Editing The Pen Addict 667/transcript (section)

== Diagnosing Issues with Vintage Estabrook Nibs ==

* Next question comes in from Scott who says, I have a vintage Estabrook that writes like a dream at low angles and like a thumbtack at high angles. Well, there are steps that I should go through to diagnose the problem or alternatively, what is the problem and how do I fix it?
* What if it's not a problem? Yeah. And that's how the dip was designed. And because Estabrook has literally hundreds of nibs and it actually might be a feature. Now, Scott, you could have something technically wrong with the nib, right? Like if it's pulling, scratching, digging into the paper, you have a problem.
* So you can expect, inspect it. Like if you can, I don't know if you have like a small magnifying glass or some, any way to like look at it, see if the tines are two different lengths, right? So if the tines are two different lengths, it could just be like a manufacturing flaw. At a low angle, you could still get smooth writing, but when you raise it up, you're going to get that difference between those tines. So you can fix that. If you just Google like micro mesh smoothing and tuning for fountain pens, you'll find some videos. You'll have to buy like a little piece of micro mesh or something like that. And you can smooth out the tip of the nib. But like this, this specifically with Esther Brooks, like the vintage Esther Brooks, I like, I question, like, it could be, it could be on purpose because they design a bunch of weird nibs. And, you know, with that particular, if you said, if you said, Hey, I've got a Parker Vacumatic that does this, you know, I'm probably leaning towards there's definitively a problem. This is probably like a coin flip. It might be on purpose.
* This one comes in from Rob who says, what's the word for the impatience you have while waiting for ink to flow from a new cartridge down to the nib? I think of this question as I scribble and shake waiting for my decimal to start writing again. Do you do this? Do you like shake? And like, what do you do? I don't get, I don't get violent with it. Like I'll, I'll shake and prime it a little bit. And then if it doesn't write right away, I'll just stand it vertically and then just go do something else like nib down, nib down. I should say nib down because it vertical could be the other way too. I'll just stand it dim down, come back and check and you should be good to go. So yeah, the, the word I, I would use is I can't say it on this podcast, but it rhymes with frustration. It's just a different, like, kind of like beginning of the word.
* Um, the good news is pilot is usually like the quickest starters. And if your decimal is not writing for a length of time, you need to take it apart and clean it. Um, pilot is really, really one of the quickest starters that I've used in, in just popping in a new cartridge and, um, getting it to write. So if you're, if it's continually a problem, I would definitely try to clean it and start over. Yeah. Um, and next question comes in from listener Jeremy. That's it. I was going to say Rob again, though. It's Jeremy in the past five years. I have run the course of sub $30 pens from around the world, as well as your top five beginner fountain pens. Last year, I decided to step it up and purchased a $60 Conklin durograph. While it was more aesthetically pleasing than my platinum preppy, the writing experience wasn't any better. This year, my budget is $150, excluding tax and shipping. Is there a pen in this price range that will produce the wow factor I had when I first tried King Charles's favorite pilot varsity? So I have a little bit of a question here for Jeremy. And it comes from saying that the writing experience wasn't any better. And that's a challenge, right? Because the most experienced people that listen to this show are going to sit here and say, and I'm going to sit here and say this, that the platinum preppy for $5 writes as good as any fountain pen I own.
* Right? So what are you wishing for from a new pen? Right? You can get a different writing experience than the preppy. Right? You could get a Pilot Falcon nib, and it's got this kind of weird kind of bouncing flex.
* But like, what are you trying to solve for? Right? If your only reason is the pure writing experience, a TWSBI Eco is going to be as good as whatever, I don't know, $200 pen you want to buy. Until you start getting up into like some of the gold nibs, they're going to feel a little bit different. Are you, how do you quantify that the writing experience is better though? Right? So, again, this is just me being me about this question. Taking that like, like real difference in just the writing into the overall experience category, which is how I will get to answering this question, you're going to start looking at something like a Leonardo. Leonardo Momento Zero, something like that, that is very aesthetically pleasing, very beautifully made. The quality of craftsmanship is noticeably different than something like a Platinum Preppy or even a Conklin Durograph.
