Should Have Paid Attention To The Visconti Quality Concerns :(

[katerchen]

So I finally got my Visconti Steel Oversize in the mail. Ordered it from Germany, which doesn't make matters any easier.

 

Filled it up ... it barely writes. If I press it (which I'm not supposed to) it will write a little, with a lot of skips.

 

POS

 

Now comes the nightmare of either trying to get it fixed (yes I read the stories of pens spending months at the Visconty factory for repairs) or getting my money back.

 

Joy.

 

-k

Edited December 20, 2014 by katerchen

[B_Type13X2]

there are things you can do to make it write, but you need to diagnose the problem first. If you have a loupe look at the tines under magnification to determine if they are misaligned. If the Tines are not aligned correctly there are a few guides on how to align them yourself. If they are already aligned you could simply need to floss them to open them up to promote ink flow. If its neither of these things it could be the position of the feed on the nib. sbebrown on youtube and richardbinders site have guides to fix these issues if your interested in trying to fix it yourself.

[dneal]

Other than the writing problems, do you love the pen? If yes, tune the nib. If not, get a refund. I wouldn't send it back to Visconti.

 

Getting a pen to write well is not hard. If you don't have any experience with tuning a nib, I wouldn't start experimenting with that pen though. Send it to Mike Masuyama (mikeitwork.com) or one of our resident nib-misters without a big backlog. It's as cheap or cheaper than buying all the tools/materials you would need to fix it yourself.

 

There are good and bad videos out there. Although I enjoy his videos, SBRE Brown does some things that make me cringe. I've watched others grind a flat foot on their pens in an attempt to correct "baby's bottom" (which is what I suspect your issue is, based on the brief description of the problem).

[rafapa]

Another solution is to ask the vendor to send you a new nib unit so you can replace it and send back the defective one. I did it once for my HS. Just be careful not to overtight because the plastic sleeve is quite fragile. I know it because mine arrived broken.

Hope this helps

Edited December 20, 2014 by rafapa

[katerchen]

Yeah, the tines are aligned perfectly. I also did the dishwasher solution flush in case there was machine oil residue ... no luck.

 

The feed gets plenty of ink : if I turn it tip up, dry it with a paper towel and turn it tip down, the fins fill up almost instantly.

 

I'll try to send it to Mike M.

 

It's a bloody shame that at this price point you don't get a pen that writes properly right out of the box and need to throw money after it (because the manufacturer is worthless when it comes to warranty repairs)

 

-k

[Tanzanite]

My Visconto Rembrandt behaved like that when I bought it. The tines were aligned and it had no baby's bottom. I filled it with the wettest ink I had, J Herbin Bleu Nuit, and used it to take notes at long meetings. After a few days it wrote nicely.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Tanzanite

[Occipital Lobe]

I returned my HS to Visconti because it severe inkflow problems and thus skipped rather consistently.

The turnaround was on the wrong side of a month, but they sent me a brand new pen, which Works flawlessly - actually it is as wet as the "dreamtouch" nibs are reputed to be.

 

Best of luck with whatever choise you make. If you can muster the patience I would think you will end up satisfied, although I agree it is too bad Visconti has such a questionable quality control.

[Mr.Rene]

My 2 Visconti Manhattan had inkflow and filler problems...expensive pens..not Visconti again...

[Uncial]

Sorry to hear. I had a woe with mine, but when you get it working, it's all worth it.

[sirgilbert357]

Ridiculous. Absolutely unacceptable to have any issues with a pen in this price range. This tells me there was *literally* zero quality control check before the pen went out the door. I've seen way too many stories about Visconti (and Italian pens in general), therefore I will never buy one.

 

You shouldn't have to have a brand new nib tuned just to get it to write...it should be to *customize* the writing experience so that it better fits your preferences...just my humble opinion.

[Tanzanite]

The most expensive pens I have bought have hade the worst ink flow problem when new.

[de_pen_dent]

Is an Italian thing. I have 2 Stipulas, both of them have needed to be sent back. Although my luck with Visconti is a lot better than yours - 10 or 11 pens, all work perfectly.

 

My experience with Visconti service was very good - they fixed at no charge a pen (out of warranty) which had gotten scuff marks on the body from being kept in a pen case.

[dneal]

Today I bought another NOS, 90's era Omas that my local shop has on clearance. They've been there for almost a year now, because when you dip them, they don't write worth a damn.

 

I just smile and enjoy the discount. In under an hour, I:

 

- disassembled it

- lubed the piston shaft (Omas' come dry for some reason)

- pulled the nib and feed

- cleared the feed channel (and cut it a little deeper)

- straightened the nib

- heat set the nib/feed and installed them

- ground the baby bottom out of the nib and smoothed it.

 

Before

 

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa163/roomdog/Pens/DamaBefore_zpsb755362e.jpeg

 

 

After

 

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa163/roomdog/Pens/DamaAfter_zpsae7dbb19.jpeg

[Ghost Plane]

In the US Cole's of London handles Visconti warranty work. I've had good results.

