Editing The Pen Addict 573/transcript (section)

== Listener feedback on Muji polycarbonate fountain pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Brad, we have a selection of correspondence reporting in from the field, mostly via penaddictfeedback.com about the Muji polycarbonate fountain pen. Carol says Portland Muji checking in. None in stock. None scheduled to arrive anytime soon. Trance says, Trance Report, Trance Dispatch says, I found the Muji fountain pen here in Taiwan. We're looking at 139. Is that Taiwan dollar? Is it empty in the dollar sign? Yeah. Let me see what that is. Entee dollar. I want to get that right. That gave me the National Theater. That's no that's no help. Is it? Come on, Google. It's in National Theater dollars. New Taiwan dollar. That's what the NT is for. New Taiwan dollar, which is just under five dollars USD. I love those kinds of things, by the way, when it's like the differences between currencies and like what they mean. Five or 139. How do we get here? Right. I don't know. Including taxes, but not at all stores, says Trent, and only available in one nib size. Oh, three. And meals dispatch from Vancouver, Canada says that they immediately went to the store, to the online store, I should say, to buy one of these. Before ordering, I did go to the physical store to see if they had any. I wasn't expecting to find one, and I was right. Nowhere to be seen. But I got one online.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Canada was the one of the two online shops that I found it in. I love that this is our bit now, right? Like, I love the $5 fountain pen check-in. I was honestly surprised how many people had written it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It was a surprise. Because I don't think we asked for this, right? Like, I'm not complaining, right? But it was like, people did it. I feel like now we've done this, maybe we'll get more. And you know what? Go for it. Like, someone's going to make Muji restock, and maybe Pen Addict listeners can do it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's exactly right. And last week, we had Italy and Australia, right? So we're covering all our bases here. So Muji, get on the restocks. We need you. We need. The people need their pens, Muji. They do. And this is one of the good ones. So make it happen. And keep reporting. And if you have Muji Polycarbonate Fountain Pen news from around the globe, we would love to hear it. You can. Where can they send that feedback to, Myke? Penaddictfeedback.com. You can send it in there. Nice, nice. This is where we also got this upcoming feedback, which I am so excited you put this in here. Actually, I like this topic, and we're going to, let's see what we got here in this next bit of follow-up.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We also have quite a few people writing about the Pilot nibs. So was it 15 Pilot nibs?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, 15 nibs. 15 nibs.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We were talking about last time, and we had Robert. I wanted to read out Robert and Joe's feedback specifically. So Robert says, on the Pilot 912 specialty nibs, the coarse and broad, broad are fantastic if you're looking for a custom grind that needs a lot of tipping, like an architect or full-on Naginata Togi style. Before you jump in on this, I have an opinion on this. I have a hot take. Okay. I just don't know why you would buy this nib if you're then just going to get it ground to something else. Like, is it that good of a platform?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. So, yeah, you would be very wrong in that statement. And not in a, like, oh, you're wrong type of way, but this is exactly why people buy, like, sailors.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't understand it. Now I understand it. I was like, you're crazy. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, this is the fraction of the fraction percentage that would buy this type of thing for that. But the platform that a coarse or a broad, broad gives you, which I am so glad you said broad, broad instead of double broad. Well, it's BB, baby. Yeah, it is. It is. And these types of tippings for people who are really into this stuff and really want to have the wilder, the nib, the better, or the more expressive, the nib, the better. You need a platform to give to a nib grinder. And when you have this huge bulk of tipping on the end that coarse and broad broads have, then you are setting up for, like, a good bit of shaping to happen on those type of platforms. So this is a good perspective from Robert in thinking about this and how I can review this. So my whole question, ending question last week was how should I review this? How should I review 15 nibs? And what should be the way, what should be the questions I answer for people that are interested in hearing me talk or write about these things? So this is a good, good question. And it basically Robert's saying, like, why? Like, why would you buy an extra fine nib? Why would you buy a fine nib? And in the case of a coarse, why would you buy a coarse nib? Well, you can have a big broad signature. Or if you're really into this stuff, you now have a platform to have this big sword shape, sword tip, Naga Nata Togi or something like that, right? Where you're giving someone else the platform to do their best work. And that's what coarse and double broad would give you. So, yeah, I think that's great feedback and something to consider as I go forward in this project.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And Joe says, Why don't they just sell the nibs, Brad? P.S. The Estabrook adapter section fits the 912 perfectly. So at least I can use the 912 bodies of any of the dozen of available Estabrook vintage nibs that I have. Why don't they just sell the nibs, Brad?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is a short feedback that is so awesome. I have so many things to say about these two or three sentences of feedback that I am so excited that Joe sent this in. So I can't answer why Pilot refuses to sell swappable replacement nibs only because I have not asked them the question. That is now a question I will ask them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But I will say in Joe's original feedback, he did ask if you could ask them. But I took that out in case that was overstepping. But now you can ask them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's not. I will ask this question because the experiences I've had over the last five or ten years working with makers who have used platinum parts in their pens to make pens around basically have to go around Pilot's back to get inventory to make pens with their nibs. It's just something as a company they do not do. And my gut tells me that it's a control thing, right? They want to control the platform that their nibs are on, right? So any of the makers who at one point were acquiring vanishing point nib units and making pens around them, if they publicly advertised them, they would get a letter from Pilot and asking them to stop. I don't know what recourse Pilot would have, but it did not go well for the two or three people that I've talked to that have done this. So it's weird because Sailor does a little bit of this. Platinum I don't think does any of this either. So it's a weird situation. And I do think to help Joe out here, I am going to ask that question.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're not going to get a satisfactory answer, right? This is a lot of times why I don't ask the questions to large multinational corporations is because I already know the answer going into it, right? I can only beat my head against the wall so much. But maybe I'll get something. Maybe I'll get something. But I will ask this question.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it's really a control thing. And I mean that in a positive way as a brand, right? Like they want to ensure the final product is up to Pilot standards. And if someone buys a product with a Pilot nib in it that's not a Pilot pen and didn't come from Pilot, and then Pilot starts having to get feedback on these things, you know, things have been out of their control. Um, with those single nib units. So that's my guess. That's my gut feeling. So the second part of the question, or the second part, it was really just a comment. The Estabrook adapter section fits the 912 perfectly. That's cool. I had no idea. So, uh, that is a pretty neat swap. That is something, uh, that is a part that I have with one of my Estabrooks. And I have a 912, of course. So, uh, that is something I need to, uh, try out and swap. Because that's pretty interesting. I don't know that I would use that full time because I love the 912 nibs so much. But that is at least something fun to play around with. So good feedback from Joe and Robert and great questions. I also had at least two other emails directly to me offering up, um, ideas or suggestions on how to handle, you know, reviewing, you know, people chiming in saying, Hey, here's what I would look for, what I'm looking for from this whole huge batch of nibs. So I appreciate the feedback on that. So any feedback y'all have on this project, which I'll start working on when I get back, uh, from this little short trip, uh, in the next week or two and, uh, start figuring out how I want to do this. So, um, this is great. Keep it coming.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Great.