Rt. hand fingernail noise on pickguard & strings, L. hand finger squeaks on strings

[Chicago Sandy]

So I'm sitting in the studio last week, lovely long acrylic nails on my right hand, as I am fingerpicking. Suddenly, I don't even need to hear it in my 'phones: I can feel my middle and ring fingernail tips touching and irregularly chattering on the pickguard of my guitar. (It was a sound that, while unnoticeable to untrained ears, I was certain was audible to DJs and kept at least one very good song of mine from getting airplay a few years ago). So I stop the recording and, to the engineer's horror, put a couple of layers of masking tape over the pickguard--a previous engineer used a piece of rag underneath duct tape, but that was in the case of the Taylor I'd decided not to bring. (Our current engineer is biting his own nails at the prospect of leaving tape residue on the pickguard of what was by now a near-vintage Martin). So far, so good--on playback, no evidence of gremlins eating Rice Krispies or a sleet-shower falling in the studio. And when I remove the tape, not a trace of residue.

But then I switch to strumming, on my other Martin. I hear the soft but unmistakeable screech of my trailing nails (the ones not holding the flatpick) raking the strings. Uh-oh. Not a nail file or clipper in sight. So I wrap masking tape around my fingertips instead. There has to be a better way, I thought.

Meanwhile, there's still some finger squeak on the fingerpicked intro of that first song, despite some deft EQ'ing. We settle on eventually dropping in some soft fiddle and maybe even glockenspiel accents, and if the squeak's still there after those overdubs and mixing, maybe renting a noise reduction unit.

Getting back to the nail noise. When I got back home, I analyzed my right hand and saw two culprits: the length of my nails and the material used to enhance them: hard acrylic gel. Obviously, since I pick with mostly thumb and index, I didn't need that kind of length on the other nails, nor did I need them that hard. I consulted with my nail tech today, and we decided to go a little shorter on the acrylic thumb and index nails too (only 1/8-16" peeking out past the fingertip), and switch the other three nails to what she calls a "non-chip manicure," which is really a liquid gel that I use on my short left nails so that they match the right hand in color albeit not in length. On a well-hardened, strong natural nail, the liquid gel holds up well for picking nylon strings but doesn't stand up to steel. Because my own nails had gotten thin beneath the hard acrylics, she had to shorten the middle, ring and pinky nails to just past the fingertip (as they grow out, they'll get stronger because the liquid gel lets the nails breathe, and they can eventually be as long as the index & thumb). Seems to be working--no clickety-clacking on the guitar top as I fingerpick and no screeching as I strum.

Anyone else have any stories and solutions about nail noise on the right hand and callus squeaks on the left?

[mmmaak]

If your right hand is brushing the pickguard often enough, isn't it technique that needs to be amended rather than nail/pickguard/etc.?

[rick-slo]

The flesh of the fingertip should contact the string before the nail.
http://books.google.com/books?id=yoL...age&q=&f=false

The part about the nail shape in the later half of the video.
http://www.ehow.com/video_2374069_fi...al-guitar.html

To avoid right hand strings squeaks using
coated strings help a lot.