Disenchanted With My Pen

[n2vsw]

I recently uncovered a Montblanc that was given to me as a gift about 20 years ago. I remember vaguely trying it and not wanting to be bothered with bottled ink. It was relegated to a jewelry box in the safe (still full of ink). I am now much older and wiser and found it the other day while searching for something. I cleaned it out and took a trip to a local pen store (Dromgooles) for ink. The folks there were very nice and I walked away with a couple of bottles of ink. While there I purchased a pen for my wife to try. She has never used a fountain pen and wanted to try one. On the recommendation of the salesman, I purchased a Pilot Metropolitan. It wasn’t expensive ($18) so it wasn’t a big deal if she didn’t like it. She ended up really liking the pen. She said if I ever wanted to give her something nice for a birthday or other occasion, wink wink. I didn’t give the pilot much thought, it was after all an $18 pen. So I’ve been happily using my Montblanc and thoroughly enjoying it. So here begins my quest for a second pen to use at work. I’ve been perusing the internet and came across a Nakaya briarwood that is very nice at Classic Fountain Pens. I’ve always liked wooden pens hence my attraction. Fully intending to place my order in the next few days, my wife leaves her Pilot on the kitchen table today. I pick it up and wonder what an $18 fountain is like. Big mistake. This pen writes nicer than the Montblanc. I was warned by Dromgooles that Montblanc is nice, it’s expensive but there are better writing pens. Mind you, Dromgooles sells Montblanc and they have a good portion of the store devoted to Montblanc. I took it for what it was worth and assumed I didn’t have to spend $800 to get a nice writing pen. I fully expected that $350 would get me something attractive and smooth writing with a gold nib. I have to say that $350 is not pocket change for me. I’m using my wife’s $18 pen and wondering if I really need to spend that kind of money for something that looks nicer but may not necessarily write better, or as my wife pointed out, will it write $330 better?

[langere]

Yes, that happens! But I can assure you that Nakayas are special. I have three (all I can afford). It isn't just about the writing, but in the case of the Japanese pens, about the aesthetics. Wood pens, well done, are in their own class.

 

Erick

[rutherfordr]

Welcome to the world of excellent Japanese pens! As you've figured out by now, expensive pens don't write that much better, and in some cases are worse than the inexpensive Pilot pens.

 

The thing that makes the big difference is the quality of the nib. The "big three" Japanese pen makers (Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor) all make their own nibs to their own exacting standards, so even the humble Metropolitan writes like a dream.

 

Here are some places to start for excellent pens between $100 and $200:

Pilot Custom 74 and Custom 742

Sailor 1911 S and 1911 L

Platinum Century 3776

 

IMO these are some of the best pens in the world!

[usk15]

But it's not only the money about!

It's about size, design, weight, fell, touch, smell, girth, grip, brand, history, colour, lenght, limited, material, filling system, writing experience...

[RMN]

Ahhh, you found out some of the facts of pen life.

 

Expensive pens do not necessarily write better.

 

I have that Nakaya Briarwood, and at start it would not really write. Went back to the shop, they removed the nib, and reseated it. Writes much better now.

 

But I have pens that cost half that money and write better.

 

If you dare go vintage: have a look at the Parker 45. Will cost you not much more than that Metropolitan.

If it has to be a Japanese pen? The above mentioned Pilot Custom 74 (cartridge /converter) is good, or the Heritage 92 (piston)

If it may be another brand: Have a look at Waterman. Carene, or a bit cheaper, but good: the Expert (version III now)

 

D.ick

[shuuemura]

Why does the Montblanc write worse than the Pilot Metropolitan? Does it hard-start, or is the nib in need of an adjustment?

 

My MB149 had baby bottom which was cured by Yukio Nagahara of Sailor Pen Co, so I thought I had the best of both worlds - a Montblanc and the Japanese-tuned nib on it. Turns out that I prefer to write with my Namiki pens regardless.

[recluse]

Qualty of writing is a very complex characteristics. It strongly depends on personal preferences, which sometimes are not even recognized. It's not only about the nib, or about the size of the pen or its balance and so on. But it's about all of them together with wide variations in actual preferences and their importance.

 

For my everyday writing Metropolitan's nib is better suited than Custom 74's nib, Pilot 78G with a medium nib is even better but I still choose Custom 74 over them. But Homo Sapiens wins over Custom 74 every time of the day. But Noodler's Sahara with a Knox Fine nib is even better. But Sheaffer's No Nonsense with a fine nib is even better. But one of my Waterman's Kulturs is even better. I'd be pressed to choose, however, between the Kultur, Platinum 3776 Maestro and Sheaffer's Connaisseure. Prices are all over the place and eventually have not much to do with the quality of writing.

[kazoolaw]

Let's go back to the MB: what model is it?

