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Platinum Preppy: Possibly The Best New Fp In The World Right Now?


TheDutchGuy

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The other thing I do with a Preppy is to put the most monstrous of inks in them and let them sit for months of occasional use. No damage to any parts, no drying out, no worries.

Exactly! They’re great for that.

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I like the Preppy, I have used both fine and medium nibs on them. Personally, I think Platinum makes a very nice little nib; a couple of friends have been turned on to fountain pens since they tried my Platinum Cool, and I think the nib on the Preppy is just as good. I used the Preppy a lot, back when I was still scared of Baystate Blue lol. I do like using them with a converter, although it is weird to pay more for the converter than for the pen. My favorite by Platinum is the new Procyon, but I have never tried any of their gold nibs. If you want to give fountain pens to your friends/students/colleagues, I think the "cheap feel" of the Preppy can be off-putting. I did use a fine Preppy with Noodler's Lexington Grey for a year or so as an undergrad; it looked like I had written with a pencil, which was fun for some reason. If the zombie virus destroys the world tomorrow, I think I would be fine with a couple of Preppys :)

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Did Platinum ever fix the problem of the cracking caps? I had three of them, and the caps cracked on all of them.

Until you ink a pen, it is merely a pretty stick. --UK Mike

 

My arsenal, in order of acquisition: Sailor 21 Pocket Pen M, Cross Solo M, Online Calligraphy, Monteverde Invincia F, Hero 359 M, Jinhao X450 M, Levenger True Writer M, Jinhao 159 M, Platinum Balance F, TWSBI Classic 1.1 stub, Platinum Preppy 0.3 F, 7 Pilot Varsity M disposables refillables, Speedball penholder, TWSBI 580 USA EF, Pilot MR, Noodler's Ahab 1.1 stub, another Preppy 0.3, Preppy EF 0.2, ASA Sniper F, Click Majestic F, Kaweco Sport M, Pilot Prera F, Baoer 79 M (fake Starwalker), Hero 616 M (fake Parker), Jinhao X750 Shimmering Sands M . . .

31 and counting :D

 

DaveBj

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Did Platinum ever fix the problem of the cracking caps? I had three of them, and the caps cracked on all of them.

Maybe. My first three all cracked. My next three have not, after three years now.

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The Preppy is the Model T of the current fountain pen world. (The Esterbrook once held this lofty position, in my opinion; did we go up, or down?)

 

It is the pen of Everyman/Everywoman; Walt Whitman's pen, it can be found in a workingperson's hand as likely as that of the student, the grocer, or the lawyer, if they are unpretentious and value simple, raw capability in pens and people. Inside, the Preppy contains words in their liquid, naked fecundity, red as blood or blue as sea, before the fluid words are cast into specifics forever on the page to ignite a conversation or cool an argument. A Preppy takes on and serves all comers. It welcomes the hand of the poor as readily as it welcomes the grip of the rich, that of young and the old, the happy and the despondent, the free and the incarcerated, those falling into and those tumbling hard out of, love. The Preppy will not discriminate for or against you based on your wealth or status.

 

Polish off the advertising, remove the maker's writing off the pen. Surely it deserves this much of a sign of respect. Fear not: It will retain it's utilitarian badge nonetheless, and like all sow's ears resist transformation into that which it is not, and will never be.

 

Fountain pens and good pencils are the tools of proletarian craftsmen who care to feel the words enter and engage the fibers of each page; in a time when every desktop is a printing press that is also a radio and telegraph-telephone, only handwriting suggests these words might actually bear precious freight. Only the pen make sense of payment "by the word." The pc isn't even mightier than the letter opener, no less the sword.

 

The Preppy mocks the superior airs of all fantastically expensive brethren. It challenges those words written by tools of the aristocrats of technology which claim to be worth more, and which seldom are. All, all are mere ink splotches on paper, unless, like Yeats' old man, ". . . Soul clap it's hands and louder sing, for every tatter in it's mortal dress." In Byzantium, I suspect, fountain pens are the rule and Preppies the common kind.

