I know of at least one other professional player who sometimes licks the fingertips of his right-hand before playing. I think the idea is to make the skin less dry for nicer tone but I suspect that it is counterproductive. One's fingers quickly dry and then it is even more likely that the skin becomes rough because one is removing the natural oils. Washing the hands with cheap soaps or doing the dishes with powerful detergents also causes rough skin, especially in the winter months when the air is cold and dry. Licking one's fingers must also make the strings suffer in the long run. I once lent a lute to a player who had very sweaty hands. After only a couple of hours all the copper-wound strings were ruined and the frets were looking decidedly sorry for themselves. To soften the skin I use non greasy organic silica based hand-cream (there's one made by Aquasilice here in France) and then dip my fingertips in a bit of natural talc. If the skin is particularly rough I use some extremely fine emery paper (grade 1200). Hope this is of some help. Best Matthew
> On Dec 24, 2015, at 3:47, LSA Lute Rental Program <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Every month I try to send all the renters of Lute Society of America > lutes a little info on some topic. The one I am doing a bit of > research on now is the practice of wetting right hand thumb, index, and > middle fingers before playing the lute. > I am sure this has been a past topic and am sure there are lots of > opinions out there about this. That is, actually, why I am asking for > your thoughts. Some lutenists "fog" their fingers, some wet them, > some wet them and rub their fingers against their nose to collect oil, > some use lotion or mineral oil or Vaseline, some do other things, some > do nothing and play with dry fingers. > Can you offer me any history about any of these practices, any > information, pros/cons, advantages/disadvantages, issues of string type > (gut, Nylgut, nylon, etc.)? I am not taking a position on the > issue...I am just gathering information and whatever you can share is > appreciated. > Thanks, > Michael Grant > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