 

Assuming it has no nib damage it should be able to be adjusted to write as nicely as the Pilot. And I seem to remember that Dromgooles has someone who comes in to do nib adjustments, Dr Stephen Pustilnik.

 

On the other hand you may want to clean the MB and put it away to remember the gift giver and come back to it in another few years.

 

gary

[inn3rs3lf]

The exact same situation happened to me with a Montblanc 146 that I picked up for a steal at $100. Wrote very nicely, absolutely nothing wrong with it. Go to buy a second pen, a Metropolitan. Get home, and start writing with the MP, and am blown away by how much better the experience actually is compared to the 146. Not that the 146 was anything bad, I just personally prefer the MP. Absolutely brilliant little pens those.

 

This lead me to sell the 146, and I am busy looking for a Custom 74, or Heritage 92 to try and 'step-up' the MP experience.

 

I've come to the conclusion that it is basically aesthetics that will lead my next buy.

[Dr.Grace]

Your MB should be a great writer; maybe all it needs is a little adjustment by a nib expert? Don't "write it off"!

[I.M.]

I don't have a Montblanc, neither have I tried one so I'm unable to comment. But as some have already mentioned, maybe your MB can be improved to meet your own personal writing style by a professional nibmeister.

 

I do, however, have experience with one of Pilot's cheap, yet incredibly good pens, namely the Prera. I have one in white, and one in brown. The brown one blew me away when it arrived. I love its looks, and after the tines had settled down (they were ever so slightly misaligned when it arrived) it writes like a dream, smooth as can be, and glides faster than my thoughts across the page. I wondered if I have found the impossible; the one and only pen for me. I also wondered if my collecting days were over, which would allow my wallet a chance to breath a sigh of relief. But, I ended up deciding I couldn't stop without a single solid gold nib in my collection.

 

To cut a long story short, I ended up ordering myself a Custom 74 which arrived a couple of days ago. Admittedly my Preras have M nibs, and write nice and fine. But, because I noticed the Custom 74 seems to write slightly broader than the Preras (I noticed the difference looking at writing samples online, and also checked using the Nib Nook tool at the Goulet website), I decided to get myself an F. Maybe this is the reason why my Custom 74 has more 'tooth' than I'm used to from my Preras. I'm not sure. I've decided I just need to spend a little more time getting to know this new pen, and it me. If I really find that I get on much better with the brown Prera then I'll just use it more often. And if I find I really can't get on with the Custom 74 I will possibly look into finding a nibmeister to give it a little fine tune.

 

I think, though, that the most important thing to keep in mind with this hobby is 'how much money do I feel comfortable spending on a pen?' And I think it's a question that will keep cropping up whenever we see another piece of eye-candy online, in a store or at a pen show. If you're unsure about whether or not it's really worth spending that much money on a gorgeous looking Nakaya, perhaps you can track one down first to try out (either at a store, a pen show, or perhaps a fellow pen enthusiast), which should help making a decision that much easier. In the meantime you can pop out and get yourself a Metropolitan so that you don't have to wait until your wife is out of the house

 

And if you do go to a pen show, take your MB along! You're sure to find a nibmeister or several there

[n2vsw]

To answer a few questions posted, the Montblanc is a 144 classique. I really cant say that there is anything wrong with it. It writes without skipping. It's not dry or overly wet. It feels nice in my hand. I was happily using it and thought, what a great find after all these years. Had I not tried my wife's pen I would have been none the wiser. That being said, I am not a pen collector by any means. I simply found a long forgotten pen and through the wonders of the internet found this great site. Who knew fountain pens were so popular. I had every intention of purchasing a second pen not wanting to risk the Montblanc at work. Assuming I had never bought that inexpensive Pilot for the misses and instead purchased a Pelikan m400. It's substantially less expensive than the MB. If the Pelikan didnt "feel" as nice I would have attributed it to the lower cost as compared to the MB. It's hard to explain what I mean by the Pilot "feeling" better, however I think everyone here probably knows exactly what I'm talking about. Could a nibmeister make it write as nice? I dont know enough about what they do to to comment. What would it cost $30 or $40 maybe? It's not a whole lot of money considering I was contemplating a $350 pen but $40 would buy me a couple of those cheap Pilot pens that write really nice. Ultimately I'm heading my wifes advice, buy another Pilot metropolitan, she even said buy two. That Briarwood pen is really beautiful and she said it would sure make a nice gift when my birthday comes around. wink wink

[setriode]

My vintage MB146 sits, clean and quietly and unused in a drawer. I use my Custom 74 with a SM nib every day, it writes better than the MB and I enjoy it much more than a Visconti and 2 Omas pens which also sit cleaned and in a drawer. I also use one of my recently bought Pelikan M200s and a Kaweco sport every day because they make the act of writing a greater pleasure than the pens in my drawers.