 

There is no irony, and nothing unintentional, in the Preppy's excellence. It was necessary to keep balance in a world that was too easily made into an uneven, unequal, playing field. The rich ride, when the common people walk; but at least both write freely.

 

The barrels of my older Preppies have yet to show even little cracks; none have failed outright. They are durable and thus endure. The utilitarian nibs, tauntingly, are often better adjusted than those on very expensive pens. Preppies rarely show distain and then only for few types of paper; more than can be said for their pedigreed, tempermental, ever-aloof inky cousins. Preppy nibs never forget their purpose, which is to write, and not to impress by style or any sort or manner, except in execution of their duty to get the job done.

 

We own Preppies, I submit, out of pure love for fountain pens. How could one possibly adulterate such love? The other pens we buy in fits of lust to satisfy portions of our nature best left behind (or at least left unexamined). It seems romantic, the idea of penning a poem, a play, a polemic, a story about lost love or first kisses, with a fine Visconti or an elegant Montblanc. It is not an impossible task, nor even an improbability; but it denotes, not connotes, well-washed, sweet-smelling bodies, clean sheets, ample food, and the rare security of a position in life.

 

The Preppy advertises nought and guarantees nothing. The bed implied may be soft and clean, or a nearly-fetid straw, the food hearty and wholesome or ghastly stale, just a day and night too-old. The Preppy sets and obtains no conditions.

 

The Preppy simply writes, and it writes, very, very, well.

Pure poetry! Are you a professional writer? If not, you should be!

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Sailor Profit "B" nib running Van Dieman's Night - Shooting Star

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Can the nibs be changed easily? I'd like to buy Preppys with an M nib (as I'm afraid F would be too thin for me), but I see they're only available in red, blue and black, so I was thinking of buying 0.3 pens of the colours I like, the same number of 0.5 black pens, and swapping the nibs. Is this possible?

It isn't true that you live only once. You only die once. You live lots of times, if you know how. (Bobby Darin)

 

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. (Oscar Wilde)

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Can the nibs be changed easily? I'd like to buy Preppys with an M nib (as I'm afraid F would be too thin for me), but I see they're only available in red, blue and black, so I was thinking of buying 0.3 pens of the colours I like, the same number of 0.5 black pens, and swapping the nibs. Is this possible?

 

the Preppy use a simple stem feed and the nib is slotted in there, it just pull straight out and you just push the replacement in, straight forward, don't even need anything , the ink collector stay in the section not coming out

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Thanks!

It isn't true that you live only once. You only die once. You live lots of times, if you know how. (Bobby Darin)

 

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go. (Oscar Wilde)

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The Preppy is the Model T of the current fountain pen world. (The Esterbrook once held this lofty position, in my opinion; did we go up, or down?)

 

It is the pen of Everyman/Everywoman; Walt Whitman's pen, it can be found in a workingperson's hand as likely as that of the student, the grocer, or the lawyer, if they are unpretentious and value simple, raw capability in pens and people. Inside, the Preppy contains words in their liquid, naked fecundity, red as blood or blue as sea, before the fluid words are cast into specifics forever on the page to ignite a conversation or cool an argument. A Preppy takes on and serves all comers. It welcomes the hand of the poor as readily as it welcomes the grip of the rich, that of young and the old, the happy and the despondent, the free and the incarcerated, those falling into and those tumbling hard out of, love. The Preppy will not discriminate for or against you based on your wealth or status.

 

Polish off the advertising, remove the maker's writing off the pen. Surely it deserves this much of a sign of respect. Fear not: It will retain it's utilitarian badge nonetheless, and like all sow's ears resist transformation into that which it is not, and will never be.

