[thedownside]

Now sure where this one should go, so its here now.

My dad at xmas had a table saw accident and part of his middle finger on his fretting hand ended up being amputated. he's been playing for like 45+ years, and his biggest concern is playing again.

does anyone have experience with this? he's been looking at a prosthetic finger tip, but is just looking for info right now, he's still healing

 

[Elysian]

One of the guys that runs Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery only has 2 fingers and a thumb on his fretting hand, chopped them off in an accident at the school. He still shreds, he's in a Grateful Dead tribute band and does all sorts of great lead work.

 

[Assault Bacon]

There are a number of people with missing/misshapen fingers who play quite well. I've seen prosthetic fingers one could try - but if you need a classic example, of course, there's Tony Iommi who currently uses prosthetic leather fingertips on his fretting hand.

How much of his finger is missing, by the way?

 

[TheKindred]

came to post Tony Iommi and Django

 

[thedownside]

How much of his finger is missing, by the way?

it was amputated half way past the first knuckles, so about halfway up his middle phalanx

how i play with rock and metal, id deal fine, but he's 45 years doing country/bluegrass stuff with all those chords
i have no doubt he'll deal, but he's retired, this is his main thing he has to do (pretty sure the gf wont be letting him do wood working for a bit, lol) so he's concerned

 

[noodles]

Ah, crap, my dad plays bluegrass and you absolutely need all your fingers. All those open chords with licks in the middle of them and whatnot. I hope your old man finds a solution.

 

[thedownside]

yeah, the chords and changes and stuff are a bit nuts. ive been playing for 25 years, and i can barely understand them lol.

and 2 days earlier, i broke 4 bones and tore tendons in my airbrush hand lol

 

[mpexus]

Prosthetic's are making huge advancements lately thanks to 3D Printing and more companies coming aboard. Recently I saw someone in UK trying a new approach that would make them available to anyone.

Do a bit of research and you might find something that really suits him.

Sorry for your dad accident, cant imagine what is to loose part of us

 

[GentleHands McCoy]

My dad's cut off fingers on a table saw twice, thankfully they were able to reattach them. His dexterity is still OK.

He never told me he was a guitar player, but I saw him bust out a surprisingly good rendition of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" once with reattached fingers.

Depends on the exact injury really, you just have to adapt.

If it's something that just won't work period and he likes playing bluegrass just get him a lap steel.

 

[thedownside]

Prosthetic's are making huge advancements lately thanks to 3D Printing and more companies coming aboard. Recently I saw someone in UK trying a new approach that would make them available to anyone.

Do a bit of research and you might find something that really suits him.

Sorry for your dad accident, cant imagine what is to loose part of us

funny you mentioned the 3d printing. i have a friend with one, used to build robots and stuff. we were just talking and he's gonna start printing off some to try.... there's a library of designs out there already.

 

[eleven59]

Hopefully he finds something that works. It’s also a good excuse to get into open tunings, slide, and maybe mandolin or something. Broaden the horizons a bit and get creative. But if he wants to play, I’m sure he’ll find a way.

 

[TheKindred]

what if he were to just go full bore and replace the whole hand with one of those Spider Capos or something similar?

lead the revolution!

 

[BornToLooze]

Hopefully he finds something that works. It's also a good excuse to get into open tunings, slide, and maybe mandolin or something. Broaden the horizons a bit and get creative. But if he wants to play, I'm sure he'll find a way.

I've seen videos of people with no arms play better than I can with their feet.

 

[James]

Sorry to hear about his accident, I hope he finds a solution that works for him.

 

[Assault Bacon]

I've seen videos of people with no arms play better than I can with their feet.

Why would you play guitar with someone else's feet?

 

[146]

Why would you play guitar with someone else's feet?

I was about to post the same question. :lol:

 

[BornToLooze]

Why would you play guitar with someone else's feet?

Maybe if I would type with their feet I would have wrote the sentence right.:scratch:

 

[robanomoly]

Sorry to hear about the accidents both of you have had lately. Scary stuff.

As others have said, there are a lot of possibilities out there. He'll just need to try a bunch until he finds the right one. It will take a fair bit of time to recover and adjust, which will be very frustrating for sure.

 

[Wavesurfer]

I am missing 1 inch on my middle finger my doctor recommended these, been using them now for a decade-

Guitar Finger Protectors

Guitar Finger Protectors, Finger Protector For Guitar Players, Guitar Finger Guards, Finger Extensions for injured musicians

galaxyguitar.com

I purchased a few of their guitars as well