Callus questions

I'm curious about something, which surely doesn't amount to anything important. I've been playing 2-3 hours a day for the past 6 years. I usually play in 20-minute spurts, when I then go back to composing or writing.

I have pretty good calluses on my second, third, and fourth fingers. This help in string bending, which I do a lot of. I also do a fair amount of legato playing, meaning hammer-ons and pull-offs with these fingers. I don't play a lot of rhythm anymore, but when I do, I play full-barre, partial-barre, and no-barre chords in equal amounts.

My problem is the first finger on the tip. Here, the skin is much softer than the other fingers. If I play more intensely on certain days, the finger will be a little bit tender. This is not right on the surface, but maybe an 8th inch deeper. The tip of the finger is not blistered at all. There is a tiny bit of noticeable dead skin on this finger, as well as on the others.

I'm wondering why the first finger is softer and more tender than the others? Is it because I use it more than any other finger? Is it because hammers, pulls, and bends help toughen up the other fingers?

Here is my solution, which is working very well. I have a small plastic container of rubbing alcohol that I dip my first finger into for 30-60 seconds at a time. After doing this 10-20 times a day for the last week, lo and behold, a callus is forming that is approaching the toughness of the others.

My purpose in wanting to toughen up this finger is for the small gigs that I play. After even 20 minutes of playing live, my finger tips are really feeling soft and weak, and even a little painful. When I was playing 4-10 hours for ten years in my teens and twenties, my fingertips were very smooth and hard. I didn't have to do anything special, like soak in witch hazel, brine, or rubbing alcohol. Why am I having this problem with my first finger, then?

I used to have real calluses, hard lumps of dead skin, but over the years this has evolved into thickened pliable skin on the fingertips, just as tough. Possibly age related.

Possible lack of callus on first is its use for barres. I have thickened skin on the side of that finger.

Possible cause of pain is pressing too hard, just enough is right. Playing guitar increases hand strength a lot, it is very easy to press too hard without noticing. If I've been hitting the strings too hard then fingertips can feel bruised afterwards.
I have to watch that with the bass, one has small frets and can be pressed to the fingerboard, the other has tall frets and cannot (without getting a string bend note).

I try to avoid anything stronger than very hot water and soap, keeping nails very short and clean.

hows your setup action string guage?

Me, I use a whole slew of different gauges, to suit each guitar. From 9s to 13s, mostly 10s I think. I do always set up for a low-medium action (without fret buzz), even on bass.

By rights, bass should use the pad of the finger not the tip, but they're 45-105 hawsers. As a guitarist that plays bass, I erm, don't do that.