Sorry. I'm new. What's so good about this thread in comparison to other threads?

It was nice to work with, and had few flaws like fuzzies and knots in the spools. But - the Makoi thread I have used recently is actually nicer than the old Gudebrod in my experience. Call Karen at Bingham and give it a try.

Thanks - Marc

Keep it simple - that's all I can handle!

I don't know that Gudebrod was any better than the threads now available. At one time it was about the only thread available. All manufacturers and builders used it. It was readily available and good quality. Now that they have gone out of business you still have a demand for it primarily for color match. It is very dificult to get an exact color match from one manufaturers line to another.

Things tend to take on legendary status once they're gone. The fact is, it was hard to match color from one spool of Gudebrod to the next, owing to constant differences in dye batches. If you were to go back to posts made when Gudebrod was a going concern, you'd see plenty of people were unhappy with it at the time. Overall it was a good product, but no more so, if as much, as many of the thread offerings available today.

..............

Andrew,
Gudebrod made both nylon and silk threads in a large variety of colors in sizes ranging from 2/0 (slightly smaller than A) to EE. As mentioned by others their threads were very smooth and almost glossy. They also made what is called Classic two color twist threads in which two different colored strands were twisted together. The colors of these included red/white, green/white, blue/white, red/black, orange/black,green/black, yellow/black,white/black, red/yellow, and red/green. When you wrapped with these two color twist threads your wrap gave a marbled appearance which varied as the diameter of the blank changed.

Today only ProWrap makes anything that approaches the gudebrod threads. A company called Thread Art makes a polyester thread for embroidery projects that has two colored strands twisted together. Unfortunately Gudebrod's management went astray and they went out of business. I still have several large spools of classic twist thread and when that is exhausted, I'll probably stop making rods.

Mike Blomme

I am kinda liking the new Fuji poly thread. Price has seemed to be an issue with many, but when you break it down, only amounts to less than a dollar per rod built. Still experiementing with it, but very pleased with the results so far.

Ron Weber

I still have at least 50,000 yds of Gudebrod and Holland thread it is still the best made in my opinion. I am currently trying some Fish Hawk thread and I like some of the neon colors, but Gudebrod and Holland set the standard for all others. Haven't seen anything yet to exceed their performance.

In my opinion, Gudebrod set the standard for consistency. Never experienced knots in a spool and fuzzies were extremely rare. Have used quite a bit of Prowrap, but fuzzies are often and it does not stretch like Gudebrod. Now switching to Makoi, and have yet to try the Fuji poly.

I have been using Prowrap and like it. I also have some Fishhawk but it seems to have a lot of fuzzies after burnishing.

Jon Hood

I got the reason it is tuff to teach an old dog new tricks, hard to change the dog one bit , an gudebrod has been around for a long tine an we / I hatted to change to a new maker of threads just mt 2 CTS there are some new makers of thread an they are great just as good if not better

William Sidney
AK

I also liked Rice thread that I bought through Angler's Workshop.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have tried Fuji poly, ProWrap, and Fishhawk so far. Pro wrap has been the best for me by far. It just seems to wrap better and I like the color options. I definitely want to try Makoi and Gudebrod. Especially Gudebrod's rust color in nylon. I think after the epoxy darkens it up, and with some gold trim on a slate colored blank, it will look awesome.

I've got more than a lifetime supply of Gudebrod. I also have some thread from every mfg mentioned so far. I have thread from others not mentioned like Madeira, sunset line and twine, Coates and Clark, etc., even some Japanese silk threads handed down to me from my mother, an accomplished embroidery artist.

When Gudebrod went out of business, they left a big hole in the market which others tried to fill, IMO with limited success. I can honestly say I haven't been satisfied with today's offerings. That is until recently. If you haven't tried the Fuji thread yet, you ought to. It's really nice. Of the couple samples I tried, I think it's some of the best thread I've ever worked with. I plan to try a few more colors soon. If they're as consistently good as what I've tried so far, I'll buy the complete set of colors and thin out the similar colors from other companies.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2015 01:37PM by John E Powell.

Gudebrod is legendary like Ford is legendary. Some would rather buy a Toyota.

eric
fresno, ca.

Spencer, aren't Fish Hawk and the Rice the same thing? For some reason I think that I had heard that along the way.

I have also been told that ProWrap and Makoi are the same. Don't know if it is true.

Not sure Thom, Angler's stopped selling their own thread just before Gudebrod quit.