Missing middle finger tip help

Hey everyone.
This is obviously my first post.
I am missing the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. I have tried adapting my chord playing in different ways with some success. I would like to know if there are any prosthetic tips available for people with this problem. I have considered trying to learn to play left handed, any ideas?
Hope this is the correct place for this question.
Danny

As you may well know, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath lost the tips of all his fretting hand fingers in a machine press just before the band started touring. He plays with lighter gauge strings and does have some sort of prosthetic tips, so they must be available, but I'm afraid I couldn't tell you where from. Maybe your doctor could advise?

I just did a google search on 'prosthetic fingertips' and Tony Iommi featured in all of the first 8 results!

Thanks for the response. I found the same results.

If you do decide to learn to play left-handed you could be like Jerry Garcia who was missing half of his middle finger on his strumming/picking hand.

These are on my picking hand and I do fingerstyle all the time. This happened while riding a motorcycle and it took a few years to get back to fingerpicking but now it's just second nature.
Have you tried wrapping the tip in tape just leaving the tip exposed? I know that I tried to play left handed and it seemed the flesh was just too flexible and my fingers were hitting several strings.
I just thought of that so I may give it a try. Good luck.

Toni Iommi's fingertips were glass-he lost the nerves at the tips so he got some glass sorta melted on as tips. Some people say he could take them off, some say that he couldnt. Anyways, I would just get some thimbles going on.
Good luck with that and hope that helped.

I heard about your issue and thought you might like this. His did not use glass but a simple dishwasjhing bottle.. his words can be found on link at bottom. This is a short extract to what he did...

What I did was this: I melted down a "Fairy Liquid" [an English dishwashing detergent] bottle, made a couple of blobs of the plastic and then sat there with a hot soldering iron and melted holes in them so they'd fit on the tips of my injured fingers, kind of like thimbles.

When I got the caps to fit comfortably, I ended up with these big balls on the ends of my fingers, so I then proceeded to file them down with sandpaper until they were approximately the size of normal fingertips.

It took me quite a while to get them exactly right because they couldn't be too heavy or thick but had to be strong enough so they didn't hurt the ends of my fingers when I used them. When I had sculpted my "thimbles" to the right size and tested them I realized that the ends weren't gripping the strings so I cut up a piece of leather and fixed pieces to the ends of them. I then spent ages rubbing the leather pads so they would get shiny and absorb some oils and would help me grip the strings better. I filed down the edges so they wouldn't catch on anything and it worked!

Once I had done this it took me quite a while to get used to bending and shaking strings with those two fingers because I obviously couldn't feel anything. It was difficult to even know where my fingers were and where they were going. It was just a matter of practicing and persevering with it, using my ears to compensate for my lost tactile sense.

Hope this helps..☺
More at... http://www.iommi.com/archive/neversaydie.htm

This thread is 6 years old :eek: Cool info, but don't think a 6 year old thread needed a bump.

....And welcome to the forums.

Hi There, I lost my Ring & Middle finger tips using a router 6 years ago Ouch!. Like Tony Iommi I had to find a way to play my guitars & bass, I tried the multi color toy silicone finger guards made in China but they did nothing to help me for my missing finger length or the pain. I Googled Tony Iommi again and found Galaxy Guitar Products Finger Protectors. I ordered 2 about 3 years ago, happy to say I am back to playing my musical instruments & can even type on my laptops for work- no more pain. If you lost the tips as I did over an inch on each finger I was bummed for a long time but now I'm back to playing. Check them out, they are made in America here is their link, https://www.galaxyguitar.com/ft1.html

I hope this helps someone who went through a tragic accident like I went through. Never give up. Good luck, rock on.