Monel / Nickel skin reaction. :(

[fretmeister]

I put a set of short scale rotosound monel flats on my cheap shorty P bass.

Sounds fantastic and I love the feel of the strings.

 

Or at least I did for a couple of hours. Now my finger-tips feel like they have blisters developing in them. They are painful and itchy. 

It would appear I am allergic or have a sensitivity to these strings.

 

Very annoying and not least because that's £40 down the drain.

Hopefully the fingers will recover reasonably quickly if I keep scrubbing them.

[naxos10]

You could try using a Musicians Practice glove when using those strings.

[warwickhunt]

Do you usually have a reaction to other materials/strings?  

 

I've just ordered a set of monel strings for my Baritone guitar... never had an issue with any other material, hope these aren't giving too many people grief.

[fretmeister]

18 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

Do you usually have a reaction to other materials/strings?  

 

I've just ordered a set of monel strings for my Baritone guitar... never had an issue with any other material, hope these aren't giving too many people grief.

 

No - no reactions to anything else.

 

I've been reading more: apparently the nickel content in the monel alloy is very high compared to normal use. 

Allergies can be basically non-existent until triggered by something.

 

 

[wrinkleygit]

I have a problem with nickel strings causing blistering, so on guitar it’s either coated or stainless, on bass It’s always stainless, that’s the only way I can overcome the issue.

[geoffbyrne]

On 30/11/2022 at 12:45, wrinkleygit said:

I have a problem with nickel strings causing blistering, so on guitar it’s either coated or stainless, on bass It’s always stainless, that’s the only way I can overcome the issue.

Yes, my fingers turn black while playing nickel.  No lesions as yet, but stick to SS and cobalt now.

 

[TheGreek]

Doesn't hand gel help???

 

I'm sure you must have some lying around from COVID.

[geoffbyrne]

I have Cobalt Flats on everything now, so problem doesn't arise, but thanks for suggestion.

 

[DGBass]

I found out I had a nickel allergy a few years back and had to stop using any nickel alloy strings. I switched to cobalts which cured the problem until my cobalts started to rust after about half a dozen sweaty gigs. Rusty cobalts also now irritate the tips of my fingers from a sort of black corrosion the cobalts develop. I'm back to using stainless flats which seem to agree well with my finger tips. I never use picks either so its always hands on playing.

[fretmeister]

I've put La Bella DTF stainless steel on my shorty, and while I was at it, put some White Copper Nylon tapes on a different bass.

 

No problems at all now.

[geoffbyrne]

On 03/12/2022 at 20:58, geoffbyrne said:

Yes, my fingers turn black while playing nickel.  No lesions as yet, but stick to SS and cobalt now.

 

Yup!  Me too!