The Blackwing 602 pencil

**MarkRhodes** · 02-01-2020, 06:06 PM

Yeah, it's a pencil. Not what we normally think of as a musical gizmo, but if one composes music or needs to pencil in notes on sheet music or in a music book, a pencil that writes dark enough to be read from a few feet away is needed. Also, the eraser is great. It lives up to its motto: Half the pressure, twice the speed.

An old article giving the backstory on the pencil and its use by novelists and screenwriters, among others. (The article was written before the pencils went back into production by another company. I have no affiliation; I just love and use the pencils.)

Blackwing 602: Why Is Hollywood Obsessed With This Pencil? | Hollywood Reporter

**Steve Z** · 02-01-2020, 06:17 PM

Great pencils. Definitely not your standard #2. Pricey, but nice. We use them in when annotating sheet music.

**MarkRhodes** · 02-01-2020, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Z

Great pencils. Definitely not your standard #2. Pricey, but nice. We use them in when annotating sheet music.

I love them! I had known that Nabokov used them---I read everything of his I could find at one point, and there was a lot to find even pre-Internet---but I had never seen one 'in the flesh' much less used one. But now I swear by them.

I had noticed that when I wrote in (regular #2) pencil on a practice logs (-say, the tempo I had reached on a piece or the name of a song I wanted to learn or a book I needed to find, I couldn't read it the next day because it was so faint. That really bugged me.

**neatomic** · 02-01-2020, 06:52 PM

soft lead pencils are not only a writers friend...but artists and musicians as well...i like 9B pencils..which are super soft...great for art, but also great for guitar work!! some soft graphite in a nut or saddle slot...or on the gears of open back tuners! invaluable!

cretacolor fine art graphite 9b from austria

cheers

**mr. beaumont** · 02-01-2020, 06:58 PM

The difference of course, is that the black wings don't smudge as much.

I want my high numbered B pencils to smudge.

joelf · 02-01-2020, 11:24 PM

That's the pencil that Stephen Sondheim always raved about.

And it's made a comeback at the exact moment my music is being all transcribed into Finale!

I guess timing is everything---LOL.

Seriously, gonna grab some now (right along with old-fashioned scoring paper). I bet they are great...

joelf · 02-01-2020, 11:32 PM

Gotta admit, though, it's gonna be hard to give up my trusty PaperMate Sharpwriter mechanicals. I've used them forever, they're cheap and dependable---and no sharpener ever. Old friends. Yeah, the line is lighter, but I darken in a chart with pen after I'm convinced I can't improve it any more.

Anyone else use them?

**MarkRhodes** · 02-01-2020, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by neatomic

soft lead pencils are not only a writers friend...but artists and musicians as well...

A review with much drawing.

**neatomic** · 02-01-2020, 11:59 PM

^ genius!!! and historically correct vid!! great

thanks mark!

cheers

**MarkRhodes** · 02-02-2020, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by neatomic

^ genius!!! and historically correct vid!! great

thanks mark!

You're welcome! I was astounded at how good that was, how careful, how meticulous, how creative, how entertaining.

**Rob MacKillop** · 02-02-2020, 04:17 AM

Just looked them up. Wow, they are expensive! I'll pass, but will ever wonder...had I bought one would I have finally written a poem worth reading, a novel for the age, or a symphony for the generations, but most of all, would it make me play like Joe Pass on Joy Spring? I'll never know, though I have a hunch...

**cosmic gumbo** · 02-02-2020, 04:40 AM

Being lefthanded has it's own set of challenges and inconveniences, and only another lefthander can truly appreciate the mess associated with using a #2 or softer pencil. The 602 does help a bit.

Old left handed men like me remember our hands looking like this every day, starting from early school days when the pencil was our main tool. Of course the paper would be all smudged up also.

**Spook410** · 02-02-2020, 04:50 AM

As an engineer I have, over the years, developed a liking of Rotring mechanical pencils. I have also found them just the thing for transcribing.

**mr. beaumont** · 02-02-2020, 11:26 AM

My favorite every day pencil for many years was the Berol Black Warrior.

They've since been rolled into papermate, and now all you can get is mirado black warriors, just not as good.

I can't use mechanical pencils, I'm too heavy handed.

joelf · 02-02-2020, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

Being lefthanded has it's own set of challenges and inconveniences, and only another lefthander can truly appreciate the mess associated with using a #2 or softer pencil. The 602 does help a bit.

Old left handed men like me remember our hands looking like this every day, starting from early school days when the pencil was our main tool. Of course the paper would be all smudged up also.

HA! My hands still look like that, but covered over with white out! I'm an antediluvian MF...

**djg** · 02-02-2020, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

Being lefthanded has it's own set of challenges and inconveniences

of course the real question is: can you go righty?

**MarkRhodes** · 02-02-2020, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop

Just looked them up. Wow, they are expensive! I'll pass, but will ever wonder...had I bought one would I have finally written a poem worth reading, a novel for the age, or a symphony for the generations, but most of all, would it make me play like Joe Pass on Joy Spring? I'll never know, though I have a hunch...

They can't improve the quality of one's writing, just the readability of what one has written. And they do take less pressure and allow faster writing. (The latter is not the concern for me now that it would have been while taking notes in a fast-talking teacher's class.) My wife says they are noisier than regular pencils and that bothers her.

They don't need to be sharpened as often, either. That's another plus.

I got mine for $1 a piece ($12 a dozen) and they will last me a long, long time. Looking now, I see the price is much higher. Put them on your Wish List and some unassuming day you will see them marked down dramatically. (Jo Kessel's bio of Barney fluctuates in price from $19 down to $12. I'm holding out for a price under $10 and one of these days I'll get it.)

**Longways to Go** · 02-02-2020, 12:48 PM

I've always been partial to the good old Dixon Ticonderoga.

**feet** · 02-02-2020, 12:54 PM

I'm not sure I've ever had pencil gas before, but kinda? Before I switched to a tablet, i found that I preferred a pencil to pens for taking notes. I went thru several items before deciding on a chubby, semi fancy mechanical pencil. It was nice and all, but I kept wearing through the sweet spot quickly and kept having to rotate the lead.

I wonder if something like this would have been the answer. I don't have any classes on the horizon so maybe I won't find out, but I really do enjoy the tactile joys of putting a nice pencil on a nice piece of paper. Sadly, I'm fairly paper less these days.

These are probably a little less frustrating than my apple pencil, too

I think the Dixon Ticonderoga was like the high end pencil when I was in elementary school, but I always preferred the fat blue ones with the bear on them.

**MarkRhodes** · 02-02-2020, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by Longways to Go

I've always been partial to the good old Dixon Ticonderoga.

I've used those too. The black ones, right? I still have several. Problem I have with them: the line is faint. I have lots of manuscript books where I wrote down things in #2 pencils; sheets from several years ago are awfully faint, esp when sitting on a music stand and me sitting a couple feet back from it.) Also, the eraser isn't as good, or replaceable. (The great weakness of most #2s is that the erasers get hard and won't erase, they just smear or, worse, tear the paper.) But the Ticonderoga eraser is better than most #2 pencil erasers I have tried.

**Patlotch** · 02-02-2020, 01:20 PM

I use this one, it makes the music more visual

**Perdido** · 02-02-2020, 02:33 PM

Without a doubt, this is hands-down the best thread I ever had the pleasure to read on Jazz Guitar Online.

We should discuss typewriters next. Or has that been done already?

(For those who might be tempted to read a measure of facetiousness into this reply, let me assure you, there is none.)