I don't know why I like Montegrappa. It's always the one that takes me in its arms and brings out that warm feeling in the stomach before running away, deciding consistent, constant commitment to be too hard.

I own a fair few Montegrappas: three 300 series (one of which is a Frankenpen, it has a Senna nib and grip section on it), a Senna Carbon Fibre, Miya, Symphony, Extra 1930, Micra, Privilege Deco, and a few more that are no longer in my care. Most of them are well behaved the majority of the time. Out of them, the Privilege and the Extra have done the best.

The Miya, purchased mid-late last year, didn't write out of the box. It skipped and its ink flow was dry even when I put PR Tanzanite through it. It went straight back to the store and the nib section was exchanged. It writes so wonderfully now and has the honour of being the only pen I leave and use at work (in a locked drawer of course).

The Micra has had a nib exchange. The 300s have had at least one nib exchange each either due to my damaging them somehow, a different size wanted or they just stopped writing well.

The Charcoal Symphony, hooboy did this one have a history. It worked well for the first week, then once it was out of my sight and rotation, he must've really gone wild with the partying as it came back with a cracked inner cap. Wasn't a problem, it got fixed in a week. Decided to give it some TLC and wrote with it for a month, super well behaved again. Yet again when it was out of my rotation, problems arose. The next time I took it out, the nib was scratchy for some bizarre. Not that huge a problem got a new F nib to replace the old scratchy one (except for the $40 service charge I incurred despite it being a warranty repair). Around two months later was when I next picked up this pen, I did something stupid. I did the thermometre shake thing and accidently bent the nib in a moment of pure carelessness. The third time I went back to the pen store, they were convinced I shouldn't use the pen anymore, obviously Fate had different plans for the two of us.

The Symphony was sent to the repair centre and I was told that if I wanted, they could put on a factory stub nib for me! Oh boy, did I! I leaped at this opportunity and didn't even cringe when they charged me a ridiculous amount for the nib replacement. Two weeks later, the repair centre called again. Apparently my Symphony had to take a holiday to the Montegrappa factory at the lovely Bassano as the ink flow was poor. By this time, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to hit the repair centre, the pen or a wall. Anyway, the Symphony came back almost seven weeks after it was sent in and it has never had a problem since. The guys at the factory work miracles.

Anyway, I forgive my Montegrappas for a lot of things, primarily because their beauty speaks out every time I think about letting one of them go. And when they do write, they are some of the most wonderful writers I have. I think a lot of my experiences with Montegrappas have arisen due to how I use and treat them - they probably deserve a lot more respect and love!

I also find myself with a fair few damaged/bent/slightly scratchy Montegrappa nibs. Any idea what I can do with these? Someone suggested to me that I should wait till I had enough to make myself a bracelet from them

Anyone else have good/bad/interesting experiences with their Montegrappas?

I have only had 2, and one was an Elmo Rollerball so it doesnt count.

I have a Harmony that is one of my best writing Italian pens. It has a medium nib, and it writes finer than most-what I would expect from a medium. I have several pens that are fines, but write more like mediums, but this one is spot on.

I like my MG, but don't use it very often for two reasons: It has a metal section that is very slippery, and I find that I grip it tighter to compensate, and MG puts WAY too many turns on their threads. It is about 3.5 to 4 turns to remove the cap, and twice that if I want to post it (which I don't, since it is a little too long for that).

Other than that, I like Montegrappas, and I still have two on my wishlist: a Turquose Miya, and a NeroUno. I think that is one of the nicest designs to come of Italy in quite a while.

I have both the pens on your wishlist and if I were to buy another one to use, I'd get the NeroUno. It is a much more consistent writer and not finicky at all. I bought the NeroUno for my boyfriend but ended up keeping it "for him" since it's such a wonderfully smooth writer, the nib on mine, I mean my boyfriends' , is an extra fine and it is butter smooth. The grip section isn't metal so it's a bit better. The NeroUno is about 2/3 the price of the Miya as well, so that helps. Oh, although the NeroUno is a cartridge/converter fill, it doesn't come with a converter - absolutely ridiculous for a pen at that price to NOT come with a converter. I bullied the retailer into giving one to me for free, but not before I got all huffy about the stupidity of this.

However, that said, I'd buy a red Miya Argento to look at because the celluloid is marvelous. Oh and the Miya cap unscrews in one turn (I think, either that or one and a half) whereas the NeroUno is about half a turn more.

Lucky you, the Harmony was gorgeous, didn't see many of them around though.

That's the best thing about the Miya compared to other Montegrappas. They always take so many turns to unscrew the cap. It's so quick and simple on the Miya.

I love Montegrappas. I'm especially fond of their nibs, which are not super consistent but you can find a lot of them with good flex characteristics. I've had many over the years, but I tend to stick to the celluloid and sterling models.

