple and rosewood boards, from prestige Ibanez to mex Charvel, there's no common feature other than, after 15-20 mins playing, I experience the same 'stickiness' on each one but to varying degrees.
I wonder if nickel is the culprit? I'm about to try stainless steel strings to test. I'm also considering buying a steel fretted guitar just to rule out nickel altogether. Any thoughts, insights (or miraculous cures) appreciated. Cheers.
I do know I have shit skin/genes in general.
Other things I tried:
I tried washing my hands and letting them dry thoroughly and not moisturising them. Didnt make a difference just made my hands feel awful lol.
Musicians gloves.. yeah they exist but hardly last long at all.
Different brand strings. I tried Elixir coated ones, they felt great but the 3 treble strings didnt feel much/any different. In fact I think when I googled it they dont coat those strings, theyre just stainless steel.
No difference and in fact oiling it made it worse. More on this later..
I tried fast fret. It made it very slick for 10 mins then made it a bigger sticky mess.
I have noticed that some guitars I react worse with than others.
However I have noticed on a Gibson I owned that like the Epiphone, the rosewood board was very rough, big open pores/grain.
more than most guys. Maybe once a month.
The ph balance is interesting though, whether triggered mentally or otherwise. You say you have a dry skin issue on your hands after washing, I don’t have this particularly, but do get dryness on my forehead (of all places) after showering. I also use the Palmers butter to remedy it (the solid stuff in the tub), the only product that doesn’t leave a greasy residue for me. What’s notable is that this dryness reduces significantly when I’m exercising regularly (ie not very often). This means, I think, that my blood sugar is lower when I’m more active, therefore reducing overall inflammation, creating less of the dryness and more balanced ph levels. I’m speculating here of course, I’d need to corroborate with some research, but I think it’s worth looking into. Ultimately, better diet and more exercise is going to be beneficial whether it reduces the acidity in my hands or not. I should get back in the gym and see if there's a correlation with performance on the guitar.
I’ve tried Fast Fret, and the Planet Waves equivalent, feels super slick for a very short period of time then seems to get quite gummy / tacky with obvious oiliness.
Also tried talc, this actually worked for me, to some extent. I think it creates a barrier, at least for a while, but eventually wears off, not a permanent solution.
Interesting you say it’s worse on some guitars than others. I’ve also noted this. I have an LTD Deluxe and a Charvel San Dimas, both are what you might call mid-range instruments, both have maple boards. The Charvel in particular has VERY soft frets and is easily the one I experience the most problems with. It’s about 3yr old and needs a serious fret dress already, the LTD is better in this regard but I still experience the stickiness.
By comparison, I have a Prestige Ibanez SZ (rosewood board) that has had only one fret dress in over 15yrs of ownership, obviously the frets are much harder material on the Ibby, and the sticky problem is nowhere near as bad. I had an American Pro II Tele recently (roasted maple neck and board), returned it within 2 weeks as I couldn’t get on with the fat neck in the end, but never really had the sticky thing occur on that either in the time I had it. I assume the more expensive Ibanez and Fender have harder / higher quality fret material? Maybe.
I think this could mean that the breakdown of the softer frets on the cheaper instruments is creating a build up of metal particles that might be reacting with the acid from my hands and actually oxidising / corroding during that one playing session. Again, I’m speculating wildly here, but at this point I’d consider anything / everything if it’ll yield a solution.
It really does feel like the strings are degrading right before my eyes, feels great for a few minutes, then slowly the brakes are coming on, bends get more difficult, slides are getting a ’squeaky’ feel from the friction, even hammer-ons and pull-offs are choked, till eventually I have to clean everything (strings, fretboard, hands) and start again. Sometimes it’s so bad my finger tips have turned completely black with soot. All in the space of about 20 minutes, it’s maddening.
I was hoping to find a quick fix with a few minutes googling but it seems to be quite rare. I’m pretty certain it’s a combination of acidity levels in the skin, soft frets, soft string material, and maybe some form of corrosion that’s already happening before playing.
So there’s some things I think I can experiment with to narrow it down…
I’ve used D’addario XL or NYXL strings (both nickel wound) forever on all the guitars I’ve had, so I have a handful of new string types on their way to me from amazon now: D’addario Pro Steels, Ernie Ball (stainless & cobalts), Elixir Nanowebs, Optima gold plated. I wonder if harder steel strings will wear down the frets even quicker and make the problem worse (??!!) I guess I’ll find out.
Steel fret guitar, an expensive option but it’s a good excuse for a new fiddle Maybe I can justify that Suhr now.
My guitars are racked on a stand when not in use, maybe the room humidity has increased over the years exposing the poor quality of the cheaper guitars, creating some oxidation build up between sessions? I could case the guitars between playing to see if it makes a difference. Or get a dehumidifier.
The changes in lifestyle already mentioned, this could be a dietary thing making my hands too acidic for nickel strings and frets.
I’d never heard of musicians gloves (wtf?) Maybe I should give them a try as well.
If none of this helps then maybe we can start a support group for sticky string sufferers.
Anyway, thanks again for the feedback man, good to know I’m not the only one at least, thought I was imagining the whole thing for a bit there. I joined here just to comment on this thread so I appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed reply.