So Tell Us About Your Neponset

[Joshua J.]

Funny thing, I just bought three Ahabs after using a Neponset as my daily driver for the last six months. Not that I particularly like the Ahab, I just wanted more pens to play with.

 

In my opinion the Neponset is what the Ahab should have been.

The primary reason is that the Neponset separates the grip from the nib. If you get burping while the pen is in your pocket the worst case scenario is that there's some ink on the very front of the grip. Using the Ahab a few years ago I was constantly finding ink on the grip, I had to stop using it for that reason. After that I accidentally melted the Ahab trying to colour it with RIT die (hot water and this pen do not mix) and I didn't bother with Noodler's pens for a few years.

Surprisingly I have two Ahabs inked right now and the grips are still clean. We'll see how long it lasts.

 

For me the Neponset nib is just a nice wet music nib, and not a flex nib. Yes it can flex, but back in the day when Nathan first talked about it he described old school quality of flex, and that certainly hasn't translated into the product. If you want to add flex to your every day writing style then you're still going to need to heavily modify the nib.

 

As for the quality of the pen out of the box, I don't think it's any worse than a normal pen. When I started with fountain pens I was appalled at the consistency of Pelikan nibs (actually the only nib I bought that I couldn't get working was a Pelikan, one of the tines was twisted to give it irreparable baby bottom). Over the years I haven't heard anything better about Mont Blanc or any other company. Richard Binder didn't adjust every nib that passed through his hands for no reason.

 

Fit and finish on the rest of the Neponset is maybe a little bit behind the big companies, it's certainly no M600, but it is every bit as much a functional pen. After I tuned the nib for a little wetter flow with no pressure it's a very good writer. I just wish Nooldler's would make $20 version so that I could buy more of them, or at least give us the option of purchasing the music nib separately so that I can experiment on some.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Joshua J.

[WaskiSquirrel]

Mine writes just fine. The biggest thing I've found with it is that I don't have much use for this pen. It doesn't get inked up very often as a result.

[bbianchini]

I purchased the blue acrylic version in the second release of the pens. It wrote fine right out of the box and it does flex more than the Ahab. I love it and my only criticism would be that the nib should be fine and not the very full medium so that the line variation would be more exaggerated, I have been lucky with all of my Noodlers pens so far I have Nib Creeper two Ahabs a Konrad and the Neponset, I haven't had to adjust any of them. I have done some experimenting with the Ahabs inserting a standard #6 nib and I also put a stub nib in my Konrad (love it). So I'm not oppose to fiddling with the pens I've just have never had to work them over....Good luck with yours I'm sure with a little due diligence all of the Noodlers pens can be made to work.

[TeaHive]

I've been using my two Neponsets for awhile now, and love 'em. One nib worked flawlessly from the start with a medium-fine line that flexed out to the max, the other had some wonky tipping that wouldn't let the ink come down all the way to the tip--I could see it come down the tines just fine, and the feeds both worked when I was trading them around trying them with different nibs. So the tipping was definitely the issue.

 

I ground and smoothed both into stubs for fun. The one that worked from the start is now a GLORIOUS wet-writing, juicy, flexible stub of amazingness. The one that was wonky writes a bit drier--but works--without adding pressure. But trying to flex, eh... it doesn't behave. It'll drain the ink from the feed, then the ink has trouble getting back down into the tipping and it dries up for a moment or two. So it gets to be just a good ol' two-slit stub, though I've opted to use a two-tone Goulet 1.1mm stub in its place in my Bengal Tiger Neponset, because it makes for a gorgeous looking pen. The good music nib gets used in my John Mung, and the non-flexing music nib is mostly left aside as a spare until I can figure out how to get it smoothed in between the tines.

[dragondazd]

Hey guys,

 

Who's still using their neponset(s)?

 

I just got mine yesterday. I did a quick pen flush and it worked mostly successfully with Apache Sunset, but then I removed/reinserted the nib and switched to PR Orange Crush and performance changed dramatically (the one problem I had went away, and I got different problems lol).

 

I am kind of in love with the form factor so considering my options here. Anyone switch to a different Noodler's nib? Was that good/bad/ugly?

[WaskiSquirrel]

I'm still using mine. It's not my favorite pen pen but I do like it and pull it out every so often for specific types of writing. The biggest problem I have is that I just don't have a good use for this pen.

[Lelouch]

I have two, and am considering trying to pick up a third at the next pen show they're sold at (if they're there).

 

My first was a rebellion ripple from the first batch. That steel nib didn't like flexing (but still flexed better than the three other nibs Nathan gave me to try out at a show), and after more than a year I finally got it to the point where it is a velvet touch on paper that writes consistently and fairly wetly without being too wet.

 

My second is a John mung with the gold music nib from the Boston pen show in 2015, I absolutely love it. It does write on the wetter side but but its a tad less wet than my two swan 1500s. The nib is amazing with its smoothness and line variation.

 

I bought a black ebonite for a friend as a gift, and tested the pen out with heart of darkness and was amazed to find that the nib was almost as good as my gold one. It seems to have been from the latest version (the nib had Noodlers vertically on the center tine and a white insert into the section to force the nib into proper alignment and placement).

 

So I am thinking of getting the Shiloh (?) (yellow and pink/burgundy/red ripple) with the new nib and section at the next show.

[jmccarty3]

I sold mine a little over a year ago at the 2015 DC show, and replaced it with a Platinum 3776 Century with a music nib, which for me has been entirely satisfactory.

[JonB55198]

Would anyone be interested in selling one if their Neponsets used? If so, please PM me. I'm hoping to get a black ebonite. But I'd consider other colors.

[MRose]

Other than the Nib and Colors of the pen, what is the difference between the Noodler's Ahab and the Neponset???

