View Full Version : Mangled hands
Mike Snyder
May-07-2008, 2:33am
Since I,ve mentioned on another thread that I (long ago) cut about 5/8 of an inch off my left index finger (fret hand of course) I'm wondering what violence other members have done to the most finely tuned and delicate tools that God ever made. It was a motorized mitre box, by the way, with a brand new 60 pt carbide blade. Very clean cut!
Mr. Loar
May-07-2008, 5:12am
The tip of my middle finger of my right hand is numb. In 1974 I dropped a 100 pound shaft on it, broke the tip, and nearly lost it. It's different than the other one but still good. I'm glad it's my picking hand/finger.
Mark Walker
May-07-2008, 7:15am
30-odd years ago, I used to build roof trusses in the summer between college semsters. #I accidentally hammered the middle finger on my right hand under one of those perforated 'gang-nail' plates that hold the joints together. #OUCH!
I used to finger-pick guitar with that finger; while it was healing I moved my finger-pick to my ring finger on my right hand, and haven't moved it back since. #Now I finger-pick with my index and ring finger.
Good thing too - because about a year ago I'd just sharpened the mower blades on my mower deck, and while tightening the bolts when re-installing them, my wrench slipped and I gashed that same middle finger. #9 stitches. #(I wear leather gloves now when messing with sharpened blades!)
My daughter and I had a music gig that night; I chided the crowd about how I wasn't really giving them the 'one-finger salute.' #(Sure looked that way with the bandage and splint on that middle finger.)
Regardless, I was still able to strum and finger-pick while that bright white bandaged finger stood out like... well, like a sore thumb! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
"Name me a power tool and I'll show you the scar" - Red Green
Twenty years ago when I was still working as a cabinet maker I managed to drill my left hand with a spade bit (don't even ask, of course it was stupid), severing the tendon to the thumb. My first thoughts were, "I wonder what instrument I can play one handed". All better now.
Jason Nagati
May-07-2008, 8:26am
I pierced a knife through my left index finger about 25 yrs ago - in one side, out the other. Fairly minor. It works fine now.
Within a couple of months of that, I sawed a small gash right between the two scars from the previous injury doing the same thing, cutting open an English muffin. I now split them open with a fork.
mandocrucian
May-07-2008, 8:32am
During my blue belt test about 10 years ago, I didn't have my fist tight when I was blocking a kick being thrown at me, and it caught me on the tip of the LH ring finger. Never had it x-rayed but I'm sure there was a fracture. Unfortunately, this was before several weeks of gigs, a portion of which were in tandem with a group coming over from Finland. Played those Django style with the index and middle fingers, which in itself wasn't that problematic, if all I had to do was play mando. However, most required that I kick bass lines with the left foot (organ pedals) and percussion with the right foot. Rethinking the LH fingering on the fly, while simultaneously playing bass & drums was a real bear, and to top it off, my wife developed laryngitus before one show and I had to do all the vocals as well. (I had to especially dumb down the mando lines on that one - otherwise just too many balls in the air to juggle.)
When working with tools (hand-saws, hammers, drills, screwdrivers, wrenches, files/rasps, etc.), I'll often make a point of using the (less dominant) left hand instead of the right, even though it's not as fast/automatic. Never the circular power saws though. Too risky, and besides, those are physically designed for RHed use, compounding the danger (of using LHed).
NH
Ambidexterity: double right-handed. "dexter" meaning the right side, "sinister" the left.
BlueMountain
May-07-2008, 8:45am
About ten years ago I was building a stone retaining wall behind my house and dropped a fifty pound chunk of quartzite onto another rock, but unfortunately my right index finger was in between them (in a stout glove, fortunately). I didn't go to the doctor (should have known better, as I used to scrub for some hand surgeons in my youth), and I think I broke it at the last joint, as the joint sticks out strangely. It bends most of the way, but slowly and with a bit of discomfort. Makes grabbing a pick a slightly more deliberate event than it should be. Could be worse. Could be Andy Poe.
jimbob
May-07-2008, 9:48am
cut about 1/2" off my ring finger, left hand. I used to cheat and play to avoid using that ring finger. It was very awkward. My mandolin teacher has me using the finger correctly and now have it built up so I can actually use it. It makes a lot of difference. It feels weird, but getting better after almost 30 years !
Jkf_Alone
May-07-2008, 10:06am
ive got everyone beat for stupidity, i used to flick my "locking" jack knife into the air so that it would spin open and catch it by the handle. one time i "caught" the tip in my right hand ring finger joint, so deep that i could see bone and hear a neat sucking sound when i moved the joint. a little super glue and about 5 weeks and it was back to normal.
other things that have happened to my hands;
- sanded off knuckle with table belt sander
- cut open left thumb with box cutter several times ( woo hoo super glue!)
- accidentally trimmed my nail with a mitre saw (that was scary)
- shot brad nails through fleshy pad between thumb and 1st finger
( not as painful as it sounds)( building drawer boxes for cabinets)
now that i have a proper respect for power tools and edged tools i havent cut myself with one in about 3 years. i think that happened when someone cut off 3 of there fingers at a shop i was working at by keeping the mitre saw wide open with a pinch clamp.
sunburst
May-07-2008, 11:01am
I started whittling and carving when I was about 8 years old, I've worked in cabinet shops, done a little carpentry, I have a portable sawmill that I've used off and on for 20 years, and I've been a luthier professionally for about 20 years.
I haven't had any serious hand injuries in spite of all that, just a few stitches here and there, mashed fingers, sprains, the usual.
