Editing The Pen Addict 204/transcript (section)

== Pilot ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's amazing. All right, Brad, what you got? The first two were easy, like no thought. And actually number one is easy. Number one is Pilot.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They fit my aesthetic perfectly. They fit, um, my style, the way I like to use pens, the different filling systems, the big converters, um, that they do a demonstrator look in almost everything that they do, which I enjoy. But what really always keeps me coming back to Pilot is I know for a fact that I'm going to get a spot on nib, no matter if I'm going with a steel nib pen or going with a gold nib pen from Pilot. I don't know that I've ever had an issue with them, um, from a, from a nib standpoint, straight out the box. They're always spot on. So they do a great quality manufacturing, great QC leaving the factories and they're great. What's also cool about Pilot is that when you start getting, making that transition from steel nibs, you want to try gold nibs. So their price points are wonderful. Like you can get a really good quality pilot pen with a gold nib in some cases for under a hundred dollars. If you shop around, um, definitely pretty much everything in their gold nib lineup is between a hundred and $200. Even like the custom heritage nine 12, which just started becoming available in the U S, which is kind of their, their larger size. That's it's like the, um, the pro gear, the standard pro gear from sailor, that size of pen, it's a really good quality pen, really good value, really good gold nib. And they have lots of different options. Like they have the, um, the Falcon nibs, which gives you a little bit of flex and they have stub nibs and they do a lot of cool things. So I like the variation. I like the quality. I like their fine nib is probably like my number one stock nib to get, um, to fit my writing style. It always writes wonderfully. So I'm a huge fan of Pilot also because like I mentioned earlier, I just love the history of the company and the vintage designs that they did. And that plays in a lot to what I'm currently using. Um, you know, knowing that I've, this is the company that made all these cool things before and I have some of those cool things and now I have some of their modern pens and I don't know, it just kind of all, all, uh, kind of goes together. That's my favorite brand. Second is sailor for a lot of the reasons that you discussed, Myke, even though you only have one, they, you can see it in them that they just do cool stuff. Like Pilot is generally straightforward. They make all these products, they make really cool colors right out the gate. And then that's kind of what they do. And then every year they'll introduce the new ones. Sailor does that. And then they just double that with all kinds of random stuff that they do. Interesting colors, um, crazy materials, um, great designs. You know, they work with a lot of individual companies. Like we were talking about aesthetic Bay or, you know, like I'm a fan of bung box and they do custom designs for all these different shops. And that's where you can really get in trouble with their, with your wallet. I'm trying to find all these different sailors that, um, have all these great colors and designs that you can only get at this one store. And, um, they, they're just fabulous looking. They have a huge range of nib options, which you'll see this in my list. This is why I like end up going with certain brands. They do a ton of different stock nib options. And then they have a whole lineup of specialty nib options where you can, you know, you can get all kinds of crazy things built into the nib. Um, you know, you gotta pay for it, of course, but just out of their stock nibs, they do a hard fine nib, which is one of my favorite nibs. And I've been able to pick two of them up because people don't like them. People purchase the hard fine nib, think they're going to like them. They don't like how firm the nib is and how fine it, it writes. Both of my pro gears have hard fine nibs.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Hard fine nib sounds like my idea of hell.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, me too.

'''Tiff Arment:''' It sounds like the worst.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's totally a nail and it's awesome because it's so smooth, but it's nail hard. And both of mine, both of my pro gears have a hard fine nib and both of them are secondhand because the people who bought them didn't like them. So if you have hard fine nibs to sell and you're having a hard time, I'm your guy. It's like a great aftermarket that you have eaten up.

