dartvader

It's a piss-take used on naive guitarists in a band. A scenario might be;

 

Guitarist: " Hey Man, how do you get that sound?".

 

Secretive Guitarist : "Well, I put a bit of chapstick all over my strings"

 

It seems there are a number of concocted false tales told using chapstick.

 

The only practical use for it is to ease frictional surfaces in some part of the guitar or possibly rubbing it into your finger tips to reduce string squeak. It could also be used to soften callouses on your finger tips but bear in mind you'll potentially shorten the life of the strings for reasons I mentioned before if it's not absorbed fully first.. Might be a useful quick fix in a gigging situation where sore finger tips or sliding fingers squeaking the strings are problem that need addressing there and then.

the reason i find it useful is when i pluck the string (btw its a ibanez locking nut guitar) i feel like the chapstick acts as a heat obsorber of some kind cause i hit the string pretty hard and makes it go out of tune.. really does seem too help

well guys i got back from band practice tonight (my high e went out of tune during second song) slapped a little bit of the chapstick on the high e and i had no problems with tuning! woohoo X)

I would think that the chapstick would act as a lubricant and therefore lower frictional losses with the fingers rubbing the strings and fretboard, therefore less heat.

Yeah man it deffintaly does help ide like too see how it does on a stage though, I think it mainly goes out of tune when i pick the strings though (mainly the high e) i was even thinking too put some of the chapstick on the pick maybe it would help? not sure havent tried that yet

So... the lip balm reduces friction on the strings and frets which might otherwise heat and stretch the strings, making them out of tune, is that right?

 

Have you experimented with this before?

Yeah it does help because for the longest time i used to put it where the string rides on the guitar tremolo area "Saddles" (keeps the low e a d g b strings in tune pretty well just had a problem with the high e) i think it acts as a cooling for the strings

 

Why do you put it on in the first place? Why only the last fret and the last string?

well it helps keep the guitar in tune cause im such a hard player (i use a whammy bar) also might put it along the whole last fretboard area if this helps a ton for live playing also

yup, it could. it doesn't take much heat to end up with a bit of aroma with flavored wax.

thanks man! i had a feeling lol i just have to re apply it after every 2-3 songs then

im a pretty fast player i also pick notes alot too is it possible that the string could heat up the chapstick a little bit? cause after a while i can smell the smell from it

Im a pretty serious musician i think and was wondering if anyone out there could help me out i use some chapstick (lipbalm) and i put it on very edge of the last fret of my fret board (mainly the last string) so i was wondering does anyone know if the molocules can grab ahold of the string too cool the string down? It does certinaly help, so i was wondering if any1 could give me some ideas if this does work or not or if im just full of my self haha thanks