Contradictions with fountain pens that make me wonder?

[Skip]

It seems to me that AFA pens and nibs having problems goes they appear to be more prevalent with the more expensive pens? And I wonder why this should be? Is it a kind of careless arrogance on the part of the expensive pen producer?
For instance I read about (and have had some experience with) Pelikan nibs and custom Pilot nibs often needing 'work' to operate smoothly, as they're often not that good out of the box new.... ~Why??
Hey, almost every lowly inexpensive Chinese pen (and I have a bunch!) plus my Sailor Profit Jr cheapos, have been great right out of the box; ~usually having wonderfully smooth, well writing nibs!

~Why in the world isn't all of this the exact opposite??

So I'm starting to attribute this all-too-often poor quality control re nibs with the more expensive fountain pens as little more than carelessness, and perhaps even arrogance, on the part of these pen makers...
~Am I wrong here?

[FredRydr]

...~Why in the world isn't all of this the exact opposite??...

Because buyers have lower expectations of cheap pens and avoid complaining about the obvious.
Because buyers expect more expensive pens to write satisfactorily. Complaint is justified. Nib modifications are worth doing to protect the investment.

[Dougc]

I think it has as much to do with the fact that inexpensive pens tend to have steel nibs that are churned out in a way gold can't due to the robustness of steel (and subsequently the softness of precious metals).

There is no way to compare Chinese pens to Italian, German etc due to the labor structure.

Imo.....

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[Skip]

...~Why in the world isn't all of this the exact opposite??...

Because buyers have lower expectations of cheap pens and avoid complaining about the obvious.
Because buyers expect more expensive pens to write satisfactorily. Complaint is justified. Nib modifications are worth doing to protect the investment.

I don't think the first statement applies here? I find users' reviews of pens to be mostly honest and an inexpensive pen that doesn't write well will get just as quickly panned! IMO it's mostly the more expensive ones that seem to get allowances made for them by their buyers...

The second statement re nib mods are worth doing for expensive investment protection is obviously true IMO. But my question was why do they so often have to be done??

[Skip]

I think it has as much to do with the fact that inexpensive pens tend to have steel nibs that are churned out in a way gold can't due the robustness of steel (and subsequently the softness of precious metals).
There is no way to compare Chinese pens to Italian, German etc due to the labor structure.
Imo.....

Ahhhhh... I suspect this is getting more at the answer then... ~I guess it's probably like how exotic and expensive sports cars often require more care and maintenance than mass produced family sedans? That at least helps to justify to my mind the finnicky-ness of some of the more expensive pens.
But I think I'll mostly stick to the less expensive fountain pens, ~the 'family sedans'. ~Lower and mid level pens that I can better afford (and which often write better out-of-the-box?) are where my enjoyment of fountain pens is right now...

[de_pen_dent]

It seems to me that AFA pens and nibs having problems goes they appear to be more prevalent with the more expensive pens?

I don’t know that this is really the case.

[Skip]

It seems to me that AFA pens and nibs having problems goes they appear to be more prevalent with the more expensive pens?

I don’t know that this is really the case.

It has been in my (admittedly limited) personal experience. ~But also in what I see in review after review of fountain pens {of varied price ranges}, and I read a lot of them very often...

[Ron Z]

I jokingly refer to it as ILOPP = the Inverse Law of Pen Performance. The more expensive the pen, the less likely you are to be satisfied with it. It isn't always the case, but I've had and sold many expensive pens. I'm afraid that after having handled and worked a lot of pens, I have a rather jaded view of expensive models.

[de_pen_dent]

It has been in my (admittedly limited) personal experience. ~But also in what I see in review after review of fountain pens {of varied price ranges}, and I read a lot of them very often...

IMO, few of us have enough of a sample size from which to draw any conclusions.

Second,there is an element of reporting bias at play: a malfunctioning expensive pen is something noteworthy (hey, Visconti) whereas malfunctioning cheap pen isnt noteworthy enough to bring up. And as Ron Z states - expectations are also higher with the more expensive pen, so people tend to be a little less forgiving of mistakes.

Similarly, a lot of people with cheap pens tend to be so “wowed” by the quality (or want to validate their purchase) that they kinda over-do how great it is I see this with watches as well - inexpensive microbrands are being hyped as being “almost” as good as higher-end luxury watches in finishing, but when you actually have them in hand, it isnt even close.

IF we assume your statement to be true, then that implies that manufacturers of expensive pens, as a group, have poorer QC than manufacturers of cheap pens. That inference doesnt really hold water for me, TBH.

FWIW, my own experiences with pens with in-house gold nibs:
MB - own around 17-18 modern MBs (Writers, mostly): every single one has been perfect
Aurora - have owned 5-6. Perfect
Montegrappa - 1 out 5 needed nib work to improve flow
Visconti - disaster central. Most Viscontis i have owned have needed nib work to be satisfactory. That’s par for them
Sailor, Platinum, Pilot, Namiki - got 10-12 of various higher end models. Every single one has worked well
Omas - owned 3, all worked flawlessly
Leonardo - 3/3

Pens with Jowo nibs occasionally do need work, regardless of what price point they come in at (especially their stubs). That’s a Jowo thing, i reckon.

I havent tried a lot of cheap pens but from what i recall back when i did experiment with a few, they weren’t any more or less prone to issues than any other brand using a stock steel nib.

YMMV.

[Ron Z]

It's bad enough that a colleague and I were joking about one brand, which prompted the comment, "Hey, it's a beautiful pen! You want that it should write too??"