New entry level Visconti

[Lexaf]

I looked at the pictures in the link from OP and I like them very much. The nib could have a more classic form to my taste, it would fit better with the very attractive old Parker Duofold like design. Very classic, very classy pen with the silver trim. The silver ring on the end of the barrel is a nice detail. Love the marbled colors in particular. These color patterns give the pen more than a hint of a 1920's design. Back to the roots. If they were only not CC, but with a button filling system... Just dreaming.

[dneal]

Both have cheap steel nibs. The Delta might be a marginally better value, but I'm not sure either is a "better" pen.

I'm not sure who makes Delta nibs, anyone know ?

Anyway, the Delta nib/feed on the Unica is very much to my liking - smooth and wet, and to the broader side of medium. The only Visconti pen I have, a Rembrandt, is very much not to my liking. It's Bock unit is dry by default and has flow issues - that's across two different nib units, the original and a replacement.

I can safely say the Unica is a better pen (at least for me) than the Rembrandt

No experience with the IPG nib on the Classic, but as it comes in medium only (F,M,B on the Unica) and is cheaper than the Rembrandt, it doesn't give me much hope.

Absolutely no idea who makes Delta nibs. That's a good question.

I find Bock nibs fairly dry and with a little baby's bottom "out of the box", but they can be adjusted to suit. It's like criticizing a bicycle manufacturer because those Shimano XT gears just didn't shift well... That can (and should) be adjusted.

The IPG nib (with no other branding) on the Classic raised a skeptical eyebrow, but the fat blob of tipping shown means I can grind it to my preferences. As an aside, amount of tipping is why I like Bock nibs. Anyway, the nib on the Classic looks to be a #5, and I suspect I'll swap it out for a gold nib if the rest of the pen is decent build quality. Generally I don't care for Visconti's designs, and a LE Kaweco Sport is the only Visconti I own at the moment. The color/pattern of the acrylic, and the "old school" aesthetics are why I bought them (not to mention the relatively inexpensive price). I have some concerns on the quality of the trim rings and clip, but we'll see when they get here tomorrow or Wednesday.

The Unica was never a consideration for me. I'm not a fan of Yafa's brands in general (which includes Delta). Conklin has a lot of brand potential that's been shamefully squandered. The Stipula "rebranded" Dollar pen (with corresponding Stipula price) is insulting. The BS with the Delta "fusion" nib was the last straw for me.

In fairness, my grievances don't make the Unica a better or worse pen than the Visconti.

--edit--

Lexaf posted the pic of that Parker as I was typing this. That's exactly the look that drew me to the Visconti Classic.

[Ste_S]

If i'm buying a new bike I fully expect the gears to shift smoothly on purchase. Bought a Giant TCX (105, Cross is as far as I want to go in mud-plugging ) five months ago, and I haven't had to tinker with the gearing yet apart from a turn on the adjuster to take up a bit of cable stretch.

Much as I expect Visconti to get their Bock nibs sorted at the factory. I can tinker with a bike or a pen to get it right, but the companies that offer it working 'out of the box' get my repeated business.

I own two Bock nibbed pens - the Rembrandt and a Kaweco Student, both behave identically. I've tried working on the nibs to increase the flow, but it looks as though it's the feed that's at fault. Hacking a feed is at my limit of what I think is reasonable for a customer to correct.

Delta, for what it's worth, look as though they work on their nibs in-house as compared to Kaweco and Visconti who look as though they stick the Bock units straight into their pens without further modification.

[Lexaf]

I find Bock nibs fairly dry and with a little baby's bottom "out of the box", but they can be adjusted to suit. It's like criticizing a bicycle manufacturer because those Shimano XT gears just didn't shift well... That can (and should) be adjusted.

I find a price/quality problem here. First: issues like baby's bottom should not occur with nibs of Bock reputation. Ajustment should be Bock's concern, not that of the buyer, even for a < us$ 100,-- pen. For a non branded generic IPG nib in the Visconti Classic that could probably Bock, but might as well be of Chinese origin, I find the price of us$ 80,-- actually too high also because it is just a simple CC filler. ( The Visconti button fillers are totally different price story!). In the CC filler / IPG nib quality segment there are quite a lot of well designed Chinese pens available for half that price. So its primarily the nice old school celluloid lookalike + flat top design and the attractive silver (plated?) furniture that will make the Visconty Classic (what's in a name!) sell. It's is not very expensive, but certainly not a bargain (IMHO).

Lexaf posted the pic of that Parker as I was typing this. That's exactly the look that drew me to the Visconti Classic.