[Tancred]

So I finally got my Visconti Steel Oversize in the mail. Ordered it from Germany, which doesn't make matters any easier.

 

Filled it up ... it barely writes. If I press it (which I'm not supposed to) it will write a little, with a lot of skips.

 

POS

 

Now comes the nightmare of either trying to get it fixed (yes I read the stories of pens spending months at the Visconty factory for repairs) or getting my money back.

 

Joy.

 

-k

 

I've always hated Visconti. They produce tasteless junk in my opinion - gaudy, glitzy plastic sticks that cost hundreds of dollars, euros, pounds sterling.

 

If you want really good Italian pens, go for Aurora, Omas and even Delta.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Ridiculous. Absolutely unacceptable to have any issues with a pen in this price range. This tells me there was *literally* zero quality control check before the pen went out the door. I've seen way too many stories about Visconti (and Italian pens in general), therefore I will never buy one.

 

You shouldn't have to have a brand new nib tuned just to get it to write...it should be to *customize* the writing experience so that it better fits your preferences...just my humble opinion.

 

 

Today I bought another NOS, 90's era Omas that my local shop has on clearance. They've been there for almost a year now, because when you dip them, they don't write worth a damn.

 

I just smile and enjoy the discount. In under an hour, I:

 

- disassembled it

- lubed the piston shaft (Omas' come dry for some reason)

- pulled the nib and feed

- cleared the feed channel (and cut it a little deeper)

- straightened the nib

- heat set the nib/feed and installed them

- ground the baby bottom out of the nib and smoothed it.

 

 

I'm with sirgilbert on this one. It's great to have the skills to fix these problems yourself, but you shouldn't need to use them on a new pen. The fact that it's an expensive brand (I suspect even at a substantial discount) makes it worse.

 

I'd been looking at Italian pens, just because that's one country that is unrepresented in my collection. What I'm reading, though, is not encouraging. I actually enjoy working on the vintage pens I get "as is" on eBay, but I expect a new pen to be good out of the box.

 

Well, I've got one Taccia, which is not an Italian brand, but sounds like it to me. Come to think of it, I did need to send it back (to Itoya) for a nib tweaking, but they did a great job and had it back to me quickly.

[abstract49]

A lot of vitriol here. Well, one man's poison...

 

I have several Viscontis, and three out of the four have had one problem or another (my large Bronze HS has had none at all), but each has been fixed to my satisfaction. It has taken time, to be sure, but no extra money. The experience of writing with them has made the inconvenience tolerable.

 

This from a guy who has a 1964 Morgan Plus-4 Drop Head Coupe in his garage. Wanna talk about issues?

[Green Ink]

Hi,

I purchased a Visconti Rembrandt last summer. It had ink flow problems. I sent it back to Coles three times. (If you ask they will send you a shipping label so your postage to them is free.) Their responses were quick but they were unable to fix my pen.

 

Deb Kinney is a Visconti dealer and also does nib work. I sent my pen to her for a cursive italic grind, explaining the flow problem. She got the pen working beautifully in quick order. It's one of my favorites now.

 

Good luck with your pen! Let us know what you do and how it works out.

[jar]

A lot of vitriol here. Well, one man's poison...

 

I have several Viscontis, and three out of the four have had one problem or another (my large Bronze HS has had none at all), but each has been fixed to my satisfaction. It has taken time, to be sure, but no extra money. The experience of writing with them has made the inconvenience tolerable.

 

This from a guy who has a 1964 Morgan Plus-4 Drop Head Coupe in his garage. Wanna talk about issues?

 

Prince of Darkness attacked by termites.

[dneal]

 

 

 

I'm with sirgilbert on this one. It's great to have the skills to fix these problems yourself, but you shouldn't need to use them on a new pen. The fact that it's an expensive brand (I suspect even at a substantial discount) makes it worse.

 

I'd been looking at Italian pens, just because that's one country that is unrepresented in my collection. What I'm reading, though, is not encouraging. I actually enjoy working on the vintage pens I get "as is" on eBay, but I expect a new pen to be good out of the box.

 

Well, I've got one Taccia, which is not an Italian brand, but sounds like it to me. Come to think of it, I did need to send it back (to Itoya) for a nib tweaking, but they did a great job and had it back to me quickly.

 

I don't disagree that companies could do a better job delivering a pen that works. A lot of the problem seems to be simple baby bottom, and I see it on essentially every Bock nib (although the NOS Omas was an in-house nib, before they switched to Bock).

 

The other side of the coin is that it's impossible to accommodate every user, when you figure in writing pressure, angle, ink, paper, etc... It's a fact of life with fountain pens, IMHO.

 

People go to great lengths to find the cheapest buy on the pen they want (Amazon and the $120'ish Lamy 2k's, for example), and then complain about how it writes. Too smooth, too scratchy; too wet, too dry. Pay the extra and buy from someone like Mottishaw, or send them off to a nibmeister (and develop a business relationship with them) and get it adjusted for your hand.