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Since I start playing a lot again, my thumbnail starting sort of "break" down again. The left side of the thumbnail, which makes contact with the strings, is tearing down. It isnt really ripped, but more really thin and weak and rough, and the round shape is gone . How can i repair this or prevent it from happening? I read some about superglue but that doesnt really work, or do you need special glue?
RE: My thumbnail is breaking down :( (in reply to yohan)
Yohan,
You are just going to get the same old answers about silk and superglue and pegamento and tissue and acryllics and nail hardener etc.
You can't just splurge on a bit of superglue or epoxy for 5 minutes and hope that it's solved!
Also there is no "special glue".
Doesn't work like that.
Although I don't do it any longer, nail protection is both an art and a science and will take up a lot of your time to begin with if you want to get it right.
It will take months, maybe years of your guile and concentration..
Only when you have tried everything and it becomes practically an obsession will you get it right..(for you!)
RE: My thumbnail is breaking down :( (in reply to yohan)
im suffering from the same problem and I really don't know how to solve it till now as I don't really like using glue also I've tried thumb fake nail and its so weak for flamenco
RE: My thumbnail is breaking down :( (in reply to yohan)
i always had the problem that everything i put on my thumb nail (hardener, acryl powder) had a softer density than my own nail. It killed the tone on alzapua, and rasgeos (everything thats played with the upside of the nail). So i stopped putting anything on it and its ok since years. When i played alot lot it would tear down as you say, but after two days it grows again. Just file it flat after each "tearing" so that the nail does not hook on the string.
Sorry maybe this is not helpful. But especially thumb nails dont need protection IMO. My other finger's nails are very thin, so i put on some glue ONLY to get it thicker, for better sound.
RE: My thumbnail is breaking down :( (in reply to yohan)
Ive always filed all nails in both directions. I usually don't use the finer grit files on the thumbnail because I like the tone better that way. I'd say the solution may be in more regular filing.
If you want to glue some material to the nail, Ive heard of players cutting slices of ping pong balls and gluing them to the underside of the nail.
RE: My thumbnail is breaking down :( (in reply to yohan)
I have used super glue before but it didn't' work really good. the weird thing is that my other nails are thicker and stronger, I only have problems with the tumbnail. I'm going to try to fill my nail every day now, maybe that helps a bit.
btw on the ping pong nails, I've tried that once when my thumbnail was broken, and it works very good! but it takes very long to make it good and feel natural, but the tone of ping-pong is actually good. Also it falls of in a few days. Here's a nice link on how to make pingpong nails: ping pong nails
RE: My thumbnail is breaking down :( (in reply to yohan)
Pingpong "eyes" made out of two half pingpong balls are also an asset if you are appearing for a short TV slot or something and will definitely get you noticed. In fact you can probably make heaps of mistakes and stuff and nobody would really care as they would be too busy trying to get their head round your "eyeballs".
If Grisha, Jason, Ricardo or Todd had adopted this simple trick they would be World famous millionaire artists by now I bet..
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