buying meisterstuck - worth it?

[meanwhile]

If you ask whether you should buy almost any pen in the forum for that brand you'll be told "yes" for obvious reasons. I suggest that the best thing to do is to look at the definitive online article on 149's:

 

http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/montblanc.149.html

 

Personally, I think there are much better pens for much less money - arguments about exactly how overpriced MBs are go forever on the main forum. But how one judges this sort of thing depends on what one values. However definitely read that article before spending several hundred pounds. If you then decide not to buy a 149, ask for suggestions on the main (Writing Instruments) forum.

[Allan]

If you ask whether you should buy almost any pen in the forum for that brand you'll be told "yes" for obvious reasons. I suggest that the best thing to do is to look at the definitive online article on 149's:

 

http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/montblanc.149.html

 

Personally, I think there are much better pens for much less money - arguments about exactly how overpriced MBs are go forever on the main forum. But how one judges this sort of thing depends on what one values. However definitely read that article before spending several hundred pounds. If you then decide not to buy a 149, ask for suggestions on the main (Writing Instruments) forum.

 

I am dumbfounded. You posted a link to a pretty good article. I take exception to only one thing in the article, and that may just be my experience....I have never seen in person, or in pictures, 149s stacked like cord wood on a table at a pen show. In fact, every 149 of almost any vintage that is placed here or on the green board seems to sell like hotcakes.

 

Other than that one point, I agree, read the article, but above all else try the pen. After all, once he got his repaired he did say "I'm happy to report that it is now a splendid and reliable writer".

 

Allan

[Titivillus]

I think this part of the review says it all.. :embarrassed_smile:

 

As a pen collector, you'll find that most "civilians" neither know nor care about the really cool pens you use. This is one pen, however, that WILL make a statement.

 

 

K

 

 

[vibin247]

I think any pen is worth it as long as the owner is happy it.

[Shangas]

As a pen collector, you'll find that most "civilians" neither know nor care about the really cool pens you use. This is one pen, however, that WILL make a statement.

 

Whoever said this is quite right. Most 'civilians' won't look twice at a fountain pen, let alone know how to use one. But the Montblanc Meisterstuck ALWAYS turns heads.

[Titivillus]

As a pen collector, you'll find that most "civilians" neither know nor care about the really cool pens you use. This is one pen, however, that WILL make a statement.

 

Whoever said this is quite right. Most 'civilians' won't look twice at a fountain pen, let alone know how to use one. But the Montblanc Meisterstuck ALWAYS turns heads.

 

Yep buy this pen if you want to be know by the objects you own.

 

K

 

[georges zaslavsky]

Congrats on the 146 and enjoy it

[Kalessin]

If you're a right-handed writer, and hold your hand below the line to write, then the OB nib can be used to produce great line variation (think Old English, or perhaps German Fraktur or Blackletter typefaces), though it make take some practice.

 

[silence]

just thought i'd say that i picked up my 146 today. it really is quite special.

 

there's no way i could get it engraved and the nib seems to be ok with my handwriting (image below) - though some work might be required to get the most out of it.

[MBSL]

just thought i'd say that i picked up my 146 today. it really is quite special.

 

Congratulations and may it bring you many years of writing pleasure!

[meanwhile]

If you ask whether you should buy almost any pen in the forum for that brand you'll be told "yes" for obvious reasons. I suggest that the best thing to do is to look at the definitive online article on 149's:

 

http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/montblanc.149.html

 

Personally, I think there are much better pens for much less money - arguments about exactly how overpriced MBs are go forever on the main forum. But how one judges this sort of thing depends on what one values. However definitely read that article before spending several hundred pounds. If you then decide not to buy a 149, ask for suggestions on the main (Writing Instruments) forum.

 

I am dumbfounded. You posted a link to a pretty good article. I take exception to only one thing in the article, and that may just be my experience....I have never seen in person, or in pictures, 149s stacked like cord wood on a table at a pen show. In fact, every 149 of almost any vintage that is placed here or on the green board seems to sell like hotcakes.

 

Other than that one point, I agree, read the article, but above all else try the pen. After all, once he got his repaired he did say

although still a bit heavy for continual use.

 

Well, yes, Alan - but typically you've quoted very selectively. What RC actually wrote was:

 

"I'm happy to report that it is now a splendid and reliable writer although still a bit heavy for continual use."

 

You've also missed out that although he had bought a pen that costs something live $700, he had to pay to have an intrinsic manufacturing fault fixed! So the guy had to pay $800 to get a pen that wrote about as well as a $25 Pelikan Go (actually, people I know who have both rate the Go higher...) but which isn't as usable. Bit of a difference. Congratulations on your ability to chop a sentence at just the right point - but I would suggest that when people are asking for advice that you owe them a little more truth and a little less editting.