Another reason I showed the Parker is that for us$80,-- I'd prefer a genuine vintage pen. You might not easily find a good working Parker Duofold for around us$ 80,-- but there are still quite a lot of European pens from that era around, in the same style.

So here are some more pictures of 3 old school 1925 - 1935 celluloid button fillers:
The gray & red marbled pen: An undocumented Dutch manufactured 'PROMINENT' with a generic '1st Quality 14K' EF nib.
The pearl & black marbled pen: A Dutch 'VENDEX' (made by Osmia Germany), with a generic 'Warranted 14 Ct 1st Quality' B nib
The blue & brown marbled pen: An undocumented No Name, of probably Belgian or French origin, with also a generic 'Warranted 14 Ct 1st Quality' B stub nib.

Resuming: spectacular colors (as are the marbled Visconti's!), original pre WWII celluloid, all black parts ebonite (not plastic!), reliable button fillers and 14K nibs.
All 3 pens did not cost me more than us$ 25,-- plus the fun of some cleaning, polishing and placing new rubber ink sacs.
In their actual restored state I would rate the value somewhere between us$75,-- and us$125,-- if (IF) they were offered for sale.
That is not super cheap, but not expensive either, for about the same price as a nice modern Visconti Classic, but basically a plastic (acrylic?) CC filler, with a steel nib.

The Visconti's: ( picture borrowed from http://blog.giardino.it/2015/03/12/v...c-entry-level/ )

My own Vintage Celluloids:

[dneal]

The bike makes for a good analogy. Unless you buy one from an actual bike shop with a tech on hand, you should expect to have to adjust the derailleurs, shifters and brakes. Is that Shimano's or SRAM's fault? They're still good components. Is it the bike manufacturer's fault? I don't think so.

I've built all my bikes from components, so adjustment was mandatory. I always expect to adjust a nib to my preferences if I don't buy it from a shop like Nibs.com I also always expect to adjust the action on a new guitar to suit my preferences (sorry to switch analogies).

You like Delta, I don't particularly. I like Bock nibs, you don't seem to (although I'm not sure two pens are a representative sample). I'm ok with not agreeing though.

On a different note, I doubt the feed is your problem and there's no need to "hack" one. At most it needs cleaned with some dish soap and a couple of strokes in the main channel with a brass shim. The flow is in the tines. What method did you use to adjust them?

[Ste_S]

I guess we disagree there. Whilst I'm perfectly capable of building a bike from the ground up (apart from wheels, until I get around to buying a truing stand), I expect a new bike to work without having to tinker with it.
Likewise with nibs - I expect the pen to write without me having to tinker with it. I don't mind basic adjustments to make the pen more to my taste though.
As you say, ok to not agree though

As for the Rembrandt I've chucked most things at it. Flushed more times than you can shake a stick. Used multiple converters and cartridges with muitplie brands of inks. Had the nib and feed out to soak and scrub with a toothbrush. Flossed the nib slit and feed channel with a brass shim. Spread the shoulders of nib with my thumb nails to open up the slit. Had the supplier kindly send me a new nib unit. Went through all of the above again with the new nib unit.

I've had four Bock nib units - two for a Kaweco Student, two for the Visconti Rembrandt and they all have inconsistant flow (despite going through all the above measures). Pen starts out ok with a full feed, but then dries out as you write. I suspect it's the feed, perhaps not getting air back into the cartridge/converter and starving the ink flow.

[Lexaf]

I guess we disagree there. Whilst I'm perfectly capable of building a bike from the ground up (apart from wheels, until I get around to buying a truing stand), I expect a new bike to work without having to tinker with it.
Likewise with nibs - I expect the pen to write without me having to tinker with it. I don't mind basic adjustments to make the pen more to my taste though.
As you say, ok to not agree though

+1 on this. when I buy a brand new bike, it should function flawlessly, same for a new pen.

As for the Rembrandt I've chucked most things at it. Flushed more times than you can shake a stick. Used multiple converters and cartridges with muitplie brands of inks. Had the nib and feed out to soak and scrub with a toothbrush. Flossed the nib slit and feed channel with a brass shim. Spread the shoulders of nib with my thumb nails to open up the slit. Had the supplier kindly send me a new nib unit. Went through all of the above again with the new nib unit.

I've had four Bock nib units - two for a Kaweco Student, two for the Visconti Rembrandt and they all have inconsistant flow (despite going through all the above measures). Pen starts out ok with a full feed, but then dries out as you write. I suspect it's the feed, perhaps not getting air back into the cartridge/converter and starving the ink flow.

