New Era

Yesterday afternoon began a new era for me. I was notified that due to mandatory cost reductions at the company, my position was eliminated, and yesterday was my final day of employment. I have back pay, plus accrued but not used paid time off, plus expense reimbursements, all of which should be paid by direct deposit not later than Friday.

I have notified several contacts outside the company with whom I have had good working relationships, and two have responded and requested a resume to forward to someone they know has an opening.

Any reviews of pens, guitars, or coffee that I do prior to getting another job will be on pens, guitars, or coffee that I already own, as there is no money to buy anything but essentials until then, and, while I might consider another pen essential, I am a definite minority in my family in that regard, and I do have them to look after.

Donnie

Arkansas Pen Show etc

I am trying something new, in an attempt to fund my fountain pen hobby/addiction. I will attend the Arkansas Pen Show March 7-8 in Little Rock, with an assortment of new pens purchased for resale, and used pens which I seldom if ever use. I will also see some friends I met at the Dallas Pen Show last fall, and make some new friends.

I have also affiliated with Musicians Friend, so if you are contemplating a purchase from them, please access their website by clicking on the Musicians Friend icon on this blog. If you make a purchase this way, I will earn a small commission on the sale.

A sort of mini-review of the Hero 616 Fountain Pen. The Hero 616 is similar in design to the Parker 51, in that it has similar shape, hooded nib, and aerometric filling system. It is an inexpensive pen, and not as heavy duty as the Parker 51, so there probably will not be 60 year old Hero 616s commanding prices over $100 in the distant future. That being said, it is a good, low cost introduction to the Parker 51 style pen. Although it is the same length, the Hero 616 isnot as heavy as the 51, at .55 oz, rather than the .80 oz of the 51. The one I have used for several months writes a smooth, fine, wet line, as do the two I recently sold to a friend from church. he purchased the first as a Valentine's gift for his wife, as the pen she already had left too wide a line, and she liked it so much he purchased one for his daughter.

I have green, maroon, and black pens available for purchase for $15.00, including uninsured shipping to US/UK. You may email me at pensguitarsandcoffee@gmail.com for payment information.

Until later. . .

New Pen Review!

Today I will review a great, low-cost pen. It is a Reform 1745. Reform was a German pen maker, which competed pretty much head to head with Pelikan, until Pelikan triumphed and Reform went under. In addition to the 1745, which is a piston filler, occasionally surfacing you might also find a Reform Bremen, which is sort of like a dressed up Sheaffer No Nonsense with a nicer nib. There are a few other Reform models which sometimes surface on eBay as NOS models. The one I am reviewing came to me NOS, with the sticker still on it.



The pen is 12.95 cm (5.1 in) capped, and 14.88 cm (5.86 in) posted in length, and the diameter is 1 cm (.390 in) at the body, and .86 cm (.340 in) at the section. It is a small pen, but not uncomfortable to my large hands (I can span 11 white keys on a piano between my thumb and pinky). The pretty plain green and black gives the pen a businesslike appearance.



The nib, you ask? I was told it is a medium nib; however, the line it writes is smooth, wet, and the same size as my Phileas F and my Pelikan M200 F. And, not only is the nib smooth and wet, but it also has a bit of flex. It is no wet noodle, and you will not get huge shading or line variation, but there is some, which is definitely not common at this price point. The nib unscrews from the section, like a Pelikan nib, but a Pelikan nib does not fit. I have not tested my Reform Kalligraph to see if its nib will fit, because the pen is appreciably larger, and the nib would seem outsized on this smaller pen.



I do not have any way to measure the ink capacity of the pen, but, being a piston filler, it hold appreciably more than your average universal converter. It seems to hold more than my Parker 51 Aero also, and those are noted for large ink capacity.

If you think you might like one of these, I have 6 available, at a cost of $17.50 each, which includes uninsured shipping to the US or UK. You can email me at pensguitarsandcoffee@gmail.com for Paypal instructions, or to check shipping if you are not in US or UK.

Back in the Saddle

I have not posted since August, 2007, when my youngest grandson got out of the hospital, and life overtook my family. One of my New Year's resolutions is to faithfully post at least weekly on my blog.

