Montegrappa Extra Otto Shiny Lines: Review Of A Christmas Pen

[Uncial]

My little scaredy cat seems to be spinning a web.

[fpupulin]

[...] I love that you use a grail pen pen like this mainly for witing and practicing beautiful scipt and lettering, whereas personally I intensively use my favourite pens at work and at home, for notes, letters, postcards and journals. Whenever I practice on fonts, calligraphy, handwriting and such, that's when I mostly use cheaper pens like a TWSBI with a 1.1 mm stub.

 

[...] My favourite pens are the ones that make me forget about the pen, i.e. the pen is a silent conduit between brain and paper which doesn't in any way distract me from my writing. The best pens, to me, are the ones that take the pen out of the equation, it's there, it's perfect, it's a given, now what I am going to do wth it..? [...]

 

Sorry for the poor phone pic...

Edited January 12, 2019 by fpupulin

[fpupulin]

My little scaredy cat seems to be spinning a web.

 

 

 

You know, uncial, with those waves and that hyppocampus, ... cats do not like water!

 

Congratulations for your fantastic new pen!

 

Do not you love the perfect size? Can you feel how substantial and perfect is the weight? And that oversized nib? Is it not a beauty?

[Uncial]

It is very finely balanced and a beautiful size that makes it extremely comfortable...but perhaps largely for men. Smaller hands might struggle with the girth. I love it. There aren't a lot of reviews of the Extra type models so I really wasn't sure what to expect. I had some idea because I'd held the ballpoint version of the Bamboo and was surprised at how large it was. The nib is a beauty. The flow and smoothness is excellent.

[Ceelo]

Uncial a most clever photo, but you must indulge us with a few more. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the functionality of the pen and comfort. I too find it a well balanced pen that makes it easy to write with for long periods, even with a relatively hefty weight.

 

fpupulin another wonderful photo with another example of your wonderful handwriting. I was somewhat inspired by your post and so inked up my Shiny Lines Extra as part of my rotation. A quick sample is below but please, any handwriting after the above photos are merely chicken scratchings to be decoded.

 

 

And a view of my 'rotation' at present on my writing desk, minus my daily use Lamy 2000 in black amber with a lovely OM nib.

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by CeeElle

[TheDutchGuy]

Thanks so much for that wonderful handwritten response, fpupulin! It really looks you found a soulmate with this pen.

[fpupulin]

fpupulin another wonderful photo with another example of your wonderful handwriting. I was somewhat inspired by your post and so inked up my Shiny Lines Extra as part of my rotation. A quick sample is below but please, any handwriting after the above photos are merely chicken scratchings to be decoded.

 

 

And a view of my 'rotation' at present on my writing desk, minus my daily use Lamy 2000 in black amber with a lovely OM nib.

 

 

 

Dear pen pal, your posts are a treat, for the the beautiful pens, the smooth lighting of your excellent photography, and because your reactions remind me a lot of mines ...

 

As soon as another member of the community publishes a photograph of an equal or even similar pen, to one we own, we immediately take the urge to remove it from the pen box and put it to work with a new ink, to turn it over between your fingers, to admire it live in all its splendor ...

It is the beauty of our community united by a same passion!

Thank you, dear CeeElle, to share with us your passion and bring in our forum your thoughts and the beautiful images of your beautiful pens.

 

I played a bit with my Otto Shiny Lines and a new ink. I had read several reviews of the Stone Grey by Graf von Faber-Castell, almost all (not to say all) rather negative ... But I had the impression that that neutral, unsaturated, light grey, could really like me. So, faithful to the family motto, "ubi omnes ego non" (where everyone, not me; if nobody likes it, it must please me ...), I visited a Faber-Castell boutique and bought a bottle of grey ink!

 

I must confess that I like very much the Faber-Castell ink bottle. It is simple and elegant, and it is very stable on the desk. With its 70 ml of ink, making a few figures, it even turns out to be a rather inexpensive ink. Olive Green has become the default ink of my Montegrappa Extra Black Bamboo, and the Deep Sea Green lives almost permanently in my Montblanc Solitaire 146 Pinstripe. In the boutique I put the finger in the Hazelnut Brown, it seemed to me a beautiful color, and I could not resist bringing a bottle home... But let's go back to Stone Grey.

 

I like it. I like it a lot. I checked it with my Extra Otto on off-white paper (Fabriano Ingres) and on a quite bright white paper (Fabriano Grifo), both laid papers. It behaves splendidly!

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it is not the exact nuance of grey of the Extra Otto. The grey of the pen is just a bit more bluish, a bit more greenish... If you want the exact tone, you have to use the Diamine Grey, it seems to drain out the color directly from the body of the Shiny Lines. But not ever you want to have the exact tone...

 

Here is a direct comparison between the Diamine (on the left) and the Graf von Faber-Castell (right). I like them both, but I will continue playing with the Stone Grey for a few weeks...

 

 

[TheDutchGuy]

I could look at the photos in this thread all day. Very inspiring.

[fpupulin]

[como]

Thanks for sharing your review. The cap band and nib design on Extra Otto simply look stunning!

[hoppenstedt]

@fpupulin: very big congratulation for this beautiful and everlasting pen!

I am just about to receive one for myself and look very much forward to getting it from the postman!

 

Thank you for your deep review and sooo beautiful pictures.

It makes the waiting time more bearable...

[fpupulin]

@fpupulin: very big congratulation for this beautiful and everlasting pen!

I am just about to receive one for myself and look very much forward to getting it from the postman!

 

Thank you for your deep review and sooo beautiful pictures.

It makes the waiting time more bearable...

Waiting a pen like the Montegrappa Extra Otto is a sweet wait...

 

You will not be disappointed. The Shiny Lines celluloid is simply spectacular.

 

Whilst the “damascus” facets can not compete with the extremely deep nuances of the Omas Arco, the “lined” facets are so much more beautiful...

[fpupulin]

I am just about to receive one for myself and look very much forward to getting it from the postman!

 

Ah, and do not forget to post some shot of your pen as you will receive it. We are all angry of photos!

[hoppenstedt]

Hey there. Just some pictures. Enjoy.

[fpupulin]

[hoppenstedt]

Thanks a lot for your written words.

Mine is a B (Broad) nib.

[Ceelo]

So many lovely photo's of the shiny lines Otto, I am in heaven! Congrats on the new pen hoppenstedt.

 

Will post some photo's of a new Otto joining my existing Lapis Blue in the coming month ahead, perhaps I will start a new topic. I am trying to be patient as it undergoes a nib swap at the factory, but alas, it is still difficult. I too went for a stub nib to mix things up a little, inspired by fpupulin, so keep the photo's coming

[fpupulin]

Hey there. Just some pictures. Enjoy.

 

[fpupulin]

So many lovely photo's of the shiny lines Otto, I am in heaven! Congrats on the new pen hoppenstedt.

 

Will post some photo's of a new Otto joining my existing Lapis Blue in the coming month ahead, perhaps I will start a new topic. I am trying to be patient as it undergoes a nib swap at the factory, but alas, it is still difficult. I too went for a stub nib to mix things up a little, inspired by fpupulin, so keep the photo's coming

 

[georges zaslavsky]

Very nice version of the extra , congrats