2 questions...finger skin and pick guards

Hello, me again!

As of today the tips of my index middle and ring fingers are peeling the skin off is this normal when you're a beginner?

I also was wondering if anyone puts a pick guard on their uke. I have seen several people's ukes with wear marks and scratches right where they strum. If this is indeed something people do, where do you get the guards from and will they damage the finish? Thanks!

That's fairly normal. It'll stop as you build up strength, technique, and toughness. A poorly set up ukulele may exacerbate the problem.

Some people like pick-guards. Some people hate them with a passion. Whether you need one depends on if you like the look, how you play, and where you land between keeping your instrument pristine and considering marks badges of honour.

You can get clear or coloured pick-guard material from many sources (Amazon, StewMac, your local music shop, etc.). Beau Hannam posted a video on installing a pick-guard in the luthiers forum yesterday: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.co...How-to-install-a-clear-pickguard-Bubble-Free-!!!

Obligatory Trigger reference:

If you don't desire a permanent install of a pick guard, consider a Kling-On. It's a clear peel and apply protector for instruments that one can easily remove. You can buy in various sizes or simply use a guitar sized one and cut to fit. We used to install them on expensive guitars in our shop as one clumsy dude could ruin a $5000 instrument with a single strum. The only gotcha on the Kling-On is it works best on glossy finishes. Also, try to only protect the area you strum over and no more as large pick guards roll off the highs and volume a tad.

gochugogi said:

If you don't desire a permanent install of a pick guard, consider a Kling-On. It's a clear peel and apply protector for instruments that one can easily remove. You can buy in various sizes or simply use a guitar sized one and cut to fit. We used to install them on expensive guitars in our shop as one clumsy dude could ruin a $5000 instrument with a single strum. The only gotcha on the Kling-On is it works best on glossy finishes. Also, try to only protect the area you strum over and no more as large pick guards roll off the highs and volume a tad.

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I found those but people were saying that they damage the finish.

Presume you mean the fingers on your fretting hand. Yep, it’s very normal, and the skin on your finger tips will become a little thicker over time. As for pick guards, I have one on my Kala arch top but it came with it. I quite like the look of it so I won’t be taking it off, but my others have no pick guards and they came like that so they’ll stay like that too. Doesn’t worry me if I wear some of the finish off with my strumming, scratches and scuffs add to the character of an instrument to my eyes (see the aforementioned legendary Trigger). But it is , of course, personal choice. Sticking a pick guard on the table of a uke will have an effect on the vibrating qualities of that table, but I imagine the size, and thickness of the guard with come into play.

Kherome said:

I found those but people were saying that they damage the finish.

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I installed and removed the Kling-On brand protectors perhaps a hundred times from shop guitars and my personal instruments. Not one problem with finish damage. I just removed one from my wife's old Pono MT tenor and it came right off without a hitch. It was on there at least 5 years! Of course these were polyurethane based finishes. I wouldn't put one on a French polish.

Ok thank you. Mine is a gloss finish but I don't know the nature of the finish, probably poly as well?

If it's a recent—last 30 years—production line instrument, it's probably a plastic based finish. Prior to that you often saw nitrocellulose which is more delicate. Today, you normally only see nitrocellulose and French polish (shellac) on individually crafted luthier instruments.

What uke do you have that you are worried about the finish? You had another thread where you were worried about the tuner leaving a mark. Are you using a pick, or are you worried about your fingernails leaving marks? Because you are asking, I personally think that pick guards on a ukulele look worse than the strumming marks. I also am not a fan of protective films.

Rllink said:

What uke do you have that you are worried about the finish? You had another thread where you were worried about the tuner leaving a mark. Are you using a pick, or are you worried about your fingernails leaving marks? Because you are asking, I personally think that pick guards on a ukulele look worse than the strumming marks. I also am not a fan of protective films.

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The tuner came with a paper that said "Instruments with certain gloss finishes may be marred by this tuner" use at your own risk. I don't know anything about the types of finishes used and didn't want to make a rookie mistake and damage an instrument by doing something dumb just because I didn't know any better. It's easy to do those sorts of things when you're starting out.

Kherome said:

...As of today the tips of my index middle and ring fingers are peeling the skin off is this normal when you're a beginner?...

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They are called "calluses" and this is perfectly normal.

I'm surprised that none of the previous replies to this thread have named this phenomenon (unless I missed it, forgive me).

Google has lots of info via this link for you: https://tinyurl.com/y35agpe8

Joe King said:

They are called "calluses" and this is perfectly normal.

I'm surprised that none of the previous replies to this thread have named this phenomenon (unless I missed it, forgive me).

Google has lots of info via this link for you: https://tinyurl.com/y35agpe8

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I know what calluses are, but this is the skin peeling OFF, kind of like when you get a sunburn and it peels? It doesn't seem like it's "thickening" the fingertips but who knows? For the moment it's stopped peeling but the middle, index and ring finger almost seem to have reduced sensation. So maybe that's good. I still find fretting at the top of the neck to be kind of painful. I might be a wimp.

That top of the neck, you probably meant fretting with fingertips?

I can give this personal experience, that I don't like Aquila Nylgut strings because of their thickness. That thickness causes me pain in my fingertips no matter how hardened they are. It must be a technique thing and I want feel the fretboard contact same time as the fretted string or something, but I can't help myself in that. Probably if I had bigger fingertips this problem did not exist.

