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MarkInLondon
October 23rd, 2017, 01:42 PM
This is my first Visconti, and I must say that the nib is very noisy. I hear it on YouTube videos as well. Is this only on the fine nib? Is the Medium noisy too? I picked the fine nib only because I read that it was wet and and wide, like a medium, but I'd be lying if I said that I love it. I'm thinking about buying a new medium (assuming that it's not noisy) one and selling the fine. I love everything else about the pen. :)

Any comments?

ambimom
October 23rd, 2017, 02:29 PM
I have a Visconti Rembrandt with medium nib. Have to say, it's pretty quiet. The nib was well tuned out of the box. Perhaps your F needs a bit of tuning?

MarkInLondon
October 23rd, 2017, 03:46 PM
Would a tuner need to be familiar with Visconti nibs? And... I’m in the UK. Perhaps I should call the shop I got it from,


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mulrich
October 23rd, 2017, 03:56 PM
What do you mean by noisy? I can think of two types of pen-related sounds: singing nibs (nib tines rubbing together) and writing feedback (nib-paper interaction). You might be able to adjust a singing nib so the tines aren't so close together. Writing feedback will depend a lot on the ink and paper (and the smoothness of the nib)

Does the pen write smoothly? And are you using a known paper/ink combination?

I have a few F Visconti nibs and never noticed them making much noise – maybe a little feedback sound but no more or less than what I've experienced with other F nibs. But, each pen/nib is an individual and will behave differently (just like children).

And I wouldn't trust the sounds heard on YouTube videos. Cameras seem to pick up writing feedback more readily than human ears. Even the smoothest nibs can be loud in videos.

And congrats on getting a great pen; hopefully you can figure out how to make it work more to your liking. The HS is one of my all-time favorite models.

MarkInLondon
October 23rd, 2017, 10:40 PM
I'm reasonably sure that I have a good ink/paper combo... it's Kon Peki on a Leuchturn 1917 notebook... I've been using fountain pens on them for years. It's just noisy, not like my silent Pilots or Parkers. I associate "scratchy" with a misaligned nip that scratches paper. This isn't scratchy. Instead, I hear it when I write, just as I might hear a pencil.

And I do love the pen, and though in hindsight I should have picked a medium nib, I must say that when I've seen writing samples of the medium and fine there doesn't seem to be much difference.

In any case, does anyone know a UK-based tuner?

ambimom
October 24th, 2017, 07:37 AM
You don't need to have a professional nib tuner. Nine times out of ten, simple adjustments are necessary, especially for a high quality pen such as Visconti. If you don't feel you want to, then by all means, return the pen and get a replacement. It will be cheaper than a nib meister. Though they are worth the investment! Here are some websites which outline how to do these simple adjustments. You will need good lighting, a loupe or magnifying glass. I use a 5-sided emery board and an ordinary brown paper grocery bag for smoothing and razor blade to "floss" tines but Goulet Pens sells a more "professional" nib tuning kit. The trick is to be GENTLE with all these efforts. You can ruin a pen very easily. I have and learned my lesson about gentleness the hard way (no pun intended)!

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/guide-to-fountain-pen-nibs-troubleshooting-tips-and-tricks/pt/777

https://www.nibs.com/blog/nibster-writes/smoothing-scratchy-nibs

Good luck!

Scooby921
October 26th, 2017, 11:41 AM
I'm reasonably sure that I have a good ink/paper combo... it's Kon Peki on a Leuchturn 1917 notebook... I've been using fountain pens on them for years. It's just noisy, not like my silent Pilots or Parkers. I associate "scratchy" with a misaligned nip that scratches paper. This isn't scratchy. Instead, I hear it when I write, just as I might hear a pencil.

And I do love the pen, and though in hindsight I should have picked a medium nib, I must say that when I've seen writing samples of the medium and fine there doesn't seem to be much difference.

In any case, does anyone know a UK-based tuner?
Is the Leuchtturm paper the only stuff you have? It'll be a few days before I'm home from a business trip, but I'll try to remember to take my HS Bronze XF to the Leuchtturm pad that I have and report back on sound. Maybe the paper has a rougher surface and more interaction with the nib.

