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The Best Pencil for Musicians: Paper Mate Clear Point Elite

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click a link and make a purchase, then I receive a small commission as a thanks.

Confession:  I'm an office supply geek.yellow-pencil.hi

Having the right writing utensil is a goal for me (and I know a lot of other people who are like this, too). Having just the right pen or pencil is part of every-day writing, not just for letters or for signing contracts, but for making notes, writing down blogging ideas, marking scores, everything. And now I've found the perfect pencil for writing, score markings, and note-taking: Paper Mate Clearpoint Elite. (Affiliate link)

I'm a goner.

To give you the whole picture, we have to back up 1 step. A while back I picked up Paper Mate Clear Point 0.5mm Mechanical Pencils (not the Elite version, they weren't available then) because:

  1. I need a lot of writing utensils for teaching, writing, note-taking, marking scores, etc.
  2. I have large hands (I can easily span a major 9th on a piano keyboard) and those thin, yellow pencils are hard for me to use.
  3. Running out of lead or eraser just isn't an option. Especially not in the middle of a rehearsal!

These pencils were great--with a larger barrel, plenty of space in the barrel for extra lead (0.5mm only--ever!) and a long, replaceable eraser. Yes, you read that right:  Replaceable! Refillable! Rechargeable!

4 brand spanking new pencils, all perfect, and there was always one at hand.

Then the clips broke off. First the blue one, then the green one, and then the other blue one, and then the other green one. Soon there were no clips left.

PapermateEliteSmallOffice supply snobbery hit, and so did a rehearsal in which I was tied up looking for a place to put the pencil, since I couldn't clip it to anything--not the folder, not the music, nothing. No clip = no storage. It was a rough day.

Then Paper Mate came out with the Elite version, with a metal clip. I'm a believer.

Elite is right--a larger, smooth barrel with slight ridges where your fingers grasp the pencil. A metal clip that is practically indestructible. The same spacious interior for copious amounts of 0.5mm lead and the same, large, replaceable eraser.

I bought two and haven't looked back. These are seriously the best pencils I've ever used for writing, marking scores, erasing markings, note-taking, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

If you are looking for just the right pencils for your markings, try a couple of these and please let me know what you think in the comments below!

Fellow office supply geeks unite!

 

Update 5/15/14:  Left in the photo you see the pencils I bought, the extra erasers and the lead. Pure score-marking awesomeness. ~NW

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