Fortunately the fluorocarbon strings are thinner and don't cause me that pain, or the steel strings in guitars.

Edited for world peace and the well being of whales and all living creatures.

I do have aquila nylgut strings on this uke.

Jarmo, I meant fretting at the top, like the first fret. That area makes my fingers hurt the most.

gochugogi said:

That's is unusual as most people are the opposite, i.e., thinner high tension strings bite into the fingers more than thicker low tension strings. I had to give up on playing steel string acoustic guitars because of that and yet I can play nylon classical guitars until the cows come home!

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That is a common misconception you have. It is the tension that matters most. The fluorocarbon has a higher density than nylon, so that is why they are thinner, but the tension is probably about the same. But as in my case and many others the thinner strings are frendlier. So it matters too.

Listen maybe at 5:50 starting this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq13jyUsnSI

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Kherome the 1st fret and next ones too can be hard to press down because of a too high nut action. It causes intonation problems too, sharp notes.

Jarmo_S said:

That is a common misconception you have. It is the tension that matters most. The fluorocarbon has a higher density than nylon, so that is why they are thinner, but the tension is probably about the same. But as in my case and many others the thinner strings are frendlier. So it matters too.

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That's not a misconception. You are entitled to your preferences as am I. After all our fingers and play times are different and we don't feel things the same. However, since you opened that can 'o worms, here's the tension data for two of D'Addario's normal tenor ukulele strings:

Tension Chart for EJ65TLG Pro-Arté Custom Extruded Ukulele, Tenor
Diameter Tension
Note Inches mm lbs kg
A 0.0285 0.0000 13.180 5.983
E 0.0327 0.0000 9.590 4.353
C 0.0410 0.0000 9.340 4.240
G 0.0290 0.0000 11.040 5.012

Tension Chart for EJ99TLG Pro-Arté Carbon Ukulele, Tenor

Diameter Tension
Note Inches mm lbs kg
A 0.2050 0.0000 12.300 5.584
E 0.2600 0.0000 11.110 5.043
C 0.3190 0.0000 10.530 4.780
G 0.0224 0.0000 11.660 5.293

As you can see, we're both partially wrong or partially right! The 1st string of the "fat" nylon set is indeed about .8 LB higher tension than the fluorocarbon. However, the 2nd the 3rd strings of the fluorocarbon are both over 1 LB higher tension. The 4th string of the fluorocarbon set is just barely higher tension. Actually the difference in ukulele tensions doesn't bother me much in the above case. I admit, for the ukulele they're close enough it's no biggie. Of course, there are tenor sets that start at .024" with fluorocarbon sets and I feel the pain with those.

However, my experience with the D'Addario classical guitar fluorocarbons is the first string (.024") of normal tension sets bite into my fingers tips like angry bees and I much prefer the fatter .028" nylon string for comfort. In the case of the normal tension classical guitar fluorocarbons, the 1st string tension is considerably higher than the Pro Arte nylon version: 21.290LB vs 16.230LB for the .028" nylon. And, yes, this is comparing their normal tension sets. This mainly my point of reference since I spend the most time on classical guitars.

I figure the distribution of the string tension across a slightly larger area of the finger decreases the nerve irritation. It may not seem like a big deal for short practices but because of my job I easily spend upwards of 4 hours daily playing my guitar and ukuleles. And the fingertip pain has me always setting up the action a little lower than optimal and gravitating towards lighter strings after a 40 year career.

Kherome said:

I know what calluses are, but this is the skin peeling OFF, kind of like when you get a sunburn and it peels? It doesn't seem like it's "thickening" the fingertips but who knows? For the moment it's stopped peeling but the middle, index and ring finger almost seem to have reduced sensation. So maybe that's good. I still find fretting at the top of the neck to be kind of painful. I might be a wimp.

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At this point, sounds normal on the peeling. Reduced sensation is normal (and I do not like the sensation... or lack thereof) as the fingertip toughens up and callouses begin to form. My callouses are not obvious from appearance only sometimes.

The first fret requires the most pressure to get a good tone. This is where a good setup sometimes helps as lowering the action (strings closer to the fret without buzzing) is helpful. Different strings may also help here as others here are noting.

Continuing and remember readers these are just my experiences.
I have always used nylon strings on my classical guitar, never fluorocarbon. So about tension differences and other stuff, I can't comment any. Nylons worked just fine for me, what with over 40 years of stringing them. Also I agree with acoustic steel strings being being much harder, in fact very hard on fingers and also on their strength.

Light gauge electric guitar strings with a low action are another matter. But even this should start you wonder. Is it really string thickness or rather thinness that is a problem, them piercing your fingertip skin and hurting so much in the long run? I say no. It is the tension of the strings. An electric is a dream to play regarding fingertip pains.

Comparing classical guitar and ukuleles tuned in GCEA is not right either. The scale difference is huge. Because of the huge scale difference I do find ukuleles somewhat harder to finger sometimes. There are many factors in this though that I wont go into.

But whatever, fuorocarbons are not really that thin compared to say steel strings, I mean maybe the C string thickness still hurts my tender fingertips some.

As of this morning I have officially tried the clear strings. I think they hurt worse than the aquila nylgut strings. But again, I'm not pretending that my fingers are tough. They are not.