Platinum Maestro #3776 with UEF nib

January 22, 2010

I needed a pen for writing Ancient Greek with its many tiny accents on 6mm lines and that meant a very fine nib. Advice from FPN members suggested a Waverly XXF nib from Richard Binder for my Pelikan M200 (which I may still try) or a fine Japanese nib. I was attracted to the Platinum because it seems to be the least common of the big three outside Japan and this pen was advertised as a writers’ pen - designed for writers. The 3776 with UEF nib hasn’t been reviewed on FPN, so here is my attempt at a review.

First Impressions: the packaging is classy, a roomy box lined with a soft suede-feel material and a selection of extras in plastic envelopes - converter, cartridge and a little adapter for international cartridges. The pen is light and medium-sized in a classical torpedo shape, 118mm uncapped, 137mm capped and 148mm posted. It is burgundy in ABS resin - it’s a light burgundy colour, close to an old English Duofold from the fifties that I have. There are three gold bands - a clip band near the top of the cap, a broad incised band at the bottom of the cap and a narrow band at the bottom of the barrel to balance, suggesting a blind cap that isn’t there. The gold says serious, but it isn’t trying to impress too much. Not quite as boldly functional as the Pelikan M200, not as designed as the Lamy 2000. The clip is strong and convincing.

The cap screws off to reveal a large gold nib, clearly the focus of the design. It is significantly larger than the Pelikan nib and it makes the barrel look a little short. But it does look like a writer’s pen. The resin is not as warm as the Pelikan acrylic, not as solid -feeling as the Lamy makrolon, but it is good enough. This isn’t a pen for putting on display but it isn’t ugly either.

So how does it write? The nib is super-fine. The only pen I could compare it with is my wife’s jealously-guarded Sailor Chalana EF which is very similar. It is finer than my Pilot 2As and Elite which have EF nibs, and about three sizes finer than the Pelikan and Lamy EFs. It is toothy. I have been writing on cheap paper - school notebooks and photocopy paper and it gives feedback. It’s not unpleasant and it feels right for my purpose. The nib is stiff but the tines will separate a little under pressure - not that I will ever subject them to any pressure. It writes reliably with a weightless hand. It starts up perfectly every time, there is no skipping, variation in flow or nib creep. Maybe such a nib can be buttery smooth but I am not writing for a sensuous experience. It feels a little smoother at a lower writing angle. There is good ink flow at every angle, and writing on the side and back of the nib. After leaving it uncapped for five minutes there is a slight hesitation on the first stroke, then it writes. If it is capped it starts perfectly every time. You can write as fast as you like. It feels like a forgiving, robust pen.

The cap posts reliably but you need to put it on with a little twist to get a good grip. The gold band should prevent the cap from splitting but it is the cap threads that provide the grip and I think they could suffer in the long term.

I hold the pen high on the section and the threads don’t trouble me. It is comfortable in the hand, not quite as warm as the Pelikan or Lamy. It is easier to forget what you are writing with.

It takes cartridges or uses a converter. I am always more attracted to piston fillers with their large capacity, pens made to do a lot of writing, not just sign cheques (who does that these days?). But you don’t have maintenance problems with carts and converters. More refills but less to go wrong.

I drive a nine year old Toyota that has never failed me. I have tried the cheap Chinese pens, some of which were remarkably good value for a time, but none were nine year tools. I think for a hundred bucks or so I’ve now got that sort of pen.

Edited January 22, 2010 by MYU

January 22, 2010

Nice review but the photos are not showing.

January 22, 2010

Looks like the link is to your computer rather than a web page. You can try publishing it to an iPhoto gallery and then copying that link into the "insert image" box in the FPN message box. We want photo!

Doug

January 22, 2010

wow, that is one red pen, thanks for the great review

January 22, 2010

Snapfish employs techniques to block image linking. With Flickr, all you need to do is "right mouse click" an image and get the link properties, then reference this in your review. You do need to "link back" to Flickr, so that it abides by their policies (just use the general link to the Flickr image view).

I'll update the images in your review for you. Thanks for this interesting writeup of the Platinum 3776 with UEF nib!

Edited January 22, 2010 by MYU

January 23, 2010

http://xs.to/image-C994_4B5A8B98.jpg

http://xs.to/image-93DF_4B5A8D8D.jpg

http://xs.to/image-6B7A_4B5A8E03.jpg

Well, I'm having fun learning how to post images. Thanks for your help folks.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Rose Nibs

January 23, 2010

very interesting pen, thanks for sharing

January 23, 2010

A review is a great way to introduce yourself to the forum! Nicely done, too.

I have the Sailor Saibi Togi nib, which is another extremely fine nib, so I was interested to read your opinion of the Platinum. If you'd be so kind as to post a writing sample, that would be appreciated.

I don't find ink capacity to be much of an issue with these, as they don't lay down much ink: the converters last quite well. I still prefer pistons with my more regulation nibs...

Edited January 23, 2010 by troglokev

January 23, 2010

Rose nibs, I'm glad you were able to figure out how to link to your images. However, please be aware that our image guideline for pen reviews recommends images with dimensions within 800x800px. Your new ones are 2048x1536px! The problem with this is that it puts a processing strain on the browser to resize the images, and not all browsers will do a good job of it. The file size is fine, however.

January 23, 2010

http://xs.to/image-519B_4B5B6F57.jpg

I hope these photos are a better size. Thank you for your help Myu and I apologize for my ignorance.

This is what I am using the UEF nib for. troglokev. The lines are 6mm in a moleskine notebook. You can see a little of the next page showing through but there is no feathering and the letters are very clear.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Rose Nibs

January 23, 2010

Thanks for the sample, Rose Nibs. A writing sample is very helpful to potential users of a pen. If you check out the Saibi Togi review, you may observe me learning this the hard way...