Wow, seems like lot more work than I had on my 80 years old $25,-- vintage pens! Go figure!

[Ste_S]

Heh, likewise. All of my vintage pens I've bought from reputable sellers have worked flawlessly. I had one Parker 45 ebay purchase where the previous owner had sprung the nib - took me 5mins to sort it out.

[ilangai]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KBcf4pnKh4

The Visconti Classic Limited Edition Fountain and Rollerball pens are available only in Europe. A replica of the first pen ever manufactured by Visconti pens back in 1988, it is available in six beautiful resin colours.

The nib in the video looks exactly like the Schmidt nib we got with the KarasKustoms Ink. Even the ornament and lack of breather hole looks similar..
Now, I really like those Schmidt nibs, and I think they're one of the best steal nibs, very smooth.. But you still don't get a full Made in Italy pen..
So, I think, the Unica is still a better choice.

[dneal]

They came in the mail today, and I'll do a review shortly. Bottom line? A good (not great) pen, but well worth 80 dollars / euros IMHO.

[ChrisC]

I think the brown/red cracked ice material is the same, or at laest very similar to their Opera Elements materials. Too bad such a beautiful material is paired with a very standard IPG nib.

[dneal]

It's not very attractive, but the nib is quite good actually.

[tandaina]

It's not the nib I dislike (OK I find it totally MEH and see no reason they couldn't have used the steel nibs they already use on some of their pens. It's the section and 'finials' that give the whole thing the look of a kit pen. Make the *whole* pen, including section out of that material and we'd have an interesting lower tier pen. But the black plastic section and end bits just look cheap to me.

[ilangai]

It's not the nib I dislike (OK I find it totally MEH and see no reason they couldn't have used the steel nibs they already use on some of their pens. It's the section and 'finials' that give the whole thing the look of a kit pen. Make the *whole* pen, including section out of that material and we'd have an interesting lower tier pen. But the black plastic section and end bits just look cheap to me.

I'll second that!

[dneal]

It's not the nib I dislike (OK I find it totally MEH and see no reason they couldn't have used the steel nibs they already use on some of their pens. It's the section and 'finials' that give the whole thing the look of a kit pen. Make the *whole* pen, including section out of that material and we'd have an interesting lower tier pen. But the black plastic section and end bits just look cheap to me.

I don't mind that so much. It's the metal bits that I don't care for and makes it seem "cheap". I really, really like the cracked ice acrylics (well, the two colors I bought anyway). "Expensive" is relative, and the price is nominal to me; but I'm at the end of my peak earning years with no kids in the house. It was an impulse buy, but the wife and I each have a reasonably attractive pen that we don't have to worry about losing, breaking, dropping, whatever... for what I think is a fair price.

Oh, totally agree that they should have just used their "normal" steel nibs.

[dneal]

I've had four Bock nib units - two for a Kaweco Student, two for the Visconti Rembrandt and they all have inconsistant flow (despite going through all the above measures). Pen starts out ok with a full feed, but then dries out as you write. I suspect it's the feed, perhaps not getting air back into the cartridge/converter and starving the ink flow.

I did some research, and it looks like Delta uses Bock nibs.

[Ste_S]

I've had four Bock nib units - two for a Kaweco Student, two for the Visconti Rembrandt and they all have inconsistant flow (despite going through all the above measures). Pen starts out ok with a full feed, but then dries out as you write. I suspect it's the feed, perhaps not getting air back into the cartridge/converter and starving the ink flow.

I did some research, and it looks like Delta uses Bock nibs.

Interesting, as no seemed to know up until know. If they do, they use a completely different unit to the one that's supplied to Kaweco and Visconti

[erpe]

Interesting, as no seemed to know up until know. If they do, they use a completely different unit to the one that's supplied to Kaweco and Visconti

It's pretty easy to check, the names are on their site http://www.peter-bock.com/content/e4...index_eng.html
Which of course does not mean all brands just use rebranded standard products. I expect a bit of customization.

[dneal]

Interesting, as no seemed to know up until know. If they do, they use a completely different unit to the one that's supplied to Kaweco and Visconti

It's pretty easy to check, the names are on their site http://www.peter-bock.com/content/e4...index_eng.html
Which of course does not mean all brands just use rebranded standard products. I expect a bit of customization.

That's where I found it too, and the pictures of feeds on the Dolcevita look just like the other #6 Bock feeds I have.

I don't think it was a mystery, but just something most folks don't bother to look up.

[Ste_S]

The feed on the Unica is completely different to the feed on the standard Bock unit that Visconti and Kaweco employ. That doesn't discount it from being made by Bock of course.