Official Luthiers Forum!

Head's up if you're interested.
Tried a new one, mechanical pencil, not so thick at 0.9mm, and not so easy to break (ceramic lead - ?)
Someone recommended this on the O'Brian forum.
The pic is just my normal signature scribbled fast on EIR.
Hands down better than anything else I've tried.
https://www.amazon.com/Sewline-Fabric-Ceramic-Quantity-Refills/dp/B017WXXSF6/ref=pd_ybh_a_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NFY6162MQ29CVE0YVTG6

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks Colin, been looking for something like that.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Colin, I mostly use white pencil for tracing around plexiglas templates, which often have kind of rough edges here and there. Think this lead would stand up to that? Always interested in better things. Thanks, Bob

_________________
“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Seems to hold up fairly well, comparable almost to a lead pencil.
Of course, being a mechanical pencil, if held at a suitable angle the lead won't touch the plexiglass. It would be the metal tube the lead sits in.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks, Colin. Just been in town and got some of these. Works fine on sanded EIR, a lot less well on fine-planed or very fine sanded wood, especially if that wood is waxy or oily, in which case standard 2B polymer leads were more visible. So an improvement in some, but not all, situations.

_________________
Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I’ve been using this 0.7 mm yellow lead for last few years in a standard mechanical pencil:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B016FYEQ5E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As strong or stronger than a 2B lead, but will not stand up to rough surfaces or use. Has worked well on fine-sanded ebony and IRW, marking out bridges, fingerboards, headplates, binding and the like.

I’d like to try this ceramic lead though.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

In view of Trevor's post and in the interest of us all, signed various woods to try them out.

Signature in the (yellow) mechanical pencil mentioned, with another in HB pencil alongside.

Not the best pic, tried to catch the HB pencil marks with the lighting.

When I don't catch the light on the pencil lines are almost invisible on most of the woods.

Woods sanded except Zircote (sawn), not planed.

Top to bottom:-
ABW
BRW
Ebony (Gabon)
Honduran RW
Zircote
Wenge
Bubinga

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Very nicely done Colin. I ordered one . Should be a big improvement!

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Hope you like it!

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks again, Colin. I used white not yellow, which seems to give you much better results than I was getting. But sanded surfaces gave better results, for sure. I'll check out the yellow next time I'm in town.

_________________
Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Good timing Colin. I have just run out of my box of white pencils, which were too soft anyway, and was about to start looking for a better alternative.
Thanks Dave

One quick note, the pencil that Colin has linked comes with white lead. I ordered a pack of yellow with it.
Yellow FAB50008,

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Sorry 'bout that!

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

No problem. Most likely white will come in handy

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Was in town earlier. The shop owner thought she was out of stock, but couldn't remember ever seeing yellow. After further investigation it turns out yellow is not available in Aus. Only white, green, pink and black. Go figure!

_________________
Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Go pink!

Go figure, especially as "Launched in 2008, Sewline are an Australian company"

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I think mine said it was coming from Japan...

Pat

_________________
Pat

Mine just came. It's great, best white pencil ever. Thanks!

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Glad you like it.
I just tried white and compared it to yellow, not that much different.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Mine says made in Japan, site I looked at said it was an Australian company - ?

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.