 

Before the Internet I bought pens based on their brand or perceived reputation. Now I buy pens which write well.

Edited July 19, 2014 by setriode

[discopig]

Welcome to the world of excellent Japanese pens! As you've figured out by now, expensive pens don't write that much better, and in some cases are worse than the inexpensive Pilot pens.

 

The thing that makes the big difference is the quality of the nib. The "big three" Japanese pen makers (Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor) all make their own nibs to their own exacting standards, so even the humble Metropolitan writes like a dream.

 

Here are some places to start for excellent pens between $100 and $200:

Pilot Custom 74 and Custom 742

Sailor 1911 S and 1911 L

Platinum Century 3776

 

IMO these are some of the best pens in the world!

 

 

I agree, there is just something extra about Japanese pens that I rarely find on Western pens. All of my favourite modern pens happen to be Japanese, and for a reason. I can never get enough of them.

Edited July 19, 2014 by discopig

[Lordarka]

I have 3 fairly expensive Montblancs, and can say that they aren't all they're cracked up to be. Their broad nibs are nice, and I have a LeGrand OBB that is delectable, but those pens are simply not very dependable. The piston mechanism in my brand new LeGrand fell apart, and it also started skipping, within 3 months. It took MB over a month to fix it (it's writing beautifully now). My other two MBs (one is a pricey limited edition) also skip or write unreliably, and have been in service with John Mottishaw for over four months. To me, it was quite unexpected for such a vaunted (and expensive) brand to have quality issues in EVERY instance I purchased one.

 

By comparison, my experience with Pilot/Namiki could hardly be more different. Even their lower priced pens write well (as you've discovered). I use Pilot metal falcons for drawing, and also own a fine-nib Sterling Dragon (also in for service, but I've had the pen for over ten years, and was lazy about properly maintaining it), and Maki-e Nioh 88th Anniversary which writes beautifully and perfectly every time.

[mhosea]

If I had to draw my conclusions about which pens were best for me before any nib adjustments/smoothing, my thoughts on the matter would be random and incoherent. Maybe it shouldn't be this way, but unless I buy them from a nibmeister, I expect all the pens I buy to need some type of nib adjustment/work, and they seldom disappoint me in this respect. Occasionally a pen will be just right out of the box, but I think it is just random. Even the ones from nibmeisters sometimes make a round-trip, or used to before I got to the point where I can tweak them in myself. With Pilot's 14K nibs in particular (excluding the Falcon and FA nibs here), I know I will need to adjust them, because Pilot's standard adjustment has the tines touching at the tip, which leads to dry upstrokes and poor performance when writing with a very light hand. Perhaps the Metropolitan steel nibs are set up with a slight gap because they are steel.

[de_pen_dent]

Ok, I think the point is made - cheap Pilots are great, Montblancs (somehow it is always Montblanc, isnt it?) are terrible/over-priced.

 

If this was about a skipping Montblanc, wouldnt it make more sense to post this in the MB forum?

Edited July 26, 2014 by de_pen_dent

[recluse]

Ok, I think the point is made - cheap Pilots are great, Montblancs (somehow it is always Montblanc, isnt it?) are terrible/over-priced.

 

If this was about a skipping Montblanc, wouldnt it make more sense to post this in the MB forum?

 

This wasn't about Montblanc in particular. This was about, not well justified, presumption that more expensive pens write "better". This, in turn, is not well justified because writing experience involves way too many variables. For instance, if one writes with somewhat heavy hand or, at least, is prone to make heavy downstrokes, it's easy to predict that _expensive_ Viscontis will be worse performers than, say, Varsities (if we stay on the Pilot). Simply because these Viscontis feature palladium nibs, which are quite soft.

 

Unfortunately, such discussions instead of turning to specifics go the opposite way to making brand-wide generalizations.

[RMN]

@de_pen_dent: I would advise you to re-read the OPs post, and his explanation further on. Does he anywhere state that the MB was writing badly? No. He says he has more joy from a Japanese pen. Is there any reason he should not post that in the Japanese forum?

 

D.ick

[mwpannell]

I think the real point here is the OP found a nice pen, found a cheaper pen he considers "nicer", but mainly that he found such a nice wife. Get the cheap pen, or two, and taker her out on a date for a really good meal, or two. Enjoy the Pilots and if the FP bug has really bitten the two of you then you can learn more and get "nicer" pens later. Even get the MB fixed or whatever. Until then, since the MB writes well, just use it occasionally as needed for what it is mainly marketed for (notice I said marketed for, not made for, no need to flame me) ... what it's manly marketed for: impressing people in business meetings or at restaurants to sign the check after you take your wife out for a good meal. My 2-cents.