A few years ago I played just about every night in a loud rock/blues band and I did the acrylic nail thing. The first time, I went to a little salon in the local shopping center and sat there while the lady did four fingers. She then suggested, for her dignity and mine, that she sell me the ingredients so I could do them at home.
My nails were steel like ... I joked I could adjust the truss rod on my Strat with my index fingernail. I could beat those strings night after night and never make a dent. However ... as the nail grows, the little acrylic raft starts moving down, exposing the blank area at the cuticle ... that can snag the string and rip it off. Also, each time they pop off, which they do after a while, they take a layer of nail with them, so in the end your nail is one molecule thick. When I stopped working so much, I stopped applying it, and my nails grew back in very strong.
Highly recommended though if you're working often. There's nothing worse that having a nail break off in the middle of a show.
Kirk
|