 

Fountain pens and good pencils are the tools of proletarian craftsmen who care to feel the words enter and engage the fibers of each page; in a time when every desktop is a printing press that is also a radio and telegraph-telephone, only handwriting suggests these words might actually bear precious freight. Only the pen make sense of payment "by the word." The pc isn't even mightier than the letter opener, no less the sword.

 

The Preppy mocks the superior airs of all fantastically expensive brethren. It challenges those words written by tools of the aristocrats of technology which claim to be worth more, and which seldom are. All, all are mere ink splotches on paper, unless, like Yeats' old man, ". . . Soul clap it's hands and louder sing, for every tatter in it's mortal dress." In Byzantium, I suspect, fountain pens are the rule and Preppies the common kind.

 

There is no irony, and nothing unintentional, in the Preppy's excellence. It was necessary to keep balance in a world that was too easily made into an uneven, unequal, playing field. The rich ride, when the common people walk; but at least both write freely.

 

The barrels of my older Preppies have yet to show even little cracks; none have failed outright. They are durable and thus endure. The utilitarian nibs, tauntingly, are often better adjusted than those on very expensive pens. Preppies rarely show distain and then only for few types of paper; more than can be said for their pedigreed, tempermental, ever-aloof inky cousins. Preppy nibs never forget their purpose, which is to write, and not to impress by style or any sort or manner, except in execution of their duty to get the job done.

 

We own Preppies, I submit, out of pure love for fountain pens. How could one possibly adulterate such love? The other pens we buy in fits of lust to satisfy portions of our nature best left behind (or at least left unexamined). It seems romantic, the idea of penning a poem, a play, a polemic, a story about lost love or first kisses, with a fine Visconti or an elegant Montblanc. It is not an impossible task, nor even an improbability; but it denotes, not connotes, well-washed, sweet-smelling bodies, clean sheets, ample food, and the rare security of a position in life.

 

The Preppy advertises nought and guarantees nothing. The bed implied may be soft and clean, or a nearly-fetid straw, the food hearty and wholesome or ghastly stale, just a day and night too-old. The Preppy sets and obtains no conditions.

 

The Preppy simply writes, and it writes, very, very, well.

 

This is a comprehensive and beautifully poetic post.

 

I like that the OP broached the conversation of how the preppy is a solid pen for any and all. I personally view it as the Pilot G2 fo the fountain pen world (sorry Pilot lol ).

 

With just a Preppy ($5), converter ($8), and some ink that works well on cheap paper, like Noodler's Black ($13), and an affordable notebook like Mead or something if needed ($3), you or they are good to go, and that costs only about $30 to provide yourself or someone with a reliable solid experience of a fountain pen, which no ballpoint or rollerball I've tried can parallel.

 

I know there's the TWSBI GO but that fugly pen doesn't even have a clip,

 

And what's nice about the preppy is that Slip-and-Seal makes it so reliable over time.

 

And I love how the dimensions are full sized enough with a shape that can fit any sized hand.

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I bought a pack of three with the purpose of putting my old bottle of Noodler's Baystate Blue to use. I wouldn't use it in anything more expensive than this but the color is just so vibrant I felt sorry for having it sitting in a drawer.

 

And I have to say I'm pretty impressed. The nib (0.2, so XF) is reasonably smooth and the value for money ratio is incredible. The line is nice and wet and with a nib this thing it is not prone to feathering and bleeding as the Baystate Blue usually is, even on cheap office paper.

 

Best twelve bucks ever spent!

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  • 1 month later...

It is definitely my favourite of the modern pens.

 

I preferred previous version of it with printed barcode. I find that the new version looks less “cheap “ but it caps with much louder click, so much so that it attracts attention in the meetings.

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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I’m yet to buy a $500+ fountain pen with the nib tuned as well as Preppy’s nib.

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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Did Platinum ever fix the problem of the cracking caps? I had three of them, and the caps cracked on all of them.

