For years, finger pickers, classical players, and flamenco guitar players, have tried to strengthen their nails
so they won't break as a result of playing. These players are very aware of the importance of the nail to their tone.

Players have often found that the steel finger tips remove the 'touch' by eliminating the feedback they need to know how hard they are hitting the strings - there are a lot of banjo players that use these steel finger tips. Peter Hutlinger uses only a thumb finger pick, rest are natural fingers. Michael Hedges, one of my all time favorites, wrote that he used pieces of ping pong balls glued to his nails. Flamenco players also have crazy concoctions on their nails.

I'm still looking for a solution that doesn't make my hands look too freakish and unattractive. Instead, I just stick with the lame tone from my short nails and flesh instead. Here is what a 'good' ping pong nail looks like, you can imagine what a botched job looks like.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...3D1%3B900%3B663

How have you finger pickers out there dealt with the broken fingernail problem ?