Mechanical Pencils: Find the Best Performer!

[BobG]

I want it...I need it...where can I get it!?

If you scroll down this page about RCA Pencils, you'll find that you can get one very similar for entirely free simply by purchasing RCA radio tubes.

Well, at least you could in the '30's. Try looking on e-Bay.

 

[turbo]

If you scroll down this page about RCA Pencils, you'll find that you can get one very similar for entirely free simply by purchasing RCA radio tubes.

Well, at least you could in the '30's. Try looking on e-Bay.

I have quite a few RCA tubes that I have bought, tested, and set aside over the years. Nobody sent me a free pencil, though. To be fair, the old ham enthusiasts that I bought lots of my tubes from probably had one or two of these tucked away and wouldn't have thought of giving them away to some young whipper-snapper who wanted to buy all their decent 12AX7s, 6V6s, 6L6s and rectifier tubes. One old fellow had large console-sized TVs with tiny little picture tubes just a few inches across - I'd love to inherit his gear!

 

[Danger]

Quit, already. You're getting me all nostalgic.

 

[turbo]

Quit, already. You're getting me all nostalgic.

You want nostalgia? I bought a trashed '65 Fender Twin Reverb for $125, restored it, and sold it to a friend for a bargain-basement price of $500. Later, I bought a trashed and heavily modded '65 Deluxe Reverb, for $250, sold the too-accurate Altec Lansing speaker for $150, restored the amp to Fender specs and restored the tolex and grillcloth and installed an appropriate speaker. I played that amp professionally for years (great small-club amp), and eventually sold it for $900 at a guitar show. That little rascal didn't owe me anything, nor did my '66 Super Reverb or '59 Bassman RI. I earned money and had fun with all of them.

 

[binzing]

Damn, I want an old Fender someday (preferably a Strat) and an old amp would be cool too, but I don't even know where to start.

 

[turbo]

Damn, I want an old Fender someday (preferably a Strat) and an old amp would be cool too, but I don't even know where to start.

You can buy a Tradition Strat copy with vintage-stagger pickups for cheap, and it will play and sound better than most of the lower-tier Fenders. I've got one and it's great. BTW, I owned a real '59 strat and in 1970 I traded it for a Gibson Les Paul Custom and $300. Dumb!

Anyway, if you have the hand-strength or are willing to develop it, you will get the maximum tone out of this guitar by fitting it with pure nickel-wound strings with a wound G-string. The G pole-pieces on vintage-stagger pickups are high because of the very tiny steel cores in old nickel-wound strings, and they can give you a very harsh edgy tone if you use plain steel G-strings.

 

[turbo]

Also, many of the early Silver-face Fender tube amps (mostly the smaller amps) were not really that different from the Black-face (60's versions) and they sound great. You'll need to have someone check the tubes, replace weak ones, bias the amp, and just give it a good going-through.

 

[Dr Transport]

I've got a .9 mm Pentel that I use all the time at work, can't break the lead off and it makes a bold line. My advisor gave me a .5 mm Cross that is a great pencil, but I won't use it at work, not bold enough.