I will review a pen today, to start off the new year. The pen in question is a no-brand name Chinese Pen, which I call the Young Engineer. It is about the size and shape of a stick ballpoint, which is usually purchased in boxes of a dozen. But the size and shape are where the resemblance ends.

The black matte pen, with a silver colored grip portion, is made of metal, most likely brass. Unscrewing the barrel reveals a nonremovable aerometric filler, which is attached to the section which contains a true XXF/needlepoint nib. Several people commented, upon first seeing the pen, if it was an Xacto knife, due to the sharp point on the nib. The pictures do not really do the pen justice, as they were taken with a Canon Powershot 540, which was never intended for macro photography.

How fine a line does the nib write? An Asian Fine nib is usually equivalent to a western XF. This is an Asian XF, which is truly an XXF. I have linked to a scan of a comparison between a Waterman Phileas F, a Parker 45 F, and the Young Engineer, on a Planner Pad Notes on the Run 3 x 5 card, with 6 mm line spacing Here.

A fellow employee who works in accounting fell in love with the pen, and asked me to get her one. I got several, and have sold a few, and have 8 remaining. If you are interested, they are available for $30, including shipping. To purchase, send me an email to pensguitarsandcoffee@gmail.com, and I will set one aside for you, and give you payPal instructions.

I have recently acquired several different types of pens to resell, which I will review on the blog, and provide opportunity for you to enjoy your own.

Have a safe and happy new year!

Donnie

New Grandson Hospitalized but back home

Ever since Gideon, my newest grandson, made his first public appearance on Wednesday, July 25, I have been sporadic at best as far as keeping up my blog. I offer you my sincerest apologies. Gideon was not doing well Monday and Tuesday, with fever and lethargy, as well as loss of appetite. His father took the day off Wednesday, when Gideon was exactly one week old, and took him to the Doctor, who immediately took him to the Emergency Room.

The medical folks at first suspected viral meningitis, which is never good, and is life-threatening for a week old infant. They did a spinal tap, and took blood and urine samples for cultures, then started an IV drip with saline and antibiotics, and administered tylenol orally. He was in the hospital Wednesday and Thursday, and came home Friday. Wednesday evening we got the results of the spinal tap, and thankfully, they were negative for meningitis. Wednesday and Thursday I was at the hospital from just after work until bedtime, checking on my grandson, and taking his nephews to visit him, and give comfort and assistance to my son and daughter in law. Last night I was so exhausted from the rigorous schedule, that after I called Dish Network to get my bedroom setup working again, I went to bed. One of my kids, or somebody, had changed the VCR setting, and I couldn't get it back right, until the Dish Network support desk person talked me all through it -- about a half hour ordeal, with polite assistance from Dish Network.
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I thought today I would review another guitar, this time an Oscar Schmidt OE-40B (gloss black finish). The OE-40 is a budget version of the Washburn J-9, and both, as you can see from the stock photo, are copies of the Gibson L-5, full bodied archtop jazz guitar. Also available in natural or tobacco sunburst finishes, it has 20 frets, 25 1/2 inch scale, trapeze tailpiece, adjustable rosewood bridge, rosewood fingerboard with pearl inlays, standard 2.7 mm fretwire, Grover Tuners, Washburn gold-covered humbucking pickups, amber colored bell shaped control knobs, maple top and body, and a fully adjustable neck. At this price point, it is a huge bargain.

Now, for playability and tone. I put flatwounds on it and had it set up for those. It is much easier to play with those than my OE30 was with a stop tailpiece. The trapeze tailpiece on this one might make the difference. Through my Epiphone Galaxy 10, clean setting, you can pretty much hear the wood. Dark, smoky jazz rolls out of this guitar just like it was made to do. I tried to learn "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller when I first got it, and I could close my eyes and see the portly gentleman playing stride piano accompaniment to my feeble attempts at mastering his masterpiece. It is a real Wes Montgomery type tone. Same results through my Carvin MTS-3200 2 x 12 combo, but much louder at 50 watts than at 10. The guitar can get down and dirty on the distortion side, but it doesn't really feel right. This guitar was made for coaxing mellow, perhaps into the bluesy tones, not for heavy metal or grunge. If you don't have a jazz or blues background, I suppose you could easily use it for that, because the pickups are humbuckers, but my youngest son has a Dimebag Darrell guitar, which as he put it, "is only good for metal and heavy metal". The OE-40 is as smooth and mellow as the Dimebag is aggressive.