 

I would also think that you'd take exception to:

 

If the 149 looks pretty much the same in 2002 as it did back in 1948, there have been fundamental changes in the mechanics and materials of the 149, and not all fans would claim these to be changes for the better. Hence, many collectors seek out 149s (and others from the 140 series) made during the 1940s and 1950s, while second-hand examples of the more recent production often go begging.

 

- you mustn't have noticed this bit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Allan]

You've also missed out that although he had bought a pen that costs something live $700, he had to pay to have an intrinsic manufacturing fault fixed! So the guy had to pay $800 to get a pen that wrote about as well as a $25 Pelikan Go (actually, people I know who have both rate the Go higher...) but which isn't as usable. Bit of a difference. Congratulations on your ability to chop a sentence at just the right point - but I would suggest that when people are asking for advice that you owe them a little more truth and a little less editting.

 

The fact that he finds the pen a bit heavy is irrelevant to the conversation, different people have different preferences. I for one find the 149 a bit too big in girth for comfortable writing. But it is, as he clearly stated, and I quoted, an excellent writer.

 

Secondly, he clearly stated that the pen he purchased was nearly new old stock, meaning it had been used. Anyone should know that once a pen has been used, especially as a demonstrator in a store (yes, that is an assumption), that many problems can arise. You just assume it was a manufacturing defect. Without close inspection of the pen it would be impossible to guess what caused the problem.

 

I would also think that you'd take exception to:

 

If the 149 looks pretty much the same in 2002 as it did back in 1948, there have been fundamental changes in the mechanics and materials of the 149, and not all fans would claim these to be changes for the better. Hence, many collectors seek out 149s (and others from the 140 series) made during the 1940s and 1950s, while second-hand examples of the more recent production often go begging.

 

- you mustn't have noticed this bit...

 

Yes, I saw it. Once again, the collector's preferences have no bearing on the conversation. Suppose I prefer blue pens, does that mean red ones are all bad? Although I would disagree with the statement that more recent production models go begging, a quick surf of the sales board here, on Pentrace, or Ebay would dispel that idea. Of course vintage ones go for higher prices, with so few of them out there for sale, it makes perfect sense.

 

Allan

[meanwhile]

Secondly, he clearly stated that the pen he purchased was nearly new old stock, meaning it had been used.

 

Wrong again, I'm afraid:

 

I bought this pen in my last semester of graduate school; it was virtually a new-old-stock item at the campus bookstore, the last in stock, and the store hadn't been keeping up with the price increases, so I got a relatively good deal on it. I'd date it from about 1985.

 

"New Old Stock" (NOS) means an out of production pen that it is new in that it has never been used. What the guy is saying is that the pen had been in the store for several years, was still at the price MBs were then, and was probably made in 1985 rather than the year he bought it.

 

Anyone should know that once a pen has been used, especially as a demonstrator in a store (yes, that is an assumption), that many problems can arise. You just assume it was a manufacturing defect.

 

When one pen has a fault, yes. When in a randomly selected week serious faults with MBs are reported on FPN at a rate at least 8 times higher than those for Pelikans, while Pelikans are (according to the FPN poll I just ran) about 5 times more commonly used, giving a likely fault rate forty times higher for MB than Pelikans... then "it was a demo" just isn't a credible explanation.

 

The one "serious" fault for the Pel was a loose cap, easily dealt with under the pen's warranty, while MB faults included a $5000 pen that wouldn't write correctly and which MB refused to take proper action to fix; a pen that was leaking and dissolving its own trim a few weeks after an MB repair; a pen that dropped one foot to the floor and broke; a pen that broke spontaneously; and a 146 which wouldn't write properly and which MB refused to fix - instead telling the owner to write with the cap posted, to make him hold the pen at an almost vertical angle.

 

It's not even as if Pel have the best reputation for reliability - that's probably Sailor. They have about 3 times as many pens being regularly used by FPN members and faults are almost never mentioned. The VP's reputation is almost as unstained and it's the most popular pen of all - and an especially complex design (retractable, semi-hooded, user changeable nibs). These pens probably have a serious fault rate of about 1/100 of MB's.

 

See

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=34700

 

and

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=34926

 

for details of those polls...

 

[mr T.]

i mean that in the sense that i don't want to spend a few hundred pounds on a fountain pen which writes nicely in the shop but then have to write with it for the next few years in a relatively thick style.

 

If you want to avoid this: buy a new fountain pen with a steel nib and not a MB Meisterstück. Pens with a steel nib that that are in terms of writing quality better than a MB Meisterstück can be for just a fraction of the price. In most cases they are made of better quality materials too. MB nibs are running broad after a while, even when used in a normal way. Are MB products from the Meisterstück series worth it? No they are not, they are in my opinion just a waste of money.