Franklin Christoph - No News

[Cryptos]

I guess being as remote as one can be and still be in a 'civilised' country tends to make one far more anxious than is really necessary. I also find it amazing that there are over 500 people waiting on this finish! Clearly I have not appreciated the depth and breadth of passion in the fountain pen community. And it certainly accounts for the delay in getting round to answering emails.

 

My apologies for painting F-C in a slightly negative light with regard to communication. This new information puts it into perspective for me and makes me feel a bit foolish for worrying about it so much.

 

 

As for the pen ... well, I'll have to use it for a bit, and perhaps give a review.

 

 

ps, the bit about the birthday is not to be taken too seriously. Nobody really celebrates my birthday except me, and usually only when I remember which day it is!

[latetotheparty]

I've always had stellar service from F-C, honestly in their own league and the reason I support them whenever I can. I use my F-C 20 and F-C 40 every day and they are a joy to use.

[DrDebG]

I have to through in my little bit here.

 

I was able to get a Franklin Christoph Panther 40 with a 14K Matsuyama Medium italic nib last fall at the Denver Pen Show. The pen was a prototype in a beautiful shimmer brown acrylic with a lighter brown ring. It is a gorgeous pen. But even better is the way the nib writes. It is absolutely perfect for my writing style. I love it! The best thing is that you adjust to the nib - in terms of its smaller sweet spot. The pen is very kind to my hand and fits perfectly. While I have a number of other pens that I love, my very favorite is my FC Panther.

 

Also, I love Mike Matsuyama's work. I just sent him 2 Pilot VPs and a VP stub nib unit that have never written properly for me. He is going to work his magic on them.

[ink-syringe]

I want to add that I heard back. Ordered as soon as I could. There was a hitch with my nib choice and they helped me through it with speed and grace and then the pen came ... I can't believe how fast. I ordered the pen on Friday and it arrived on Monday. AND I LIVE 7000 miles away! Any faster and they would have had relativity issues to deal with.

 

Service was wow all around. And the pen? Well that will have to wait for another day to explore in detail but the short version is that it is stupendous to write with and beautiful to behold.

 

Well worth the wait. Excellent Service. Excellent product. Seemingly Excellent people.

 

If you are on the list, or want to get on it, do so, put it out of your mind, save your pennies and in the end you will likely be pleased. So far I am.

[Cryptos]

Mine's out of commission at the moment. Not quite sure what the problem is but F-C are walking me through it, which is nice. I find the medium italic takes a bit of getting used to. Mainly because it is drier than my Osmiroid italic nibs (and narrower). The pen is a good fit in my hand, and for me it is definitely not a desk pen!

[ink-syringe]

Mine's out of commission at the moment. Not quite sure what the problem is but F-C are walking me through it, which is nice. I find the medium italic takes a bit of getting used to. Mainly because it is drier than my Osmiroid italic nibs (and narrower). The pen is a good fit in my hand, and for me it is definitely not a desk pen!

 

 

Hope you get it sorted.

 

I was afraid the Italic would be too sharp and got a stub and it is glorious so far.

 

This pen is ergonomic win all the way for me, very well balanced and good size.

 

I haven't eyedroppered it yet (honestly might not bother). Testing it to see what it is like with plain old Pilot Blue in the supplied converter. My stub is pretty crisp and is reasonably wet.

 

 

I'll admit I also am just enamored with it's beauty. It looks different in different light. Just purely as object it is attractive and I love that they don't put a lot of money into the packaging but instead give you a very nice zippered pen slip which is most helpful with this rather long pen.

 

Sits now with my 40s Brown Striated Sheaffer Vac-fil factory stub desk pen. The 2 make quite a pair.

[Cryptos]

I'm using mine with the converter at the moment, but I have used it as an eyedropper and it looks fabulous! I want to go back to that.

[Cryptos]

I just found out something - wasn't hard really - that I hadn't thought about before. The weight of the FC model 66, without any ink in it, is about the same as a Nakaya portable cigar and approximately 6g lighter than a Nakaya long cigar.

 

I mention this because of the recent thread containing one of Stephen Brown's video reviews (on Nakaya), sparked a small discussion about lightweight pens. Kind of puts it in perspective a little.

 

Well, I found it useful to know!

[ninobrn99]

Placed my name on the list as soon as I could. Got an email that it was ready to go and the pen is in my hands now.

 

Nino

[Billy D]

I put my name on the list for the Model 66 in Antique glass what seems like about two months ago, right before the list was taken down. Got an email last week and Saturday's mail brought the pen with the Masuyama broad cursive italic and the 1.9mm Music nib. EXCELLENT customer service, perfect pen and the nibs are fantastic. I am so happy I waited.

[ninobrn99]

I had signed up to be on the list before they took it down the first time. Just a couple of days ago, I got another email that my pen was ready because I had signed up on the new waitlist. I think I jumped on it relatively early so that should give you an indication of their current pace. Guess I'm getting a 1.9 music nib after all.

 

Nino