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Thread: What to do to help sore callouses

  1. #1

    Default What to do to help sore callouses

    A month ago, I did not play my mandolin or guitar for a week. Now, my callouses are sore even though I play 30-90 minutes every day. My callouses did not go away! But they are sore. Or I guess you could more accurately say the fingertips are sore, not the callouses themselves. Even just pushing my thumb against them hurts. Why? What can I do? Is there some anesthetic ointment or something I can put on them to make them so they are not sore? And by the way, they are not sore when I actually play the instruments. This has never happened before, and I'm wondering if it's my age. I'm 76. Any older folks out there having this same problem?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    I've found the only cure for me is to take a short, and I mean short break, then get right back into playing. I works for me. Sometimes after a 2 hour gig my fangers are sore. I find that by the next day I'm ready to go again. Good luck. I don't know of any ointment that would work. Maybe some aspirin or Advil?
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Might dry something to dry out the fingertips. Playing in a cooler environment helps as opposed to a warm humid one also. I will use my thumbnail and fingernails to press against my fingertips if I am not playing for an extended time, which is not often. I try to simulate the string on the fingertip with the nail.
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  4. #4
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    I wonder if your action is too high and/or you are pressing too hard on the fretboard. Stopping for a week should not make your fingertips hurt painfully.
    Jim

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    Mandolin user MontanaMatt's Avatar
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Reduce callous thickness with an emory board. I use shea butter to condition my skin and keep hands from drying out too much.

    If it's shooting pain, that can be from inflamed nerve endings...I've found relief with aspirin.
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  6. #6

    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    I just play through my issues, mostly carpel tunnel I expect. But I get sore fingers too, and I just try to ignore it. Sometimes I'll put my instrument down, but five or ten minutes later I'm back at it. My right thumb occasionally aches at the joint connecting it to my hand. I use those times to practice a lighter grip.

    Sometimes I switch to playing guitar witch shifts the contact point just enough to dodge the sore point.

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  7. #7

    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Hi all you folks! Thanks for all the comments! I will get some shea butter. Where do I get that? The pain isn't enough to take a pill of any sort. And like I think I said, it isn't happening WHILE I'm playing. I will try to lighten up on how hard I am pressing the strings. I'm pretty sure the strings are not set too high, but eventually I might take it to a luthier to find out. Going across town to the luthier would be a kind of big deal since it's out of my way and I don't drive, so that won't happen soon.

  8. #8
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Stringalong, check out a recent thread I started titled "Finger Ease."

  9. #9

    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Sherry Cadenhead, and all, Sherry, I read your entire "Finger Ease" thread. There's a lot there, that's for sure. If I continue to have finger pain, I will try one or more of the remedy concoctions recommended by various posters. I think I MAY have figured out what my pain problem is about. First of all, it is only on my first finger. "Why?" I asked myself. I started paying close attention to how hard I am pressing down on the strings, too, and noticed that my first finger technique has improved -- when it improved not sure, but recent. I have always played with the first joint bent, and the nail edge against the strings. I thought that was compensation for my small hands, but now, I am no longer doing that motion. I'm playing with the tip of the finger pad, like most people do. So what this says to me is, there is no callous "underneath" the edge of the fingernail, which I keep trimmed very short like all my other nails. That could explain why I'm having pain -- perhaps I just need time to build up that callous in the new space on the first finger of my left hand. Time will tell.

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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    That makes total sense it you were using the nail to help the index finger. I think you solved your own problem. Good work.
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  11. #11
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Whiskey time

  12. #12
    Registered User Kevin Stueve's Avatar
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Quote Originally Posted by BrianWilliam View Post
    Whiskey time
    and by whiskey he means bourbon (only whiskey from Kentucky can help sore mandolin callouses)
    2012 Weber Bitterroot F5.

  13. #13
    en kunnskapssøker James Miller's Avatar
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    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Local yokels say there is a safe hardening solution similar to super glue that can coat one's fingers for a fast cure. You do not want to use super glue as some have other properties in the glue that can be harmful.

    Another one was soaking one's fingers in vinegar, and a few suggested vinegar and salt.

    Me, I play with the other fingers or take a break. Work got to be heavy there for a while and I was not playing as much for a few weeks, and my calluses vanished. Then got creative with a new song, and I suffered through it until I got it recorded for future reference & redefining.

    The Seagull is easier on the fingers, although I like playing newly created songs on both the Seagull and the Weber, as some songs sound better with more base, whilst other songs are more 'livelier' with the S8.
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  14. #14

    Default Re: What to do to help sore callouses

    Thanks everyone. I hope popsi is right, that I've identified the problem, and it will take care of itself in time.

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