'''Tiff Arment:''' Send all the wet sloppy broads my way. Yep. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So my orange pro gear has a hard fine and then my imperial black has a hard fine nib and both of those I bought used because the people didn't like the hard fine and they wanted to go another route. So after pilot and sailor, it got really, really hard for me. I didn't know what I was going to pick for number three. And the reason you brought this article up was because Joe picked Delta for his third pin and it didn't so much surprise me as much as made me realize I have never used a Delta pin, maybe other than for a second in passing, like at a pin show. It's just never entered my brain. They make this really cool orange material that they're kind of known for. I don't know why I don't have it being a fan of orange that I am. I should have a Delta pin and I just never have. I'm going to go see Joe here in about a month. I'm going to be up in his neck of the woods. So I'm going to have to try his Deltas out and I'll report back. But it was hard for me to pick a third. I didn't know, you know, like Nakaya would be the easy answer.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it felt weird putting that on the list and I'm not sure why. Um, Edison was a consideration, um, just because I really like what, what Brian does and the materials he used in the, and how he kind of steps out when making filling systems and things like that. But in the end I went with Franklin Kristoff and I think they just kind of have this coolness factor that works for me. I like that they experiment with colors and that they experiment with barrel shapes and designs. I like the fact that I can get extreme nibs like Masayama needlepoint or a fine cursive italic that you can't get anywhere else. Um, I like the fact that the materials and the style that they design with are easy to eyedropper. You can eyedropper pretty much any of their pens, at least all the ones that I have. Um, they're just a fun brand. I, I like, they, they give me an enjoyment to use when I'm using a Franklin Kristoff. I'm using the model 45 that I picked up in Chicago today for my show notes is this bright blue pen. It's just fun to use. And that goes, you know, obviously a long way in what pen you're going to reach for on your desk. You know, does it give me enjoyment when I write with it? Well, yeah, I love looking at it. Um, I love using it. Um, I love, you know, playing with different inks and, you know, using the silicone grease to, to eyedropper, the pens up and swapping the nibs out between all, all the different ones that I have. I just have fun using the brand and that says a lot, I think. And so that was, uh, that ended up being my number three and I'm actually pretty happy with that choice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's weird because like, it's obvious, but not, you know, like I totally could see why you was like, I don't, I don't get this. Cause it's like, they're an obvious choice, but they weren't one that would have jumped straight to my head either. And I don't know why that is. Maybe it's cause they knew, uh, I'm not sure.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So when I was, I was writing that article or writing that, you know, uh, the newsletter I, I literally, I was like, I want to respond to this. I want to come up with my own top three, one and two were easy. I literally went and stood at my desk, got all my pens out and looked at everything. It's like, what am I going to pick for number three? And it came, it came clear pretty quickly, but it wasn't something that I thought of just like sitting down. Okay. This is the easy choice for number three. But once I looked at everything and saw all the pens that like I have the most fun with, it was an easy choice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So that's it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's it. So, um, we'll see, you know, number three could be that rotating spot. I think one and two are pretty solid. Um, number three could be like the, the, the rotating spot in and out. But, uh, I mean, I always have something Franklin Kristoff inked up and, uh, I think that says a lot because I try not to ink up too many pens at once.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I didn't, um, order mine, you know, like one, two, three, but I think roturing would maybe be the one that would swap out just as like, depending on how much I'm using mechanical pencils or not, you know? Um, because I've found a couple of, I've at least got one fountain pen now that I can use about it making a ton of sound when I'm recording. Cause that's one thing. Like I don't like taking caps on and off, but the, uh, M90, it, it works perfectly fine uncapped. You can just leave it on the desk for a while and pick it up and it just starts writing again. Um, so I've been using that quite a bit actually. And also it's nice and small and it's got a good, uh, I leave it posted and then the clip stops me from rolling away. So that's doing a good job for me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Cool. Yeah. I think that's good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. But we have one last thing we want to get to this week, which we've been promising and you did promise that it would happen. And so we're doing it on the show, which is announcing the, uh, Kickstarter winners that we have. We have a few things to give away. Um, so Brad, do you want to go through this?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure. So with, um, with our Kickstarter for the Atlanta pen show, we always like to do a few extra things for our backers, um, you know, in the former giveaways and we did the giveaways, you know, for people who made it to the show and, you know, everyone that backed us, you know, we want them to be involved in it too. Um, so we have three $100 pen chelee gift certificates that we're going to give away. We have three of the Joey Feldman prints from the pen addict episode 200. Um, the, the posters that we, we saw there, you know, signed stamped by Joey, um, Myke, Anna, and I also signed them. So we have three of those to give away. And then we have the well-appointed desk, uh, gift pack that we, that Anna gave away at the show. Um, she's doing one for all the online, um, backers too. And I pulled all the winners and actually a lot of these people were at the show too, but didn't win there. So, um, so, but you know, everyone, everyone who backed the, the, um, Kickstarter was eligible for these giveaways. So I pulled out the winners and the three pen chalet gift card winners are Caleb Thompson, Ed Dale, and John Martinez. The three print winners are Andrew Baldwin, Michael Healy, and Sarah Reed. And the well-appointed desk set winner is Kyle Sanders, better known as father Kyle. So congratulations to all of y'all. I will put this all in the Kickstarter. So you don't have to remember this or just some of these may, some people may not even listen to the end of this episode, but I'm sure they will to, to hear their name, but I'll be putting all this in the Kickstarter this afternoon to send out to everyone. So everyone knows who won what, and then we'll, we'll arrange all the delivery and shipping for you. So thanks to everyone who, who backed us.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Thank you so much. And this officially draws the Kickstarter to a close, right? Yes. Until next year.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. We are, we are closing this baby out and, uh, it was awesome.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. And same for this episode, Tiff. Thank you so much for joining us. This will not be your first appearance. Um, we will look forward to seeing just how far you get into this.

'''Tiff Arment:''' I don't think it's going to take very long. It's quite frightening. Yeah. I'm on a, I'm on a fast highway here.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I'll race you to a Nakaya.

'''Tiff Arment:''' Yeah. I want to thank everybody who, um, taught me everything that I know now in the last month that I've taken and run with. So thanks for all those awesome people I met at the pen show that taught me all the things that now is leading to this horrible habit. Well, horribly wonderful habit.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And Tiff is on Twitter. She is Tiffany Arment, right? You're Tiffany Arment on Twitter, right? Not just Tiff.

'''Tiff Arment:''' Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't just get the Tiff, but yeah, you can find me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And you host top four on Relay FM with Marco Arment. It's a great show. It's one of my favorite podcasts. If you've not listened to top four, you need to fix this. It's just fantastic. So go and listen to that. I'll have a link in the show notes. If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com and knock.co. We've got some knock news coming.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Uh, hopefully in, by the end of the month. Yeah. Hopefully we'll have it sorted out by then. Yes. We'll have plenty of, plenty of news on the, on the horizon.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And we have a bunch of great guests lined up on the show that Brad has been working on. And I've heard rumors of a, of a, of a little invasion going on. We'll talk about that soon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're going to announce that ahead of time. So, uh, people can, can get involved and ask, ask questions. Uh, but it's a, it's a cool little thing we're going to do. If you've been following me on Twitter, you've probably, you've probably seen some of it. So, uh, get your questions ready. We'll, we'll announce that next week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um, and you can also follow Brad. On Twitter, he is at Dowdyism and he is Pen Addict on Instagram. Um, I am at iMike, I-M-Y-K-E, uh, everywhere you want to find me. Thanks again to Harry's and Pen Chalet for sponsoring this week's show. Most of all, thank you for listening as always. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, guys. Goodbye, guys. Goodbye, guys.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]