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Nail Care products for guitar players

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Finger nails are very important to guitarists that use them all or most of the time. I fall into the later section. I tend to use both my pick and finger nails to play. So tend to pay particular attention to what nail care products I use on my nails. I’ve tried some nail care products in the past but I haven’t found the best one for my application.

Here are the top products I’ve used so far.

  1. Acrylic finger nails
  2. Crazy Glue
  3. Ecrinal Durcisseur Vitamine

The Acrylic finger nails are the best I’ve used to date. They are VERY strong and reliable.

 

The reason I can’t use them is because these things collect bacteria like crazy … or so I’m told! I’ve been informed at work that due to the fact that acrylic nails carry germs easily, anyone at any hospital are forbidden to use them. Damn it!

Talking to a few of the nurses at work about this problem, some say that I can try putting on the hardener they put directly on the acrylic nail to thicken them up and make them just about impossible to brake! i tried it and I found that they would not stick to the nail. I even scuffed them up with emery paper to see if that would help me overcome my predicament but to no avail.

Bruce Cockburn my favorite guitarist of all time uses crazy glue. He once recommended not to apply it while drunk … good point Bruce, mental note! I tried it and at first it worked ok but it later started to look quite bad and it kept flaking off. Next!

Ecrinal Durcisseur Vitamine is what I’ve been using here and there. I found the product easy to apply over and over with fairly descent results. The only thing is that they do not provide the same strength and durability as Acrylic nails do. The best thing about it, is that the product helps out against microbial attacks.

While doing some research on what other guitarist use I came across an interesting article from this one site. It sounded good so I went looking for it. While going over the article it didn’t properly name the products so I wrote them and they replied they don’t know who about the items because the author is not working for them anymore.

I finally tracked him down and this is his reply.

Scratch all that- that was 10 years ago!
Now I use OPI Nail Envy (matte finish) for live playing: 2-3 coats is enough. Then I remove it when I’m home. For that I use Suncoat natural nail polish remover, available at health food stores. For moisturizing my nails daily, I use a bunch of products: L’Occitane Nail & Cuticle Cream; Burt’s Bees Lemon Nail & Cuticle Cream; Onymyrrhe.

So off I go to get me some of his recommended items. Hopefully they work out for me. Below are some links to the new lines of nail care for a guitarist.

Has anyone tried these products for guitar playing? If so how they react? If not, then what do you use to keep your nails in proper working order?

Keep on Jammin’





Exceptional guitar pedal effects

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This next installment is about Bruce Cockburn’s guitar pedal effects he uses in his arsenal of sound! Most of these items would be a great present for the guitar player in your life. If it’s good enough for him, then it’s more then perfect for everyone else.

The Boss TU-2 tuner is perfect for tuning on stage where lighting maybe an issue. I never had one, but I’m sure it would be handy to use in these and other situations. Another excellent aspect that the TU-2 has going for it is that while tuning, you can turn off the sound going out. It has a large LCD display that is hard to miss. It’s also perfect for all those open tuning guitarist like myself. It displays to you the name of the note!

The Empress tremolo pedal appears to be a huge success with tons of on line guitarists. A vast majority of the guitarists give item a 9.5 – 10 out of every question asked. This is a well respected guitar forum. It great to see it have a built in boast to the signal because sometimes when you use a pedal like this, the signal tends to be lower coming out of the amp. There are way to many advantages to this pedal to put in this post. I’d probably put some readers here to sleep!

Boss DD-5 delay sounds like a dream to me! It is a BOSS pedal for God sakes! These things are made so tough that I remember one time driving over one with my parents car! I thought that was the end of it, but when I plugged it back it, it worked perfectly!

There is a feature on the DD-5 pedal called Tap Tempo. This is something that really grabs my attention. By tapping the pedal in the right mode, you can tell it when to start and stop the musical pattern that you wish to use. This comes in handy because not all of the parts of a song that you will be performing will be of equal length or note value. It can easily be used for that psychedelic or U2 effect that you might need. It’s essentially an echo effect on steroids!

The above item also has a great stereo effect, but I’ll stand behind my BOSS BF1 Flanger any day!

Next thing he uses is the Line6 MM4. This is a modulation effect pedal that literally make your head spin round and round! I think that this and the Boss CE-2 is the great sound effect pedal for those who are looking for a true chorus feel to add to their musical arsenal. The chorus effect on the Line6 MM4 is just one of a multitude of sounds that comes with this little devil. I goofed around with one at the 12th fret in Toronto and boy was it fun.

The Line6 DL4 is the 2nd last piece of equipment I found out that Bruce Cockburn uses. The reviews equate this bit of hardware to the Roland Space Echo. I’ve only seen one used by Scott Merritt and good God did that guy push it to the limits! The Line6 DL4 also has this weird effect called Reverse Delay? Your guess is as good as mine on that one but I bet it’s fun to good around with! Another good guy to ask about this one is Craig Peeler! Craig if your out there tell us what you think of it?

Now last but not least is the Rack mounted Lexicon Alex reverb. He depends on this one for tunes like Worlds of Wonders. This version is an acoustic version but the one that he plays with his band with is awesome! Holy SHIT that’s a master piece from the great Bruce Cockburn! I’m not all that familiar with rack mount units to be honest with you. I’ve watched people play through them and they looked really cool but do to the high costs of these things, I’ve always stayed away from them, do to the fact that I’ve been in the NSF crowd for a quite a while now. I guess I guy can dream now can’t he, that won’t cost me a cent!

So that’s it for the final installment of what Bruce Cockburn uses and I hope that I broadened your horizons of the topic of guitar foot pedals! So go forth and tell everyone you know about these marvelous inventions and …

Keep on Jammin’

What does a Truss Rod on your guitar do?

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Adjusting the Truss Rod in your guitar to doctor up your action on the fretboard is something that I don’t think I’ll try on my beloved Larrivee L-03. This is something that should be left to the professionals, unless your doing this on your old beater guitar before attempting this on your good axe!

The Truss Rod in a guitar is embedded in the middle of a guitar’s fretboard, closer to the bottom of it, moving from the head of the guitar to it’s body. It consists of 1 or 2 metal bars that are designed to adjust/move the neck of the guitar up or down making it easier to play, get a unique/certain sound that you desire or to help out that buzzing sound that one gets when playing a note somewhere on the fretboard.

Trussrod At one end of the Truss Rod there is a nut that allows you to adjust it. It can be accessed by either the head of the guitar (normally there is a plastic cover over the opening) or located where the fretboard meets the body of the guitar. The other end is where the rod is anchored or fixed into position. This will give the adjusting end the tension that you will need to move the Truss Rod.

The 2 types of truss rods are single and double action.

The single truss rod allows you to move the guitar neck in one direction (or as some technicians call one way) only. This makes the neck go in an up-bow or upwards direction. If you place your guitar on a flat surface and look at it sideways, the head of it will be higher then the body of the guitar. The double lets you go both directions.

So this is a basic introduction to what the Truss Rod does in your guitar. If there is some interest on this topic here on this blog, then I will do some more detailed updates in the future!

Keep on Jammin’

Here is a great book for the intermediate guitarist that wants to know a little more about how his/her instrument works. This might make a neat Christmas present for the guitar player in your life!

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