hahha you really didn't like the comment about the "nast little things"did ya?? each to his own i guess, just when i moved to playing heavier gauge strings i found that just playin on it was practice enough, an i felt i would be wastin my money on somethin like that as i'd seen mates playin with them an they didn't seem to help them in any way. however each to his/her own i guess. wow that must have been very very annoyin not bein able to play. thats another thing i noticed when they were usin them "nasty little things" ( yup tis their new name!) they were just squashin it flat in what ever way they could so i saw it as pointless as they weren't exercisin the right muscles in any way. so if you do get one make sure you use it right otherwise my point will be proven an it'll be a waste of time but if ya use it right an prove me wrong then woohoo. but i'd personally go for just increasing string gauge everso often, but don't just jump from really light to dead heavy as it will really piss you off when tryin to play.