======================================================================== Nib Noise Volume 5 Number 1 ======================================================================== Welcome to Nib Noise. This newsletter is a joint effort of Richard Binder and Don Fluckinger. We hope you'll enjoy reading this month's issue. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER! For comments or questions, send email to: richard@richardspens.com To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on my site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** As the Seasons Turn *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We're entering the year's busiest gift-giving season. No, it's not Christmas -- that was last season. Coming up are Mother's Day, Father's Day, school and college graduations, and June weddings. (Did I miss any?) What better gift to give than Italian luxury? Signum pens, crafted in Torino by Essegi, are beautiful, practical, and affordable. Just one of the many elegant possibilities is an Alpine White Nova with vermeil furniture, resting on the guest book at a wedding reception -- I'm sure you can come up with many, and better, ideas, so check out the pens here: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/newp_sig.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Come to Boston, Get Some Brahmin (and Other Stuff) *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The New England Pen Show is coming. It'll be here over the weekend of April 22 and 23, and once again Nathan has formulated a special batch of his great Noodler's Boston Brahmin ink. You can only get it at the show, but that's not all you can get. For more information, visit the show's Web site: http://www.vintagewriting.com/new_england_pen_show.htm Barbara and I will have a selection of new pens from Bexley, Conway Stewart, Filcao, Pelikan, Signum, and Taccia. THESE CAN HAVE THEIR NIBS CUSTOMIZED WHILE YOU WAIT. We'll have a stock of preground Pelikan M200 specialty nibs, along with demonstrators of them all for you to try before you buy. These nibs fit M200, M250, M400, and M600 pens, including the new M620 Piccadilly Circus -- which we will bring with us along with the elegant new M625 and M450. We'll also be bringing some preground nib units for Namiki and Pilot Vanishing Point pens. As always, I'll be regrinding and tweaking nibs while their owners wait. Bring a pen or two, and share some chatter at my table while I jazz up your writing experience. Come early, though, because my dance card tends to fill up pretty rapidly. If you have pens that need repairs other than nib work, we'll be happy to save you some shipping costs by collecting them at the show and bringing them home to the Nashua Pen Spa. We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We hope to see you there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Runaway Vanishing Points *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My preground Namiki/Pilot Vanishing Point specialty nibs are a runaway success. I've sold almost all of my initial purchase and just this weekend we placed an order for 70 more nibs. These new 14K or 18K nib units fit all Vanishing Point (and, outside the USA, Capless) pens made after about 1990, and they cost only $10.00 more than my preground steel Pelikan specialty nibs. See them here: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/newp_nib.htm#vp ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** And More to the Point... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I now have a selection of Esterbrook Renew-Point nibs for sale. I've listed a few types on my site, and I do have others. Check out the ones I've listed: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=sales/vint_est.htm#nibs ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Personalized Custom Nibs with No Waiting *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unless otherwise requested at the time of sale, I dip-test each new pen that you purchase at no extra charge before shipment, aligning and smoothing the nib and ensuring that it has good flow. If you order a new pen with a customized nib, I will modify the nib and ship the pen immediately instead of putting it into my regular queue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Last Month's Calendar Page Is This Month's Wallpaper *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The March calendar page featured a big hunk of Tanager Red, the Parker Senior Duofold "Big Red." This month, that pen can be wallpaper for your computer. Along with the Duofold wallpaper I've also made a new wallaper featuring three modern pens made of Aspen resin: the Bernolet giant ED, the Sheaffer Balance II that started the Aspen craze, and the Bexley Submariner Grande. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=wallpapers.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Broad Strokes" by Richard Binder ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wouldn't you just love a fountain pen you didn't have to fill? Techni- cally speaking, the Parker 61 is such a pen. Read my new profile of this much maligned pen: http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=61 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Extra Fine Points" by Don Fluckinger ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Music nibs are way cool for many reasons, among them the respite from the high-tech gimmickry that distracts musicians from writing and playing actual music. http://www.richardspens.com/?page=extrafine/xf0604.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Subscribe to my RSS Feed *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSS means Really Simple Syndication. You can subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking the orange RSS button at the top of any page of my site. If you're not already hooked up to RSS and what it can do for you, take a peek at my introductory page: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=rsshelp.htm ======================================================================== If you received this newsletter from Richard Binder, you are a Nib Noise subscriber. If it came from someone else, I invite you to subscribe. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit the Free Email Newsletter page on my site: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=nibnoise.htm Note: We will never sell your name or email address. Your privacy is as important to us as it is to you.