Editing The Pen Addict 157/transcript (section)

== Custom Pens ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Awesome. Well, let's hit a sponsor, Myke, because we're going to talk about custom pens today. We've had some people over the past few months wanting to know more about buying customized fountain pens or getting a fountain pen made, so we're going to delve into that a little bit.

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'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, so this is definitely a hide your wallets episode, as the chat room has started to shout as soon as I said what we're going to talk about. So is your wallet properly taken care of, Myke? Nope. Nope. Nope. Yeah, mine's not either as I was researching this post. But basically, I wanted to talk about getting a pen maker to make a pen specifically for you. You know, not a stock item, fountain pen, not something, you know, you just order from a big manufacturer like Pilot or Sailor. You know, they do some fancy stuff and some high-end stuff, but it's not necessarily custom. It's not something that you're personally involved in picking all the parts for and having a conversation with the person who will actually physically be making your pen and things like that. So I wanted to talk about a few companies that do that. What my experiences have been with doing that, what some of the pros are, what some of the cons are, and what are, you know, some of the things you can expect as you're going through this whole process. So the first question that always comes up is, why would you do this? Why would anyone buy a custom fountain pen? I can go buy a Twisby that I'll be super happy with for $50, or I can buy a Lamy 2000 for $140, and that's all the pen I will ever need. And I can't argue with that. I mean, that's absolutely valid points. But when you develop a problem like myself and like other listeners of this podcast, and I feel that Ryan, whose email we just read, is heading down this path eventually, you just start exploring more. And you realize, okay, my Lamy Safari can do this. But what if I had a pen that was kind of like it and could do this? And is there something available on the market that can meet those criteria that fits me specifically? And, you know, you shop around. You look at all these different brands. Well, can Pelican do this exact thing that I want? No, I don't really see that. Can Pilot offer up this perfect pen that fits my hand perfectly and my style of writing perfectly? Eh, maybe not. So then you start looking into custom things. And it's really about the customization when you're getting into these pens. You're really looking for something that is going to fit not just your handwriting style and the type of writing that you like to do, be it cursive or print or italic or calligraphy or having a crazy flex nib. But it's going to fit your personality too. I mean, it's really twofold. These this type of experience. It's to fit your writing style and to fit you as a person. What's your aesthetic choices that appeal to you? You know, what's the feel in the hand that you like when you have a fountain pen? You know, is there something specific that you need done to the nib that you can never get off a stock nib and things like that? So the customization is really first and foremost in why people go the custom pen route. It also allows you as the customer to partake in the design of the pen. So that's part of the experience when you're dealing with a bunch of these companies that I'm going to talk about in a minute. You're communicating directly with the person that's going to make your pen. They can tell you based on information you give them. You could even send them a handwriting video. You can send them handwriting samples. They're able to communicate what's going to work for you. What they will able they're able to translate what you're saying in words into design.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And. Able to collaborate with you to make something really, really great. That'll fit you well.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And also when you're doing this, you know, you're getting a pen that's really unique to you. You know, most of these manufacturers, you know, it's not going to be the same pen churned out twice. It's going to be something that, you know, is really.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Perfectly fit, tuned, the colors, the style, the shape, everything is really going to be fit to you. And that gives that pen a personality and a story. And that's that's what I like a lot about getting a custom pen. It's not just that. Hey, I've got this pen that's great. A great writer. I've now got a unique design that I was part of building. And it not only fits my personality, the pen has personality that when other people see it who are interested in fountain pens and are looking at these types of things, you know, they are, you know, interested in how you got it done and what's so great about it. And you have this story and this whole conversation around these pens.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that's kind of. In a nutshell, the pros of it. There is a downside to custom pens. Number one, and first and foremost, is the price. You're not going to get into anything where you're going to get to pick and choose the pieces, parts, design, shape, colors for probably less than $200, probably $250. It's just a fact. These are not mass manufacturers who are making these pens. It's time consuming work. The materials cost, you know, the materials cost, you know, a decent amount.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The labor to get something very precise like this costs. And it's just not. If you're going into this thinking you can get a custom pen for $100, it's not going to happen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And if you can find one for that price, it's probably not worth the $100.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's exactly right. It's it's in my experience. It's definitely been a get what you pay for thing. But there is a bit there's a baseline. You know, if. You know, if you're not. I say it's definitely over $200 really to probably get into something. Now, there's other options. You can you can get something close. And we'll talk about that. But, you know, price is definitely a drawback. So it's not for everybody as far as price go goes. One of my personal cons about custom pens are the nibs. Most of. The vendors that I've seen. Use some type of generic nib, which I'm not really a fan of, like Brian Edison, who we'll talk about first. He's first in the lineup because I have the most expensive. I mean, Brian Gray with Edison. God, I do that all the time. He uses Joe O nibs, which is actually a very popular nib line for. Other manufacturers to use in their pens like Twisby uses those pens. Those are actually I consider a very good nib. There's lots of other nibs. I just don't know enough about. And they're awfully generic looking.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, you can probably talk to these vendors and get things made. Like if you have some extra nibs like I do laying around. Like if I had a sailor or a pilot nib, I could probably get something made around that nib. But that's something to consider. The nibs generally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Just from an aesthetic standpoint. I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about aesthetically or generally not pleasing to me when I look at all these sites. And right there along with price as the con. Another big con for a lot of people is the time it takes. This is not a quick process. Anyone who's manufacturing custom pens probably has more than just your order to manufacture. And you're probably looking at a minimum of three months. And that's probably gracious. It's probably going to be like in the three to six months range. And then there's some vendors that are even longer than that. Even over a year. Which we're going to talk about going down. So anything I need to add there for kind of on the pros and cons, Myke? You've gone through this experience once with Edison Pen Company? Or have you done it more than once?