Matter of opinion, but for what it's worth I find Leuchtturm paper to be garbage for fountain pens. The bleed and show-through are atrocious in my experience. Because Visconti's nibs tend to be really wet I feel I get a better line out of the Visconti's on Rhodia and Black 'n Red pads.

MarkInLondon
October 26th, 2017, 11:36 PM
I'm reasonably sure that I have a good ink/paper combo... it's Kon Peki on a Leuchturn 1917 notebook... I've been using fountain pens on them for years. It's just noisy, not like my silent Pilots or Parkers. I associate "scratchy" with a misaligned nip that scratches paper. This isn't scratchy. Instead, I hear it when I write, just as I might hear a pencil.

And I do love the pen, and though in hindsight I should have picked a medium nib, I must say that when I've seen writing samples of the medium and fine there doesn't seem to be much difference.

In any case, does anyone know a UK-based tuner?
Is the Leuchtturm paper the only stuff you have? It'll be a few days before I'm home from a business trip, but I'll try to remember to take my HS Bronze XF to the Leuchtturm pad that I have and report back on sound. Maybe the paper has a rougher surface and more interaction with the nib.

Matter of opinion, but for what it's worth I find Leuchtturm paper to be garbage for fountain pens. The bleed and show-through are atrocious in my experience. Because Visconti's nibs tend to be really wet I feel I get a better line out of the Visconti's on Rhodia and Black 'n Red pads.

I've scribbled a bit on Clairfontaine 90gsm, and it is still louder than my other pens, all of them in fact. So that's a Duofold, a Phileas, a Bock hand turned job, a Safari, a Heritage 92, and a few old 51's. It sounds like I'm writing with a pencil, and is a bit annoying, and when I pick up the Heritage 92, which is completely silent, it's particularly noticeable. Oh, and I don't find the 1917 as bad as you do; I like it, to be fair, and like the large A4+ size. I haven't spent much time with a Rhodia Webbie, but the Clairfontaine, which is also only an A4, not an A4+, seems small now that I'm accustomed to the large book.

I've looked through a loop and the nib is fine; it's aligned. The nib is just louder than I'd like :( It does write great though! I love the pen. But I don't want to screw it up by smoothing it only to find that I had unrealistic expectations to begin with. As I wrote earlier, it can be heard in YouTube reviews too.

Scooby921
October 30th, 2017, 09:29 AM
I just scribbled on an Apica notebook with my Visconti HS XF, a Lamy 2000 XF, Sailor Realo MF, and Franklin-Christoph M19 M CI. They all make noise. None of them stand out as being more or less noisy than the others. All of them make more noise than a pencil on the same page.

Just a thought, but perhaps the Visconti being louder than your other pens is a property of the nib softness. The 23k is softer than the standard 14k and the occasional 18k most pens use. Thus under the same writing pressure the tines are going to separate a little more (ignoring comparison to vintage flex nibs). This is more ink flow, which is why people call the Dreamtouch a firehose, but it also means the sharp edge on the inside of the tine is more exposed and dragging across the page. You could polish this to round off that edge, but there will be a very small window before you go too far and end up with baby's bottom.

MarkInLondon
October 31st, 2017, 12:19 AM
I just scribbled on an Apica notebook with my Visconti HS XF, a Lamy 2000 XF, Sailor Realo MF, and Franklin-Christoph M19 M CI. They all make noise. None of them stand out as being more or less noisy than the others. All of them make more noise than a pencil on the same page.

Just a thought, but perhaps the Visconti being louder than your other pens is a property of the nib softness. The 23k is softer than the standard 14k and the occasional 18k most pens use. Thus under the same writing pressure the tines are going to separate a little more (ignoring comparison to vintage flex nibs). This is more ink flow, which is why people call the Dreamtouch a firehose, but it also means the sharp edge on the inside of the tine is more exposed and dragging across the page. You could polish this to round off that edge, but there will be a very small window before you go too far and end up with baby's bottom.

It's good to hear that the other pens are similar. Thank you :) And yes: the softness/tines observation makes sense.

It's important to know that I love the pen; it's my daily user. it writes well, is reliable, and the size, weight and feel appeal to me.