I've had plenty of Symphony and Harmony models, as well as a handful of Extras. Right now, though, I have the Extra 1930 in Bamboo and Tortoise brown. The Tortoise is beautiful, I think it's the closest thing I've seen to the vintage Tortoise material Pelikan used on the 100s. I had the antique green pen, too, but the color left me cold. I have a pair of Miyas, a yellow celluloid Symphony, a Privelege Deco, Eleganza, and a Baroque Cosmopolitan. I use all of them, too. They're all sucj a pleasure to use. The nibs have a very distinctive feel, and the ebonite feeds mean unusually good ink flow.

Next on my list is an Emblema. I'd really like to get the grey one, but red could be cool. I'd also like to pick up one of the older Zodiac pens, and maybe another Cosmo.

I'm a little concerned about some of the newer Montergappas, though. The prices are really starting to skyrocket. I think $500 is too much for something like the NeroUno. Also, it seems that they've changed their nibs to be stiffer. Most of the newer Montergappas I've tried have unusually stiff nibs compared to some fo the older models.

As for what to do with all your old nibs, I'd ship them off to Greg Minuskin, John Mottishaw, or Richard Binder and get them rehabbed, retipped, and cut into any number of exotic grades. It's so easy to swap Montegrappa nibs- I'd love to have a few extras to play with!

I have a Montegrappa I bought in the airport in Spain and fell in love with. It is still beautiful but it drives me crazy! I don't know the model (so here's a picture) but here are my list of frustrations:


1. it constantly blocks up and won't write no matter what I do (other than empty it and refill - and even then, not all the time, and only when it feels like it)

2. if I screw on the lid even a fraction too tight, it takes a hundred years to reopen (maybe I just need to eat my breakfast more)


3. the silver on the barrell and the lid (which is beautiful) has to be constantly polished or the tarnish comes back.


It has a fine nib - which I like; and when it writes it's smooth, wet and extremely comfortable. My Omas tends to be my every day writer because it's just more reliable, but no question, the Montegrappa is a beautuful pen!

youstruckgold, sounds like your montegrappa has a feed issue. If you have an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, remove the nib and feed and stick them in the cleaner.

youstruckgold, your pen is a no longer made Symphony (same as mine, only in red!). The Symphony pens had flow problems but these were all considered manufacturing defects and from my experience with the Montegrappa service centre in Australia, usually remedied with a trip to the factory where it gets tuned and becomes a fantastic writer. The second tune up on my pen was free of charge (I paid for the nib though). It's a pity if you have a pen that you can't use though and the Symphony was a very popular and very beautiful model which is now no longer produced. I think their replacement Emblema is a horror.

Vicary, I'd recommend against buying the Emblema as these pens cannot be exposed to any type of incandescent light for an extended period of time. The celluloid body has a bad habit of coming loose (the glue is weakened from exposure to heat) and then spinning on the silver barrel. Admittedly this has happened more with the ballpoints than any other model but the FP has had the same problem. Oh and the top ring on the cap comes apart due to the glue weakening as well. I purchased an Emblema 6 months back and the top of the cap came loose as I held it in my hand after paying for it. The sales person was ashamed and didn't hesitate to agree when I requested to exchange this pen for a Dupont. However all that aside, the celluloid on the Emblema is marvelous. I liked the black celluloid version but the pearl grey is enchanting too.

Thanks for the suggestion on what to do with all the extra nibs I have, I shall look into this...unfortunately I don't know how to change a Montegrappa nib!

It's a breeze- Montegrappa nib and feeds are friction fit into the section. I think most people have a specific technique for removing a friction fit nib/feed, but they're all variations on the same idea. All you need to do is grab the nib/feed firmly, as close as you can to the section, and pull. Best to pull straight out, not at any kind of angle. Once you've done that, just set aside the old nib, slot on the new one, and push them (together) back into the section. You might want to practice on something cheaper first!

Thanks for the Emblema advice. I don't have any lighted pen cases in my home but it sounds like it's important to get one that hasn't been on display in a store...

best,
Doug

What material is the Nero Uno made from? How large is the nib? I love the large nib on my Montegrappa Extra, but I'm not as fond of the smaller nib on my Montegrappa Symphony. Do any of the current models have the larger nib?

The NeroUno is made from resin with platinum trim. The nib is rather small actually, but smoother and more consistent than any of the other Montegrappa nibs. It is molded to the grip and feed section and so has virtually no flex (but my/my boyfriend's EF nib is just a tad bit springy) and is 18kt. This nib is completely different to the standard Montegrappa nibs.

The standard Montegrappa nib sizes come in 5mm diameter (Micra, Piccola and I think the small Privilege, I'll have to check mine), 6mm diameter (Miya, Symphony, Miya Argento, Espressione, Emblema, Espressione Duetto, Privilege Large) and oversize 8mm which is available on the Extra only. The only range which currently has the giant oversize 8mm nib is the Extra 1930 - I am considering getting the Turtle Brown version too as the Bamboo Black is just magnificent. The celluloid work is unbelievable in its depth and subtlety of colour.