My New Bexley Jitterbug! (Jukebox Red)

[KBeezie]

I had not been familiar with anything Bexley related prior to this week, and I've heard the name Jitterbug! around but Never really knew what they looked like (nor did I bother to look them up). However one was being offered that has a very attractive red sheen to it and appeared to have a larger nib/grip than the Kaweco AL Sport I have.

 

Well it came early yesterday, had it initially inked up with some Iroshizuku Kon-Peki which I found to be a very wet nib (seller said it was tuned to 6/10 wetness as per Binder's scale, it was tuned by Lisa Kennedy of Indie-Pen-Dance (who was trained under Richard Binder).

 

Like the Kaweco AL Sport I have, it's really small capped, it's actually shorter than the AL Sport both capped and uncapped. But it's longer than the AL Sport when posted, and the grip and nib area is also larger. The larger grip made it more comfortable for me to use, though I could see the cap annoying some people as it doesn't post firmly to the back like the Kaweco does. If you have a tighter grip, the cap could either creak or slightly slip/tilt on the back (I pre-tilt it upward so it can't do that).

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/box.jpg

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/capped.jpg

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/uncapped.jpg

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/posted.jpg

 

Initially tried some Kon-peki as mentioned earlier it wrote pretty wet (enough to feather easily on some Mead notebook paper, but remained ok on Rhodia and Staple's Arc paper).

 

A sheet of notes from class earlier using the Jitterbug and Kon-peki (the paper being Staple's Arc paper). I noticed that the ink will get darker if I'm just sitting there holding the pen for a while (such as waiting in between notes) as if the ink slowly pools to the feed or something.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/class-notes.jpg

 

when I got home I decided to clean the pen out so that I could switch to a dryer ink, like maybe Diamine Eclipse. I noticed the nib and feed felt familiar (being a simple friction fit, but the feed looked exactly like the same ones I see on my Jinhaos, Monteverde and Nemosine pens). Turns out it's a #6 fitting.

 

So decided to pop in a Goulet 1.5 Stub nib

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/jitter_goulet_15.jpg

 

Then decided to switch over to the Goulet EF that I had in my Nighthawk

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/jitter_goulet_ef.jpg

 

Which produced this write sample with Diamine Eclipse.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/jitterbug/eclipse_ef.jpg

 

Though something odd/unfortunate happened when I was rinsing off the bexley nib under some running tap water (and nothing but just tap water and my fingers). One wipe of the top of the nib and the plating started coming off...

 

The nib looks like this now (which is currently in the Nighthawk)

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/nighthawk/bexleynib.jpg

 

well... I guess it sort of matches the brassing look of the Nighthawk.

 

I decided to go ahead and ink up the nighthawk with some of the Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun ink I was given.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/nighthawk/fuyusyogun.jpg

 

Flows pretty well, just wet enough to give it some shading characteristics when printing.

[Bennett]

I have three Bexley pens and all of them have great nibs that produce a smooth writing experience. However, I sampled the Jitterbug in a pen shop and found the friction fit posting unreliable. It's a good looking pen but I thought the posting problem would be too annoying.

[KBeezie]

I have three Bexley pens and all of them have great nibs that produce a smooth writing experience. However, I sampled the Jitterbug in a pen shop and found the friction fit posting unreliable. It's a good looking pen but I thought the posting problem would be too annoying.

The nibs appear to be jowo, since they're exactly identical to my Goulet nibs except the branding.

 

The posting hasn't annoyed me... Yet.

Edited September 18, 2014 by KBeezie

[MiniMaupassant]

Lovely colours!

[georges zaslavsky]

congrats on a nice little pen