 

Any examples of how they perform side to side?

[KKay]

They are closely related. The Neponset does not have the stinky resin that the Ahab does. They both use the same filling system, and that does have the stinky resin in both. However I don't notice it in the Neponset, especially when the barrel is screwed on. I find the nib on the Neponset to be very nice, especially after you've used it for a while. If you push the flex hard enough, you will have to use a quality paper, and even then some can't handle that much ink. Certain inks that never feather on the Ahab/Konrad, will possibly feather on the Neponset due to the much heavier flow. Trial and error is the only way you will know which work for you. I find the setting on the Neponset to be tricky. It takes a while to get it set. Now I use inks with that same type of flow, and don't adjust for every ink I have. I usually switch around with 5 colors or so, and don't go beyond that.

 

Both of these pens take tinkering to get them set right. The nib and feed of the Konrad is the same as the Ahab. The Konrad has a piston fill though. InkNeedLastForever is Nathan's You Tube channel.

[UqozTech]

I've been practicing calligraphy for over 25 years, mostly the Italic and Gothic hand with italic nibs. I started down the road of fountain pens in the late 90s but stopped because I felt like it was a very, very expensive habit to cultivate. Fast forward to now and I can't break-up with the love of a fine fountain pen.

 

Considering modern flex nibs I watched some demos of the Neponset and picked up 12071 Himalayan Acrylic Neponset for $75 on Ebay.

 

Out of the box, I inked it with Noodler's Kiowa Pecan. It is a super wet pen. When flexing it dumps a fair amount of ink. I tested the pen on heavy-weight, smooth Bristol (heavier than 90g) and did get some bleed. I'm right handed, and the tine farthest from me did not deliver ink well, leading to railroading.

 

After looking at the nib with a 40x jeweler's loop, I could see the tip is even and well-formed for each tine. Looking at the space between tines, I could see one tine is very tight and no light shines through it. At this point I started the work of tuning this nib to fix two things:

The rail-roading issue of the one tine.

Reduce the flow of ink.

First thing was heat setting the nib with the feed. (Youtube has several videos on the topic of heat-setting Noodler's pens.) I find that my faucet runs hot enough to hold the nib under hot water for 20 seconds and then pinched the nib to the feed.

 

This did not fix the ink flow issue. I pulled the nib and using needle nose pliers that I cover in duck tape, I gently begin to work from the base of the nib to the problem tine to create more space between the middle tine and the problem tine. This involves gently putting pressure on the shoulder of the nib to minutely open the tines up. Using a straight razor I slide it between the problem tine and the center tine as a finishing touch. Under the jeweler's loop the spacing now looked very even.

 

I then do a second attempt at the heat setting. This time after the 20 seconds under hot water, I pinch the nib to the ebonite feed very hard and hold for a solid 20 seconds. I set the ebonite feed very high on the nib. ( Tried to include pictures, but no jpeg or png pics would load without "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community" error message appearing.):

 

http://https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1502596005__neponset_nib_1.png

 

On Clairefontaine 90g paper the flow is now excellent. Still a wet pen, by any standard, but with much better control and the flex is perfect, without railroading. I did not find I had to press super hard to get flex.

 

It does take real elbow grease grease to unscrew the section from the ink chamber, but it can be unscrewed for filling with a eye dropper of ink syringe.

 

The pen is a beautiful color red and I like the weight and the length, but the top of the finial of the cap is off-center:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1502595925__neponset_cap_1.png

 

I enjoy this pen and will practice more with it, but I have to say for the price point I would recommend you only purchase this pen from an authorized dealer in person. That enables you to view the pen for clear production issues. I'm a patient person and understand the parts of fountain pens and how they work, enabling me to tune a Noodler's nib. However, I cannot recommend Noodler's more expensive pens ($50+) for a novice. Of the 5 Noodler's pens I've purchased (this being the most expensive) none of them have worked out of the box. All of them have required tuning to work for a consistent performance.

 

I'm further disappointed with the clear production issue with the cap. I purchased this pen instead of the Pilot Elabo (ebay $150-$170 metal body version), based on the price point and feel as if in the future I'll be buying the Elabo anyway, for the known quality and my previous experience with Pilot fountain pens.

 

I know this is a old thread, but I hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

U

[Guest jonathan7007]

Yes, old thread and I had visited a few months ago... I'm a serial Neponset user! I keep trying... I appreciate your post as it gives me the energy to tackle again the nib tune on my current Neponset.

 

I had one that wrote beautifully and I lost it - no idea what happened... I used to take it everywhere. Anyway... I am on my second try from Goulet to get a nib that works as smoothly and with as much character as the one I had. (All my Neponsets have been from the "New" series: white insert).

My handwriting really suits these nibs. I have several Ahabs and have pretty good success with them. I don't do "calligraphy' just write fast with strong downstrokes that show off the wider line with snap-back. Because I don't mind going quickly through the letters/words I love very wet pens. I fiddle with all of them.

 

My loupe shows no obvious tipping problem. It's a 10x view. I have tried gently changing by tiny amounts the relative "height" of the three tines to find a setting/configuration that will avoid complex railroading and allow the ink down to the tip of the nib.It will starve way too soon. I use a pointed round toothpick to offer a soft touch and very small contact point. I will examine more closely the space in the channels. I can't see any indication one slit is balkier than the other.

 

BTW, ink choice not making a difference so far. Diamine Antique Copper, PR Chocolat, PR Orange Crush, Noodler's Nightshade, Diamine Eclipse, maybe some others...

 

All suggestions welcome.

 

Jonathan

 

I'll research placing images in posts tomorrow and upload a shot of the ink-on-paper performance at this point.

Edited January 14, 2018 by jonathan7007