I have been very pleased with this guitar, and regret that I have not played it more. If you would like one, it is available Here.

Until later. . .

Sounds of Silence

It has been 8 days since I last posted, a time of busyness, and of joy. Last Wednesday saw the arrival of my newest grandson Gideon, and the weekend saw me attending a four-church family camp at Baylor University in Waco, with my wife and youngest son, and connecting with old friends.

Most joyous first! Gideon arrived Wednesday afternoon, weighing 10 lb 9 oz at 22 inches tall. When the baby is 22 inches or more, I think it should be listed as tall, rather than long. Mother and baby are doing great, and my bride and I went to see them at the hospital on Thursday, and took several pictures. Gideon has an older sister, age two and a half, who is, typical of that age, somewhat ambivalent about her new baby brother. She loves him, but does not like the division of attention. It is earth-shattering for her that she is no longer the center of the universe. I have provided pictures of Gideon, and of the three generations of Gideon, his father, and me.

It truly is wonderful to have our grandchildren so close by. Gideon and family live two and a half miles away, and my remaining grandschildren are only ten miles away from us. Much easier to build and maintain a loving relationship with grandchildren and adult children when you are a few minutes drive away, than nearly 1500 miles and a two day trip just to say hello, or contact primarily by email and telephone.

Since the blog is about pens, guitars, and coffee, on to pens! On Thursday, my new project arrived by UPS. It is a five drawer jewelry chest which I am converting to a pen chest. I already had acquired some pen trays, and trimmed them to fit inside the drawers; however, I need to get additional trays, and trim to a more exact fit. After trimming and inserting the trays, I sorted out the bulk of my pen collection into the drawers. I was a little surprised to find that I mostly filled it already. I will have to rearrange things, particularly the accessories, to make room for the pens remaining. I was going to convert a cigar humidor into a pen chest, but this came along, and it is much more suitable, so now I need to sell the humidor. If you are interested, email me at dovecreekwinns@sbcglobal.net and I can send pictures and we can discuss price.

Here is a picture of the pen chest loaded. I can't get a single picture with all the drawers open, because they overlap. The chest is likely not a family heirloom, but then I didn't pay an arm and a leg for it. It is nicely built and attractive, however. The top lifts, and there is a mirror inside the lid, which is fine for a jewelry chest, but less functional for a pen chest. The left side of the top is occupied by nonremovable ring rolls. The two bottom drawers are deeper than the other three, and I have put accessories, e.g., pen carriers, ink, silicone grease for my eyedropper fill pens, kleenex to blot the ink after filling, in those drawers.

When I get the pen trays redone, and the project completed, I will post new pictures, with an empty drawer, as well as drawer full of pens, and another with accessories.

Until later. . .

Day of Rest and eBay

Yesterday, Sunday, I took a day of rest. I don't know if I will take the day off blogging every Sunday, but I did yesterday.

Now about eBay. i have been buying things on ebay for several years now, with overwhelmingly positive results. Only one bad guitar deal out of many, one bad deal on a turntable (did you not expect someone who uses fountain pens to also have a penchant for vinyl records?), and one definitely bad deal on pens, and one possibly in process.

The first key to buying on eBay, in my experience anyway, is to always ensure that expectations are very clear from you to the seller, and hopefully from the seller to you. The bad experiences I have had so far have been from sellers who were, shall we say, less than forthright and accurate about the condition of the item being offered.

But Saturday, yesterday and today were banner days in my eBay experience. I won several really good items -- at least I hope they will be, time will tell. Saturday I won a Pelikan level 1 pen for $10.99 including shipping. It usually goes for $25 plus shipping, so that is a definite plus. Sunday I won two desk sets, one a Sheaffer, the other my first Esterbrook, and a Sheaffer 12.50 white dot. Today I won two more Esterbrooks, and six (6) count them, six Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens, at a price good enough I could easily resell them for a small profit, and still keep one for myself. If you are interested, email me and make me an offer.

The other key is to use a sniping service. I won't discuss my experiences with AuctionSniper today, because I have had several problems with them. But find one you like, and use it. That way you don't drive the price up too early, and you don't have to sit at your computer counting down the seconds to place your bid in the last three seconds.

Until later. . .