The Rochester Guitar Club

Hi anyone got advice on this perennial topic? I'm using Alaska pix (thanks Jerry!) for steel strings - not bad, but want to know ways to improve the durability/health of my natural nails on the right hand for nylon string playing......

For a little over a year I did acrylic nails which worked pretty well but on a hunch I let them grow out and was shocked to see how damaged, thin, irregular and generally messed-up the nail was underneath, so I'm kinda leery of gluing stuff on any more.

Thanks,

Deb

Paging Kinloch... where are you, Kinloch?



Honestly, my nails are as short as can be on both hands. I don't get that whole "long nail" thing most fingerstyle players do... hell... I find they get in my way.

Hey Dan,

Much thanks... Kinloch showed me what he does to extend/preserve the nails on his right hand - I could see this works great for him, but I'm not sure it's the recipe for me. I'm not looking to grow really loooong nails, just healthy ones to cope with the nylon. For nylon string Kinloch told me I should have the nails barely grown at all, maybe a couple of mm? That's what I'm working toward. They're just beginning to get past the brittle stuff I was left with after I grew out the acrylics.

I guess I was looking more for nail care tips than a product to add to the nail, especially ways to heal the damage from keeping the acrylics on for over a year.

As to keeping super-short nails that wind you up playing with the finger - nah, I'm just not that tough ! Thanks tho-

Deb

... yeah, one other thing I meant to say - Kinloch showed me one product that I am using - OPI Nail Envy - applied to just the white part (which I don't have much of yet!) of the nail... a few weeks ago that was pretty much holding things together. It's been slowly growing in better.... I'm inclined to think that that on the natural nail and Alaska picks for the steel strings will probably be my best solution - but who knows, maybe someone out there can suggest something I haven't heard of......

Deb

As Deb mentioned, I suggested she try the Alaska Pics. I learned about them at a Chris Proctor workshop a few years ago and had to order online from Elderly because no one carried them. After much nagging on my part I finally got Dave Stutzman to carry them. I play steel string, but I think most of this could reasonably apply to nylon as well.

I like them because I want as crisp and well defined a sound as possible from each string. Bare fingers provide a more muted sound and while I still have some of my high freq. hearing I want to use it to enjoy the beauty of the acoustic guitars I paid a lot for. So I either need to have nails or use picks. I also like picks because they provide a uniform feel and touch - helps keep me from stumbling as much or being distracted when I'd catch a nail edge. I also dig in pretty hard sometimes and seem to get more out of picks. Finally, I am always working on cars, house, snow blower, lawnmower, garden etc. and break nails all the time. I can not keep a set of nails intact for much more than a week.

The Alaska Pics have several advantages over regular finger picks. Since they hook under your fingernails they don't flip off and fly inside the guitar. (Embarrassing to have to shake out a pick on stage). You can both up and down pick and you can still feel the strings on the pads of your fingers. You can even file to a different contour if it works better for you. The final advantage I have found is true for all picks or nails versus bare fingers - strings don't go dead as quickly since you are only putting dead skin in the windings up the neck instead of with both hands.

Disadvantages: I have not had much success with finding a method to do other than open string harmonics wearing picks - may be just me. They do wear, and they do break, but I usually get a couple months out of a pick. When they break it is while putting them on so it's not a surprise in the middle of a tune. You do have to keep enough of a nail to hook them under. I usually square them off a little and hook under the edges.

There's my contribution to the discussion (if anyone reads it). - Jeremy Carter