Platinum 3776 (Black) W/ Soft Fine

[KBeezie]

Picked one of these up from a Rakuten shop in Japan (Thanks for the heads-up Discopig) with a Soft Fine nib, forgot to order a platinum converter with it (apparently it's optional), so washed out a platinum cartridge with that one huge ball-bearing in it and filled it up with some Akkerman Shocking Blue.

 

Identical weight (give or take a gram) to the Pilot Falcon I have, and nearly identical size, just more rounded off in feeling than with the falcon. My early impression is that I prefer the 'feel' of the Falcon's body over the 3776, but the nib on the 3776 feels a little more controlled than the Falcon (both with Soft Fine, the Falcon feeling a little softer and more prone to line variation when writing normally).

 

Both the Falcon and 3776 are my first "Soft" nib pens, though technically the Platinum PTL-5000 I have seems to have a soft-feeling extra fine nib, but it's not marked as such and doesn't give nearly the same degree of line variations as either of the pens with "soft" nibs.

 

The resin coating on the 3776 seems to attract my fingerprints more than the Falcon would, yet they seem to be made of identical resin materials, just a tiny bit thicker on the 3776.

 

Now for some pretty pictures (picked up some more slabs from Lowes today, though I initially shot the pen on some white marble). PS: If you're confused about the focus on some of the darker backgrounds, it's because my 90/2.8 lens had a tilt adapter on it which would tilt the plane of focus up to 8 degrees in whichever direction I wanted.

 

 

[Algester]

Just curious I could go for another Pilot Soft-Fine but how do you compare the 3776 with your PTL-5000 I have been in deep though about that PTL-5000

 

This question is relevant because I was thinking of getting a 3776 SF since Pilot FPs is not accessible in my country

Edited May 21, 2014 by Algester

[KBeezie]

Just curious I could go for another Pilot Soft-Fine but how do you compare the 3776 with your PTL-5000 I have been in deep though about that PTL-5000

 

This question is relevant because I was thinking of getting a 3776 SF since Pilot FPs is not accessible in my country

 

My PTL-5000 is an extra fine, but I've seen a medium (in sbrebrown's review of a PTL-5000), quite a bit thinner feeling in the hands, and I'm not usually a thin-pen type of person but it's light weight and somewhat solid. While the nib can show some degree of line variation as demonstrated by SbreBrown, it doesn't really do that naturally you have to apply some pressure to get it going and the flow when doing that can sometimes be problematic such as it pooling up around the feed and providing a very wet/broad stroke for a while after you let up on the flex.

 

It works just fine when written normally, probably the narrowest line I have in a nib, a bit of feedback (sometimes worse on real cheap paper, but decent to quickly write with on some mead notebook paper), but it's not as smooth as two nibs I have of very similar line widths (montblanc 225 with a 14K platinum coated nib, and a Sheaffer Touchdown with a Feathertouch Accounting nib), even though I've checked for alignment and such on that.

 

I currently have it loaded up with some Iroshizuku Tsutsuji.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/wancher_makie/tsutsuji.jpg

 

The Century 3776 compared to that feels like a nicer pen, it has the illusion of being lighter because they're both about the same weight in my hands but one is larger in girth and nib size. But due to the urushi done by wancher/engeika I imagine that my impression of the way the pen's body feels in my hand is somewhat skewed by how the urushi feels.

 

Here's a quick write sample of some of the pens I mentioned on some normal notebook paper.

 

 

The 'smoothest' of the bunch is my Montblanc, followed by the Falcon, then the 3776, then the Touchdown and then the PTL-5000. They're not 'scratchy' per se, just increased feedback in that order, while still having some feedback. The nib on the Falcon is definitely wetter than the 3776 or PTL-5000 but blue steel itself is also a pretty wet ink.

 

On Rakuten I noticed you can get the PTL-5000 in either black or red for about $53 USD (5,400 Yen) versus the $79 USD for the Century 3776 in Black (I didn't see the falcon on there unless it's by a different name). Seems outside of Japan the PTL-5000 jumps up to about 80ish, and the Century 3776 to around 175 (not sure why such the large jump). Shipping seems to be around 1,200 Yen to the US (roughly $12) and it's EMS so about 3-4 days to arrive, but I think it varies by the sellers on Rakuten.

 

I think out of the three, I would probably do the Falcon but with a Soft Extra-Fine, but price wise the PTL-5000 doesn't seem that bad, but nib-wise I feel like my Montblanc and Touchdown are nicer feeling for close to the same line width, but both of those have no line variations possible like the PTL-5000 can.

 

By the way here's that review by Sbrebrown of the PTL-5000 that's fairly recent, he got his from CultPens, which would run about 50 GBP (~ 85USD or 8,500 Yen or so)

 

 

I noticed that in the Platinum cartridges that ball-bearing they include seems like it would work very well in agitating dry-running inks, nothing seems to stop it from going from one end to the other light some of the smaller/lighter agitation methods, which don't appear to be included with their converters, just their cartridges.

Edited May 21, 2014 by KBeezie

[Algester]

yeah his review got me interested in the PTL-5000 in the first place.

 

so you would opt to suggest in getting a Pilot pen huh... I'll take note but since the elabo/falcon but hey soft extra-fine haha can't complaint with that buddy is a tad bit pricier than the custom 91 that I was thinking to get maybe if opportunities arise I'll think about it.

 

but I have noticed how does the soft-fine feel on both pens Pilot Falcon and 3776 I heard Platinum makes "harder" nibs making them springy compared to Pilot which really makes it go semi-flex

 

Ideally shipping from Japan should be cheaper for me but I think my credit card is only limited to 100USD disregarding the exchange rate LOL so can't spend higher than that

Edited May 21, 2014 by Algester

[KBeezie]

Yea I think it's really personal preference though, I can see how someone may hate one but love the other. They're so close.

 

The 3776 was 7,900 yen, then shipping was 1,200 yen, so total it was around $91 USD shipped. (paypal figured it 99 yen to the dollar). I'm usually weary about using a credit card directly because the exchange range that the bank or CC issuer uses may not be exactly at the time of purchase. But I *think* if you get thru to them before hand so that you can get an english speaking staff member, they may be able to put the charge thru as your native currency rather than s yen (meaning they do the conversion first before charging).

[4x4xpens]

Gorgeous photos and a gorgeous pen.

 

I have a PTL-5000 and that pen looks quite a bit classier than the PTL. On another level entirely.

[discopig]

The 3776 SF has a very nice nib, it loosens up a lot after a while, mine feels a lot closer to semi-flex now than it did when I first got it. I didn't like it that much at first but after a few days of using it it's one of my best writers.

 

A good example of what 3776 Century SF can do once it's loosened up:

Edited May 21, 2014 by discopig

[The Good Captain]

I've the same model and nib combination and they are great pens. No complaints whatsoever.

[mtnbiker62]

Thanks for the review...I think a #3776 is going to be my next pen purchase. I need to find one with rhodium trim, however; I don't like gold furnishings.

[maverink]

3776 clear demonstrators hav the rhodium plating