Skin reation to phosphor bronze strings

[MadMarine]

I've been using phosphor bronze strings and find that the strings turn black within 5 days on putting on a new set. My finger tips also turn white and scalely after playing. My mando teacher tells me it is due to a skin reaction to the phosphor in the strings. Anybody else experience this or heard of it?

Thanks, Mad

[acousticphd]

Yes, at least a few people here have similar experiences.
My experience is
1) It doesn't seem to be phosphor, as I've always had this ability, whether with classical strings, and various brass/bronze sets (not described as phosphor bronze)
2) The effect for me is much faster and more pronounced on the plain steel strings.

Most of the common approaches to keeping hands and strings clean and dry, as well as some string treatments, help a little. But not much. Two suggestions:
- Bulk strings; they play virtually if not exactly the same, and cost much less,
- Frequent string changes. You wouldn't milk a good beer for a week, would you? No, you'd get a nice, fresh one. Think of a fresh string change like a weekly trip to the pub for a fresh beer.

[Paul Hostetter]

Phosphor bronze is favored because it is the least chemically reactive bronze alloy. In fact it's the only true bronze alloy used in string-making. The other ones called bronze (80-20, “bright” and so on) are actually brass, an alloy of copper and zinc.

Phosphor bronze is an alloy of copper with 3.5 to 15% of tin and a significant phosphorus content of up to 1%. The phosphorus is added as deoxidizing agent during melting, and accounts for not only the chemical stability of the formula but the relative hardness as well. It was developed for marine applications as a major improvement over brass.

If you're showing such a pronounced allergy to something in that string, it's more likely it's to the tin, not the phosphor. In any case, I'd stop using them at all, and see an allergist pronto. People who have metal allergies are typically allergic to nickel, but to my knowledge, there's no nickel in any of the commercial strings said to be phosphor bronze. There is a lot of nickel in GHS White Bronze, which is a nickel bronze (85% copper, 15% nickel) that's essentially identical to fretwire. If you’re not having trouble with fretwire itself, that's an important piece of information. You don’t have the normal metal allergies. But you clearly have one to something in the J-74s.

D’Addario makes a plastic-coated version of those strings called EXP. If you’re hooked on the phosphor bronze sound (as I am) that might be a way to mitigate the issue, simply becasue it shields your fingertips from the string - a little. But I wouldn't change the same strings more often. I think your situation is very unusual, and before doing any real damage, I’d get a good medical opinion or two on what’s going on with you and those strings. At the very least, I think you need to try other types of strings to see how your skin chemistry reacts with them.

[sunburst]

D’Addario makes a plastic-coated version of those strings called EXP.

I just had some dental work done. It was looking like a fairly expensive procedure from my local dentist, so I called a dentist friend who lives a few hours away and is a musician. Turns out, he needed some fret work, so we worked out a trade.

Anyway, while I was still in the dentist's chair, the assistant brought in my new tooth brush, tooth paste and floss. My dentist friend said, of the floss; "Do you know what that stuff is?" to which I replied; "Teflon." He said yes, and went on to say that he had visited D'Addario and noticed samples of dental floss laying around. He asked them; "Do you just wrap those strings with dental floss?" and they said that they do.

So, there you have it. Those expensive coated strings are wrapped with dental floss!

[MadMarine]

Thanks all for your input. I've ordered a couple of different string sets (GHS, D'Addario) with no phosphor content to see if that might be the problem based on my teacher's diagnosis. I am also one of those that get black skin from wearing those little copper bracelets, so I guess I have some reaction to some metals. I wear a gold and stainless steel watch with no problems.

I haven't noticed string discoloration from the steel strings, but from the wrapped strings. So that is some indication, I think.

I will also try the J74s and see how I do with those. The ones I currently have problems with are DRs, hand crafted strings, phosphor bronze content.

Thanks, Mad

[JGWoods]

"...The ones I currently have problems with are DRs, hand crafted strings, phosphor bronze content.

Thanks, Mad

I always get more black on my fingers from DRs than from any other string. I haven't had any medical issues from it, just note that DRs have always done this. I see they now have a coated string that I might try.

[Paul Hostetter]

The wrapped strings you're describing are at least 80% copper. Few people don't react to copper, which is a main reason why they alloy it with other metals like zinc and tin, but fingertips that turn white and scaly may indicate something more than the usual copper issue. Again, only phosphor bronze strings have tin in them. When you eliminate phosphor, you're also eliminating tin, so you can't assume it's one or the other (no matter what brand you're buying). I personally don't believe it's phosphor, but an allergist could figure this out quickly and definitively. If my fingers turned white and scaly I'd want to know why, and I'd certainly avoid the strings that caused that reaction.

If you can wear stainless, you obviously don't have an issue with nickel, the other common metal allergy. Stainless usually contains a good dose of nickel as well as chrome. Normal steel strings (plain and wrapped) also contain nickel. People with nickel allergies quite often cannot wear stainless. Everyone can wear gold.

[MadMarine]

Paul:

Thanks for the update. I was using Elixir nanowebs and don't think I started to have the issue until I left the strings on for too long. Maybe I wore off the coating and that's when I experienced the symptoms. Anyway, the next time I see my dermo guy, I'll have a talk with him. In the meantime, I think I'll put on another set of nanowebs and see how it goes.