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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
 Posted - 02/26/2010 : 4:40:40 PM
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Okay, I’ve been accused of being a “new-age sensitive guy,” but still, I have my male ego  .
Today I broke my thumb nail about ¾ across. Damn!
Having a keen eye for the obvious, it dawned on me maybe the experts could fix it. So, in spite being a regular guy, off I went in search of a “Nails” shop, which was easy to find here in Olympia. Suffice to say after solvent, super glue, mystery powder, and numerous burr wheels, that nail is better than new.
I'm really impressed, but still short of a manicure.
Larry
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 12:40:41 AM
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You can do 'em yourself with the paper that tea bags are made out of and clear nail polish (Sally Hansen's is the best(. Put a thin layer of the clear nail polish and while it is still wet, lay a piece of the tea bag paper over the crack. Then polish over the paper, smoothin it out real nice like. Add another layer of paper and more nailk polish. Let it dry. Add more nail polish after it dries. The paper is so thin that you really cannot notice if you have it on your finger. It will last for a couple of days. And don't spill the tea out of the bag all over the counter or you going make a mess.
Only thing....don't dunk it in the hot water. Tastes terrible.
The nail folks are using acrylic, kinda like bondo, I guess. Did you get any designs or any jewels embedded? |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2182 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 05:05:57 AM
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| OUCH! I keep mine trimmed way down, must be because of the hands in water all day long thing. Larry, do you use picks? Which thumb, R or L? |
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Bwop
Lokahi
USA
244 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 08:31:16 AM
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| Too familiar! After wrestling ProTools for months to the point where I can start to record (and a wedding gig), I broke my thumbnail WAY far down, and itʻs really really really really sad! Couldnʻt find da nail place, but there was an auto parts stoah open. One can of Bondo, and Iʻm ready to go! |
Bwop |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 5:33:55 PM
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http://www.guitarplayernails.com/index.html
We all carry extra strings to jams & gigs, why not extra nails? The hardener used with Bondo & other brands of Auto Body filler contains MEK. This is science lab talk for DYMETHYL BAD STUFF!It absorbs through your skin and is not good for your health. I know you will tell me that you only use it for emergencies, and only in a small amount, etc. Small amounts of cyanide don't kill either, untill they suddenly add up to a lethal amount. Buy the Guitar Players nails, or learn to use fingerpicks & thumbpicks.
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2010 : 9:22:44 PM
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| My favorite hammer on thumbnail memory (not at the time, tho). I was building a framework to hang our rabbit cages from out of 2x4's. I had ine side almost right, and I asked my 6 year old ADD son to hold it square for me, and, just as I brought the hammer down on the nailhead, he got distracted and walked away from the frame to look at the bunnies, tilting it about 30 deg. The hammer missed the nail and came clean down on my thumb! My son learned a few new words that day. I never could blame him, tho - it comes with the territory. He's 29 now, and a real wonder of a young man, btw. |
keaka |
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Bwop
Lokahi
USA
244 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2010 : 07:43:26 AM
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| jusʻ joking about the Bondo. I used super glue, nail protein and prayer. |
Bwop |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2010 : 08:41:51 AM
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| Uncle Paul probably said that because he doesn't have to sniff bondo to earn a living any more. Woo-hoo. Methylethylketone is bad stuff. But note to Paul: it is not di-methyl bad stuff, it only has one methyl. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2010 : 1:25:13 PM
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Does that make it Mono-methyl bad stuff? Is that more better to eat? Sounds like one of Duff's cakes.
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2010 : 4:09:47 PM
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Little did I know my attempt at a bit of humor would evolve into toxic chemistry. On the other hand, every women in that shop wore a mask, and I gotta tell you the fumes were pervasive.
Larry |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2010 : 07:22:26 AM
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Fascinating this nail business. I’ve never been any good at fingerpicking, and one of the main reasons for this is the nails. I’ve got thin and bendy nails which never last more than about 2 days as soon as I start picking. I did fancy learning a bit, though, so before my first Aloha camp I went to the nail bar and had some acrylics fitted. It was amazing – like having an instant amplifier and tone-improver fitted. Of course the fingernails grow out, and eventually fall off, and unless I got them back filled, or re-done, it was back to square one again. I haven’t got any at the moment – my fingerpicking still isn’t any good, and certainly not good enough to play any gigs with, and as I have lots of other things to do all the time, I keep letting it slide.
