I have to admit I was a little hesitant when a friend of mine
gave me a package of Micro-Mesh, and after telling me it was made to polish
airplane windows, told me to use it on my right-hand fingernails. Though after
spending five minutes polishing my nails with the four different grades of
Micro-Mesh my nails are smoother, and sound better, than ever before.
Micro-Mesh is an industrial polishing fabric that was originally designed to polish glass, jewelry and other hard surfaces. While it was never intended to be used on a guitarists finger nails, this product works wonders to enhance the smoothness and shape of any right-hand nail. I have been using Micro-Mesh for only a week and already I have seen a huge difference in my nails. They are much smoother and easier to maintain then when I used buffers and sandpaper. I am also finding that my right-hand attack is cleaner and my tone has markedly increased since I began using this product. As an added bonus my nails are now so shiny they look like glass.
While you can buy Micro-Mesh in bulk from several companies, this is probably not a financially viable option as the industrial sized rolls are rather expensive. Instead, check out the pre-packaged kits available online.
Micro-Mesh nail kits are sold by Strings by Mail and come in a variety of packages. They sell individual grades, 3200-4000-6000-12000, for under 2$ each. They also sell packages with all four grades for $6.95 and packages that contain five complete sets of all four grades for under $30. They also carry a small-foam block that can be used to give support to the Micro-Mesh sheets when polishing your nails.
Benefits of Using Micro-Mesh
In my own daily polishing routine I have found that I use all four grades at the start of a practice session, and then I just use the two finest grades, 6000 and 12000, to buff up my nails as they wear during the day. From talking to other people who use Micro-Mesh this seems to be common practice. The good thing is that each $2 sheet will last for months, as compared to nail buffers that normally wear out in a matter of weeks.
I have also had several people tell me that they have been using the Micro-Mesh products to round and smooth their picks. When I used to use a pick on a regular basis I would often use a nail file and buffer to round out my picks, so I can definitely see where this product would enhance that process.
Up until now I have always used either fine sandpaper or nail buffers to keep my right-hand nails in shape. Though I have never had any problems with either of these products, I could not believe the difference that using Micro-Mesh made on my nails. My tone has gotten better, my fingers fly off the strings with no resistance, and my nails are easier to maintain. If you are a finger-style guitarist I highly recommend that you check out this product. It will do wonders for your nails, tone and technique.
