Fake Press On Nails for Classical Guitar – In this video I demonstrate how to apply fake press on nails and look at three types of false nails that use double sided adhesive tape. These are are a no-glue nail option that works great for guitar and is easy to remove and reapply. These do not damage your nails like glue products do, take only a few minutes to apply or remove. Whether you have a nail break and want something temporary or you are switching to using false nails all the time, I hope this video helps. Here’s the YouTube link if you want to watch it there.
Video Topics and Times
- 00:00 Intro
- 1:27 Guitar Nails Kit
- 2:32 Luckyfairy Short Oval Round Nail
- 3:10 Sally Hansen Perfect Press-On
- 4:40 Demo Application of Nails
- 6:31 Filing and Shaping the Fake Nails
- 7:50 How Long do They Stay On
- 9:46 Close Up
- 10:16 Discussion on Removal
- 11:08 Health Concerns and Caution
- 11:58 Warning about Rasgueado
- 13:15 Conclusion
Products Used in Video
Keep in mind that almost any acrylic fake nail would likely work if it is a hard tip single-material style product. I like the Luckyfairy ones but I’ll be trying others as I experiment.
Guitar Nails Kit (An industry standard) – These are okay, very versatile. They have a strong clear tone which sounds good. I find them a bit thick and cumbersome though, the back of my nail hits the upper string sometimes. These are used by many pros though and last a long time in terms of wear. Comes with the adhesive tape.
Luckyfairy Short Oval Round Nail (I’m using these for concerts) – These are cheap false nails I found on Amazon. There are 100 similar brands which are likely all the same product. I find the tone loud, clear, and beautiful and I feel they are a bit thinner than Guitar Nails Kit. I really like these and will be using them in concerts as they are a bit louder and more clear than the Sally Hansen ones below. I used the Press-N-Go adhesive stickers for these as they don’t come with any.
Sally Hansen Perfect Press-Ons (I use these for practice and recording and love the feel) – The exact shape and colour I use is the “Ombre-lievable – Ov121” medium ovals. You can find these at your local department store or online. These feel the best to me but the sound is more mellow, less clear, and less loud but still good enough for me. They are very thin so they form to your natural nail better and I find they last a very long time on your nail. Longer than you’d want them to actually. But they are softer so strong players might wear them down too quickly. Warnings: I do not use the glue included, bad for your nails! Do not get the French tip ones as the material is different. I can’t find my exact ones on the American Amazon maybe due to some rebranding but here my search for them on Amazon which I think is about the same. Comes with the adhesive tape.
Health Warning
Do your research and wear false nails at your own risk. I’ve been warned that when moisture gets under false nails you are creating an environment for infection (bacterial, fungal). So people recommended to me to change them every day. Now, I wear mine for around 5 days and haven’t had an issue yet but you should do your own research and make your own decision on this aspect.
How Long Do They Last?
Taking the above health consideration into account of course. I leave mine on for 4-5 days. As an experiment I’ve left them on and the thin well-forming Sally Hansen ones lasted a week and then I removed them so they might have lasted longer. I find the thicker nails (Guitar Nails Kit) start loosening in 4 days. It also depends on how much water, soap, or oils you get in there.
Extreme Warning about Rasgueado!
As mentioned in the video, if you catch the back of the nail (near the cuticle) during rasgueado strums it is terrible and horrific. This is a serious concern that you can’t ignore.
I file down the edge as much as possible and that seems to do the trick for practice if I’m being relatively careful but in performance or for caution I’d recommend also putting a nail strengthener or hardener on the edge so the string can not catch. This solves the problem if done correctly. It’s easy to feel the edge to assess if it will catch.
Pros and Cons
- Pros
- Perfectly uniform nails with a nice curve and no imperfections.
- Easy to apply
- Break a nail? No problem, just replace it.
- They sound great to me
- Cons
- Although generally quick, it is a pain to do it every few days.
- There might be increased nail noise on contact. I find it a bit more intense then my regular nails but my nails have always produced lots of noise.
- Finding the ones that work will take experimentation
- Annoying that you can’t seem to order the specific sizes you need but instead entire sets where I don’t use 60% of them.
- Rasgueado danger
- Infection danger
More Photos
Thanks for this. I was mainly interested in this topic for repairing broken fingernails. I have read about gluing a piece of a ping pong ball under your nail, and I recently used super glue and tiny strips of a tea bag to repair a torn nail (it worked quite well). I had never considered using fake nails, but they look like a good option. I’m just wondering what happens as your natural nail grows out. Do you keep filing the fake nail as well as your real one underneath? As always, your videos are very informative.
Well, you replace these ones every 4 days at minimum so it’s just regular filing until you take them off. I’ve been filing my natural nail very short so it doesn’t double up by the 4th day.