I've been having pain in one of the joints of my left hand, so I had it Xrayed. The doc looked at it and said something like; "the wrist looks pretty good except for this bone spur, that thumb joint is misaligned and has a bone spur but it's not bad, these joints look OK, but what have you done the the rest of your finger joints!?"
Little injuries over years add up, I guess. I'm just glad to have 10 fingers that still work OK most of the time.
nashvillebill
May-07-2008, 11:44am
20 some-odd years ago I pushed a car door shut on the tip of my left pinky (fretting hand). As soon as I felt it close on it I jerked my hand back. Wrong move. I looked down and my finger was gushing blood and I could see the end of the bone sticking out. The Dr. grafted skin from my arm onto the end, but it's about a half inch shorter than the right one and slanted down to the inside of my hand and there is no pad over the bone. Makes using it for guitar and mando a bit difficult, but I'm used to it.
Chad Thorne
May-07-2008, 5:28pm
1980, I put a big circular saw blade through my left arm. It's why I play lefty now.
Gerard Dick
May-07-2008, 5:45pm
Msnyder Same injury, saw related, the stock I wass cutting kicked back and sheared about 1/2 inch off of left index finger. When it healed up and didn't hurt any more, mandolin became a viable alternative to guitar. Not playing music was not an option I wanted to consider.
Mike Snyder
May-07-2008, 8:00pm
Cringe,cringe,cringe, and uh, cringe. You guys have ALL my admiration. I've been playing with a short L index finger so long that it really isn't a conscious thing anymore. Makes some doublestops impossible, closed position is difficult. There was a Missouri player in a family band that had only stubs left, burnt them off. (cringe)
Gerrymando, you need to come to Winfield so we can pick and compare carpals. Feeling sorry for myself is such a waste of good pickin time. It's always easy to find someone more deserving of compassion. Careful with that ax Eugene!
allenhopkins
May-07-2008, 8:13pm
Jeez,this is the most depressing thread ever (though I do admire all the pickers who have persisted despite injuries and adversity). I'm going to be wearing boxing gloves wherever I go from now on, avoiding all power tools -- won't even go into Home Depot -- and using strictly plastic cutlery at the dinner table.
Chris Wofford
May-07-2008, 8:44pm
I was helping my brother-in-law split wood with a hydraulic splitter. It hung up on a knot and started banging around. I backed it off and he told me it did that sometime but it would work through. I listened. It worked through, all right. Slung a wood chunk toward me and hit me on the tip of the right thumb. Broke just above the first joint. All better now, but the nail is flat in the middle.
Lee Callicutt
May-07-2008, 8:59pm
My father used to keep rabbits in pens and one of my many many chores was to feed them fresh grass. Gathering grass one day, I cut the end of my left thumb off with a misplaced blow from a very sharp and heavy butcher knife. The healing hurt a lot more than the actual cut. This was many moons ago. Maybe I'm part amphibian or something because it's grown back so you'd never know.
Christop
May-07-2008, 9:09pm
Boy, I thought I was unique. We're a pretty dangerous bunch.
Feb. 22, 1981 I dropped a keg of beer on my left ring finger. 7 pieces through the knuckle. Two years ago I decided it was time to gain mobility in the finger. I took up the mandolin - I had (have) no musical ability short of turning on bluegrass country. I'm still a beginner but I have gotten a lot of mobility back. Next I have to work on the pinky.
Jim Kirkland
May-07-2008, 10:50pm
How about being born with finger difficulty. My 16 yr old granddaughter was born with a thumb and small finger on her right hand, a lot of surgery made her 3 short fingers on right hand. Her left hand has fingers missing between 1st and 2nd joint, middle and ring finger. Small, index and thumb are normal. She started on the mando last yr, does pretty darn good. But the real story is she has been playing the violin since 10 yrs old. She had the great opportunity to perform in Cargnie Hall last june on the violin. Now she is picking up some bluegrass stuff on the mando. Sometimes I think it is the desire that makes the difference.
birdman98
May-07-2008, 11:24pm
I pulled a NASTY hangnail out of my left pinky the other day.
Knew I shouldn't do it, but I J-U-S-T C-O-U-L-D-N'-T S-T-O-P!!
Mike Snyder
May-07-2008, 11:37pm
Grandaughters are the finest stuff I ever found,desertmando.
Even above beans and cornbread. And desire, you are so right
and have the right to be proud of that girl. With that kind of desire, nothing on the mandolin is beyond her. No limits, no handicap, no end to the love one feels for a grandchild.
allenhopkins
May-08-2008, 9:09am
OK, not my personal experience, but:
My friend Julia was born with only a right hand; her left arm, after some childhood "clean-up" surgery, ends just below the elbow joint. #She plays guitar, using a knitted "sock" that fits over the part of the left arm below the elbow. #There's a wooden disc attached to the sock, and a flat pick attached to the disc. #She can fret her nylon-strung guitar (restrung as a "leftie") with her right hand, and strum chords with the left elbow.
An amazing woman; her birth defect hasn't kept her from doing a single thing she's set her mind to doing. #Sometimes when I'm feeling sorry for myself I think of her, and others who have overcome real obstacles. #As Ralph Stanley sang, "Thy burdens are greater than mine."
Naners
May-08-2008, 4:50pm
Some painful stories here!! Luckily, I've had no real bad injuries to affect my picking,but some of these stories sounded really painful. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif Ouch!
terrierguy
May-08-2008, 4:55pm
Man! Props to many of you for continuing to play. At lunch today at the climbing gym, fell off the wall, caught the middle finger of my right hand in a hold and twisted it at the tip most joint (scraped it all up too). Pretty swollen and sore. Won't affect the mandolin flat picking but may have a short term impact on finger picking the guitar. I'll see tonight.
Cheers!