* And then the nib is going to be really, really great. Right? It's, is the nib of $150 pen going to transform the writing experience from a $10 pen? Like, I'd be lying if I said for sure that's going to happen. Right? Right?
* So, it's, you got to think about this in like the totality. What is, am I going to get this enjoyment from spending more money on a pen? What are the parts of this I'm going to enjoy along with the writing experience? Beautiful material that speaks to me. You know, quality craftsmanship of the barrel. Like, it, you know, it's got a great, you know, all the threading's great and, you know, all the, the fit of the pen is great. And it's just like, it feels like a quality writing instrument in your hand.
* But yeah, like it's, it's, if I'm going to, I, I'm just, I'm getting a little bit stuck on the writing experience wasn't any better. Right? That's a hard one for me to get past for some reason. Um, because I will agree with that. Like, you know, that's why people, you know, don't need to spend a lot of money on pens. If like the writing experience is the first thing, it's a very, it's a much more narrow window. Right? I can talk you into like a platinum 3776. You're going to get like a different writing experience there with a gold nib, right? It's going to feel different. Or I could talk to you into like a pilot double broad nib. That's going to be pretty cool to write with.
* Um, you know, we could talk about flex nibs and, or Falcons and FA nibs from pilot. And like, that's going to change your writing experience. But most of the pens are going to be a great writing experience. But the differentiation of the writing experience between an inexpensive pen and a very expensive pen is, is a little bit narrower. You know, that's a, that's like a little bit of a narrower concept. If, and I'm very rambling on this, but like, I'm trying to explain something that's a very tactile thing, um, verbally, and it's, I don't know how well it's going, but I hope that makes sense. But, um, yeah, just, I just wondered, like set your expectations accordingly. Right? Last question comes from Ben who says, I recently got myself a Rotofaden Tasha bag lighter, which is the A5 size and was wondering if you have notebook recommendations. I'm currently using MD paper, but find it difficult with the dotted type in the UK and would like to try others. Dot grid, fountain pen friendly with minimal covers seem surprisingly hard to buy, especially if you're trying to swear off Amazon. Have you tried the Rotofaden, uh, notebooks Ben? Uh, because when I've tried those in the past, they've been very good for fountain pens. And so the challenge that Ben is having is the way the Rotofaden system is. You have these prongs that fit in thinner notebooks, right? Let's just take the, he's using the A5 size. So you need like the thinner. If you're going to use multiple notebooks, um, I guess you could use one larger notebook, like an MD. If you want to use a larger notebook, um, I think life or Kikuyo.
* Kikuyo makes some thinner A5 notebooks too. So I'd look at Kikuyo, see what you can get for dots there. I'm not sure off the top of my head. Life, you might be able to get dots.
* Um, so I would look at those two brands. I don't know outside of like trying Rotofaden's own notebooks. Um, the MD would is probably one of my best choices. Um, yeah, A5 soft bound thin notebooks that fit the system are few and far between. So check out Kikuyo and then life, maybe look at some of their thicker notebooks. Um, and you might be able to get dots. I'm not sure on that though. I know I'm questioning myself. So those are the brands I would look at and, um, see what you can come up with there. But, uh, I really like the MD if you can figure out a way to get it. Like if you're in the UK, you know, probably, you know, Colt pens and there, there's several retailers in the UK and Europe that should have some dotted versions of MD that you should be able to take care of. If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on a future episode of the show, just go to penaddictfeedback.com. That's where you can also send in your follow-up. I can't think of any reason that you'd have to send in any follow-up, uh, about this week's episode. No reason at all. Nope. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com, and you can find Brad streaming, uh, over at twitch.tv slash penaddict three times a week. Uh, you can find me here on Relay. Go to relay.fm. You can find more of our shows and you can find the products that I work on over at Cortex Brand. Thank you to the St. Louis Pen Show and Enigma Stationery for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]