Hello And A Very Odd Platinum 3776 Sf Nib

[lysander]

Great post in your link @A Smug Dill.

I totally agree with you - I struggle a little bit to see the point of the soft nib.

The line variation is not enough to be useful and not particularly controllable due to the pen being quite dry and requiring some pressure just to write normally.

And I dont find it gives any other attributes that improve the writing experience.

I may have to try and tinker with the flow a bit as I can see myself not using it much otherwise.

[A Smug Dill]

I totally agree with you - I struggle a little bit to see the point of the soft nib.

It's OK for writing Chinese and Japanese characters, but then I can do equally well with any Sailor 'hard' Fine nib or regular Pilot/Platinum Fine nib. That also applies to styles of English calligraphy that amount to drawing letters using a series of disjointed pen strokes.

 

Here's an example of what I can cajole out of a regular-not-marked-as-soft Platinum EF nib:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/344907-lamy-benitoite-ink/?p=4205686

 

and, no, I did not 'cheat' there by using disjointed pen strokes to produce the connected letters, but if I was 'writing' at that speed in my everyday uses of a pen, I wouldn't get anything done!

 

The line variation is not enough to be useful and not particularly controllable due to the pen being quite dry and requiring some pressure just to write normally.

Well, I'd say it depends on what the individual user thinks of as 'useful'. The soft nibs were never designed to do what flex nibs or dip pen nibs do, and were never intended to be the 'poor' or 'modern' man's substitute for vintage nibs popular in trends long gone.

 

I'm not against (seeking) line variation, shading and sheen, but to me they are all secondary characteristics that one could look for (and look hard) in narrow-line-width handwriting; a 50% increase in line width on downstrokes going from 0.35mm to 0.51mm is line variation enough for me to 'express' character in my English handwriting. I don't want a page of line variation, shading and sheen that hit me in the face before I make out what the shapes 'say' with the words they form; I want to see and recognise the minuscule 'z' or the character 天 before I then inspect whether there is shading the horizontal lines in them, and whether there is the slightest hint of sheen on the sharp corners, or intersection of pen strokes, or at the end of each pen stroke where the writer could be expected to have paused ever-so-briefly.

 

And I dont find it gives any other attributes that improve the writing experience.

I don't either, but I suppose some people who are heavy-handed would appreciate the cushioning afforded by soft nibs a bit more.

 

I may have to try and tinker with the flow a bit as I can see myself not using it much otherwise.

I just smoothed my two Platinum #3776 SF nibs earlier today to resolve an issue I was having with them.

 

Personally, I think the SF nibs are quite versatile drawing tools (and one could think of writing ideographs in some languages as drawing) capable of producing a variety of line widths and line shapes, but I don't think they're particularly good for 'fast' handwriting where capturing content take priority over producing on the page the shapes the writer has in mind, especially if the writer hasn't already spent a lot of time developing the manual skill to produce those shapes at will slowly with the pen as a drawing/writing instrument.

Edited May 22, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[lysander]

Thank you for all the info.

After more time writing with it, Ive come to the conclusion I just dont like it, and tinkering with the flow wont help.

I think I will sell it.

That will be a bit of a lesson about my tastes if nothing else.

[Honeybadgers]

If the nib had tipping and is soft like the SF, I'd have kept it to be honest.

 

If the nib had no tipping, I'd return it immediately because untipped gold wears away pretty quickly.

 

You can make it much wetter (they all come pretty dry from the factory) by removing the nib, placing it flat on a hard surface, and pressing down right on the breather hole gently but firmly. This will open the tines and give you a wetter writer. I do it for every 3776 I plan on giving away as a gift.

 

The SF nibs are intended to act as cushion-ey nibs, not flex nibs. if you write with an extremely light hand, they're kind of pointless. But if you write with a little pressure or lift the pen a lot (as in print writing), the spring gives some cushion and if you have moderate pressure it will show some expressiveness in the line widths. The 3776 doesn't have much line variation at all, but the pilot SF does have a bit.

 

If the idea of a SF still intrigues, I'd recommend the pilot custom 74 or 91. Smoother, softer, more flex, different profile and fit in the hand, takes a con-70.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[A Smug Dill]

If the idea of a SF still intrigues, I'd recommend the pilot custom 74 or 91. Smoother, softer, more flex, different profile and fit in the hand, takes a con-70.

 

 

I'd recommend trying the Pilot Elabo or Namiki Falcon with resin body and Soft Extra Fine nib instead. Still lightweight in the same vicinity as the Custom 74 and Custom Heritage 91 — I'm mindful that the heft, girth and balance of the pen body factor heavily (so to speak) in the user's actual writing experience — but can produce a wider range of line widths, which will most likely satisfy more fountain pen users who prefer crisp narrow lines (where they are intended to be precise in writing or drawing) and those who seek noticeable line variation (with the requisite hand control on the part of the user, of course).

 

Resin body versus metal body: The former is cheaper by some 40% and weighing 13g less — my Pilot Namiki Falcon with resin body and rhodinated 14K gold SEF nib weighs 16g without a converter, while my Pilot Elabo with metal body and the same type of nib weighs 29g, or 80% more — and can use the CON-40 or CON-50 (with clear cylindrical walls for the ink reservoir, and rotary piston mechanism for filling), as well as the CON-B and CON-20 converters (with larger ink capacity, opaque walls, and sac/push-bar mechanism for filling), and of course (new or refilled) Pilot cartridges as well. What it doesn't have is the additional option to use a CON-70 converter (with larger ink capacity, clear cylindrical walls, and push-button mechanism for filling) instead, which is not something that affects the actual writing experience, and just one of four options for holding a larger volume of ink in the pen barrel. Without knowing whether someone strongly prefers a hefty pen body or a metal pen body for robustness, I'd say the resin body Elabo/Falcon is a good starting point for getting that writing experience, "if the idea of a SF still intrigues".

[lysander]

Yes I actually have a metal falcon SEF which I really like.

It takes quite a lot of pressure to flex, but it does offer quite good line variation when needed.

When used normally I find it a great versatile extra fine ( bordering needle point ) writer.

Good point about writing in print @honeybadgers.

I write in cursive with a light hand as I find the softness and a bit mushy and inaccurate for my writing.

I have a few vintage flex and semi flex pens and none of them give me that same feeling.

Theres just not enough I like about the pen overall, Im not a huge fan of the look, I bought it mostly for the nib.

Edited May 25, 2019 by lysander

[Honeybadgers]

If the 3776 SF was too mushy, why was the falcon soft nib not too mushy? The falcon is quite a bit softer.

 

Dunno what I'd suggest if you think a 3776 as too mushy other than firm nibs. The pilot FA nib is definitely too soft.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[titrisol]

I agree with you on that one,

It gets better after some use though

 

I received the replacement on Monday ( kudos to CultPens for the quick turnaround ), and the nib on this one is normal.
After two days of writing with it I’m a bit on the fence though, it’s nice, but it does not blow me away.
It’s rather on the dry side I find.

[lysander]

If the 3776 SF was too mushy, why was the falcon soft nib not too mushy? The falcon is quite a bit softer.

 

Dunno what I'd suggest if you think a 3776 as too mushy other than firm nibs. The pilot FA nib is definitely too soft.

Bit hard to describe but on the 3776 I feel like I lose some control over where the nib goes and how it responds if I use pressure, whereas I find the falcon SEF always stays very precise.

[lysander]

I’m thinking that maybe I just don’t really like softness that’s not accompanied by line variation.

I received a wing sung 698 with 14k gold nib today, and I find it a bit firmer but it gives more line variation than the 3776 and I prefer the nib.