However, here are some useful things I’ve learnt about false nails.
1) You can buy the stuff and apply your own.
2) However if you are right handed, and are trying to apply the stuff with your left hand, it will take you ages, and you’ll probably stick parts of yourself things that you don’t want to.
3) There are lots of nail bars these days.
4) Someone who’s job it is to do nails can do one hand quite a good deal faster, and they don’t seem to get stuck to anything.
5) Quite a lot of guitar players have their nails done. More than I ever would have suspected.
6) There is a thing on the market called ‘guitarist nails’ or something similar, which is the same thing only at least twice as expensive.
7) You can also use layers of tissue (or Wanda’s teabag idea) and glue. But this is if anything more fiddly than a clumsy fool using his ‘wrong’ hand wants to be involved in doing.
8) You can also use cut up ping-pong balls which have a slight curvature. Stuck to the inside of the fingernail, these can work fine. Again, this is dependent on not being a klutz with your left hand.
9) Nail glue is basically the same as super glue – except super glue dries white, and nail glue dries clear. Not a problem if you’re going to cover it with varnish, but some male players may draw the line at this.
10) One of these days I want to learn to use fingerpicks. Just to be able to do that as well, not instead of nails. There’s a lot to be said for being able to do both.
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2182 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 05:51:30 AM
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| Trev, it took me 3 weeks to get used to fingerpicks. I bend them over the fingertip, ala Earl Scruggs. |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2010 : 12:38:08 PM
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If you spend 3 weeks getting used to the fingerpicks,you'll be used to them. If you wait 10 years more to learn them, it will still take you 3 weeks. Might as well "Get "er done." It takes a baby several months of pushing with hands & feet to learn to crawl. And several months of trying to stand before the baby can stand without falling. If someone explained to the infant that they couldn't walk, they might never try. And then they never would learn. Go be a child on a quest again,just don't swallow the fingerpicks!
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2010 : 02:28:46 AM
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Paul and Thumbstruck - Three weeks? Really? I certainly should give it a go, then.
I never got far with them, because I had no idea about bending them to fit your fingers. At the last Aloha camp I was at, in the ‘steel’ class, Konabob told me to bend them with pliers (metal ones) – he even had some pliers in his case to lend me. It wouldn’t have occurred to me in a thousand years to do this. Immediately, it felt a lot easier.
And you know the first time I tried fingerpicks? I put them on the backs of my fingers – it wouldn’t have occurred to me to try it any other way. This obviously didn’t work, and it wasn’t until about two years later that I saw someone using them the right way that I realised how stupid I’d been!
I was also told you could bend the plastic ones by softening them in hot water. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to do this – I’ve softened the plastic, but it’s too hot to get my hand in the water to shape the picks! By the time I can get my hand in the water, the plastic’s no longer bendable.
Am I doing something obviously stupid again?
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2010 : 02:59:22 AM
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Trev - take them out of thet water with tongs and shape them while they still may be pliable. A little at a time.
You might also be able to heat them with an electric heat gun (I use one for my card-making and scrapbooking to melt embossing powder). But they get very hot. You just want to get the plastic warm enough to become malleable.
And don't even say stupid. How you gonna know? You think you were born knowing how to do all this stuff? Life is ripe for kakaroaching the experiences of others who have already burnt their fingers. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 03/04/2010 : 02:19:24 AM
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Thanks Wanda, I'll give it a try with tongs of some sort.
Well I did feel pretty stupid - when I saw someone using the picks the 'right' way round and it was patently obvious that they'd work much better that way, and it hadn't even crossed my mind. It's like I'd been putting my shoes on the wrong feet or something.
But you're absolutely right - we only know stuff we happen to have learned. The trouble with trying to teach yourself is that your teacher isn't any smarter than you, and doesn't know any more stuff than you do!
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Topic |
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Fixin' a nail
