Parker Centennial....worst Fountain Pen I've Ever Had!

[ArchiMark]

Sorry to hear of your trouble with your pen, Trakehner.

 

As others have noted, you should be able to get it writing well.

 

Again, can understand your frustration, but I wouldn't trash the Parker Centennial over one such experience. As others have also noted, unfortunately, you can have such experiences with almost any brand pen and.....with some adjustments, usually turn it into a great writer.

 

FWIW, I've had over a dozen Centennials and all the ones I had were great writers and very enjoyable pens to use.

 

Hopefully, you'll get someone that knows how to adjust pens to sort this pen out.

 

Mark

 

 

[pajaro]

To the OP: I have a Montblanc 146, bought from an expert here on Montblancs, and the 146 skipped horribly. He couldn't get it to go right, and I thought it was my biggest purchase failure ever.

 

I eventually sent it to Danny Fudge at The Write Pen, and he made it perfect for under $20.

 

So, don't give up on your pen, and don't lose heart. Somebody will be able to make it come right.

[Manalto]

What's the typical period of time that manufacturers allow for you to return a defective pen for replacement?

[mhosea]

Yeah, I know...I've tried all sorts of inks by different makers, to no avail...same with different cartridges and filler systems...nope, no change. The nib is garbage.

 

I would echo Ron Zorn's reply, that the behavior you observed may be due to a few different factors. My money would be on the nib needing adjustment. IMHO, it takes time and testing to "dial in" a nib so that it is BOTH smooth and starts reliably. Seems that often enough in modern pens we get the results of over-smoothing, the so-called "Baby's Bottom" issue, which leads to reluctant starts after pauses. Usually not much material needs to be removed from the nib tip to eradicate the problem, so what seems like a "garbage" nib is probably just 15 minutes of work away from excellence. Having said that, I'm going to agree with Tancred about the Parker Premier in some respects--my Parker Premier's nib has a nicer feel to it. The Duofold Centennial is rather stiff for a modern gold nib, but the Premier has a little bit of "bounce" to it that I quite like. I've heard that the Premier nibs can be hit-and-miss, though. I dip tested mine in a pen shop and bought the very pen, so I knew what I was getting. Ordering online you don't have that option.

 

However, if it skips in mid-line after flow has been initiated in a stroke, then that would be something different.

[Trakehner]

Well, update....I sent my Parker off to one of the recommended pen tuners. That was a waste of money...just as unuseable a pen as before....and no, I certainly am not going to send it back to someone who made no improvement and still sent the pen back.

 

No, won't give his name...just a waste of money on my part.

 

Jeeze I hate this pen.

[mitto]

Well, update....I sent my Parker off to one of the recommended pen tuners. That was a waste of money...just as unuseable a pen as before....and no, I certainly am not going to send it back to someone who made no improvement and still sent the pen back.

 

No, won't give his name...just a waste of money on my part.

 

Jeeze I hate this pen.

 

Can understand your frustration with the pen. Why not try a replacement nib unit?

[gerigo]

Hmmm, I wonder whether this is a bit of user adaptation problem? Usually the pen tuners are really good at what they do and should be able to fix the problem unless they have said otherwise.

 

I LOVE all my Duofolds dearly as I have fitted all of them with italic factory nibs. The Parker nibs are quite unusual because they are unusually sharp italics that take some getting used to. The closest italic nib that give the same writing experience are the Aurora ones. If you watch the SBRE Brown video review of the Parker/ Ackkerman pen, he talked about how finicky the nib is.

 

Sorry for making an assumption, as you might be someone who wields a italic nib with flair

[mhosea]

To be honest with you, I haven't had much luck with nibmeisters producing results that I really like. Of course, I'm usually not satisfied with my own work, either, but the beauty of doing your own work is that there's no shipping charge and no delay, and the tech always knows exactly what is bothering me.

[parban]

The UK Duofolds are perhaps the best pen Parker has ever made, and they are in no way inferior to any other company's pens. 75s are also good, but duofolds are much easier to clean and are more majestic in looks. Thats I think the reason why they had to restart production of duofolds.

 

Sonnets are in no way comparable to the duofolds. I dont have any idea about the modern duofolds, but the mechanism and design are almost the same.

 

Its not fair to mark a brand or company good or bad if any one or even few products go wrong. That happens with almost each and every product.

[wspohn]

Too bad you got stuck with such a bad pen - if you ever want to sell it for $50, let us know.....

 

(I own a bunch of Centennial Duofolds and all have been excellent writers! - see if you can try a couple of other ones at a store and see if it is the nib you got or maybe it is you?)

[Trakehner]

I contacted the Parker people...told them about the pen and my gripes....they said, "Please send the pen back and we'll make it right"....a like a good homonym or pun.

 

So, back it went to Parker central. 3 weeks later, I got my pen back...it works! The ink flows, it actually can be used to write stuff and I'm impressed with Parker's customer service.

 

I was about at the stage of burning it with a blowtorch. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

[Gerd W]

Very good news, Trakehner. I do hope your Duofold does serve you well furthermore! Beautiful pen, IMO.