What on earth are you doing with your pens? I have couple of Preppy pens for five years and half a dozen newer ones and never had any cracks? Because there is no cap ring I can see how you could crack the cap if you’re posting it very firmly but I don’t think problem is the material

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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What on earth are you doing with your pens? I have couple of Preppy pens for five years and half a dozen newer ones and never had any cracks? Because there is no cap ring I can see how you could crack the cap if you’re posting it very firmly but I don’t think problem is the material

I bought three preppies as some of my first fountain pens and one - treated just as the others - immediately started to crack down the barrel and break apart. One of the first facts about FPs I learned here was how easily the old preppies cracked!

 

You and I were lucky - I'm left with two uncracked preppies too. One, an EF that's a bit too 'F' for my liking, is rarely used. (Might try grinding a stub) The other, a nice wet medium, is refilled with Pure Pens Celtic Sea and will probably be eyedroppered with the same. I'm reasonably confident that it won't crumble too quickly at this point...

31182132197_f921f7062d.jpg

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You and I were lucky - I'm left with two uncracked preppies too. One, an EF that's a bit too 'F' for my liking, is rarely used. (Might try grinding a stub) The other, a nice wet medium, is refilled with Pure Pens Celtic Sea and will probably be eyedroppered with the same. I'm reasonably confident that it won't crumble too quickly at this point...

 

Well that was a near miss on my part. The weeks I had Preppy eye dropper in my pocket and if it would crumble that would be a disaster!!

I find that older Preppy caps with a less loud click which I actually prefer. The new one caps loudly enough to attract attention in the meetings. Thats why I prefer my older Preppy. I like 0.3 nib best. 0.2 is too fine for me.

Edited by vonManstein

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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I'm sure I've heard somewhere (Goulet Q&A?) that Platinum were aware that their older Preppy caps had cracking issues, and had taken steps to rectify this. Obviously not every pen was affected, and some people are inherently more gentle (or otherwise) with their pens - but theoretically at least, the newer Preppies should be less prone to this problem...

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Any cracks in Preppy transparent plastic I weld with Plastruct ABS cement, they stay fixed.

 

Yeah they'll crack either at bottom edge of cap or at the barrel threads. Might be from stresses of being carried around etc, could be torqued like a banana when shoved in pocket, purse or overfilled pencil case.

 

 

Was sniffing around Platinum's Mix Free retail display whilst overseas this yr and noticed they'll sell you a blank Preppy :) to go with your mix ink..! Think it cost more than a printed normal Preppy :( and you don't even get a cartridge of ink.

 

Otoh... also noticed Gakken SOU... it's unashamedly a Preppy with floral pattern printed on the barrel, cap & clip finial is clear. They're also priced at Twice the price of blank Preppy above... which makes it 3-4X price of a normal Preppy - too rich for my blood, didn't buy any.

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  • 7 months later...

The barrels of my older Preppies have yet to show even little cracks; none have failed outright.

 

 

Unfortunately, my experience has not been so good. I purchased a Preppy last month on a whim, and frankly, I like it at lot. And I also like the Platinum blue-black ink that came with it. But after only about five weeks of use (about half a cartridge), the barrel cracked. Now one of the real features of the Preppy is that the cap fits snugly so that the pen won't dry out - but when the barrel cracks, it won't securely attach to the threads on the section, and when you try to remove the very-snug cap, what happens instead is that the barrel comes off the other end.

 

At this point, I have tried running a little thin cyanoacrylate glue (superglue) into the crack to see if that will seal it but it remains to be seen if that is a permanent fix.

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^—The barrel is indeed the most vulnerable part of the Preppy. It should not be tightened too much. In fact, it should be tightened as little as possible.

 

For a few more coins, Platinum will sell you the Plaisir. Same nib, same feed, same cap-seal mechanism, will take Platinum cartridges as well as standard international (using their very clever little cartridge adaptor). But housed in a sturdy metal barrel and cap. You can do drastic things to a Plaisir. It will hold up.

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