Platinum 3776 with a Soft Fine 14k Nib • Is Gold Worth It?
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2024
- Review of the Platinum #3776 with a SF 14k nib + a little Platinum trivia
I purchased this pen through Pensachi, a Japanese pen retailer.
Sometimes Amazon retailers have some good finds as well: amzn.to/2TGV60q
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I love Pilot pens, I just keep coming back to Pilot and most of my pens are Pilot. They are super smooth, nice pens, but the pen I recommend the most is the 3776. To me their medium writes like a fine depending on the ink, and while they are not as smooth as Pilot, they have the perfect amount of feedback and bounce to make them the perfect all-arounder. I have a 3776 SF and I didn’t like it at all. I was expecting some flex. I finally sent it to get tuned so we’ll see. In total I have 4 3776 and 3 are in medium. Pilots are super smooth but my handwriting suffers a bit, Sailor has a ton of feedback but they make my handwriting look the neatest, and platinum is an in between that I tend to go for most often. I also have a platinum president with a broad nib and to me it only writes like a wet medium so maybe a broad 3776 could be a daily pen if you want a smoother platinum still.
What a wonderful way to start the day! Thank you James, I laughed several times during this review! Always love your reviews, keep being you and doing what you do. God bless you bro 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good honest review, thank you
The way your camera got the blue color is so nice, looks really gorgeous. I do intend to buy a 'EF' in the black color in a few months.
Nice pen, I like the color too! Have a wonderful day enjoying it🥰🙏✨
Very accurate. I have a few 3776 nibs. They are not soft, a little bounce. I found the XF nib had more bounce than the SF nib.
Thanks for your review. This pen was my first gold nib one. I'm not sure whether I got a dud, but it was way too dry and scratchy on the upstroke. But after dedicating some time to it, it's become a more pleasant writer. I prefer the Platinum steel nibs over their gold nibs as I find them much smoother. My favorite gold nibs are on Pilot pens, because I love glassy smooth nibs. Sailor is my personal #2 among the Japanese nibs so far.
Your videos are always helpful and informative! Thank you! I have the pen arriving this weekend so I'm excited to try out the soft fine nib. This will be my fourth 3776 all with different nibs. 😊
Nice!
Great video. Platinum #3776 with the SF nib is a most successful pen. One of my absolute favourite pens. So good I bought it twice one of them is in the burgundy . Think that it’s quite flexible but not quite a semi flexible nib. Comfortable and without issues of the ink drying out. I regard this as a prestige pen at a competitive price against some better end pens with stainless steel nibs. I recently bought a Ranga with a stainless steel Ranga flex nib at about half the price similar nib but grossly inferior . The Platinum is well worth the extra money. I started trying to teach myself Copperplate not entirely successfully. But when I resume this pastime it’ll be the #3776 SF all the way.
Hoover once I resume this activity it’ll be the #3776?SF all the way.
So glad you didnt preach on about how it SHOULD come with a converter :p. The fact that it SHOULD come with a converter is secondary. All i'm going to say quickly is it SHOULD come with a converter. LOVE you humor in these videos as much as your honest review of the pen James. God bless you always!
I have a burgundy 3776 on order with a soft fine as I haven’t used many fine nibs in the past. I thought this was worth a try for the soft gold factor that may make it less scratchy.
I like the shape of platinum nibs as they are broad across the shoulder. The Music nib( stub) gives your lettering good shape if you use an upright position. Soft medium could be my next port of call.
Interesting experience with these nibs. I've noticed that their SF nibs produce thinner lines than the extra fines. The extra fine I have also writes way juicier than the SF.
I got this pen. It's a bit controversial, and not everybody probably will like it. 1) the nib is very toothy and feedbacky. 2) it produces too thin line out of the box. I adjusted gap in the nib a little bit 3). it is soft, but dont expect too much line variation. the main difference between this and hard nib is more bouncy feeling when writing, and more feedback. So it's not my favorite because of rough feeling, but it has it's application. particularly it's good to draw some tech diagrams and write very tiny lettering (most of Western nibs , even marketed as EF, are too thick for it)
Beautiful pen and it actually is a fine. Look at those precised lines. 😊
Yes, if you like a crisp fine line, it's a good one.
”It is what it is” Amen ( which might be the correct translation)
I’m glad you liked the 3776! It’s one of my favorite pens for sketching with! I gifted one to myself for my birthday in January. The fine lines are fantastic for drawing details and textures. Sometimes, however, I do feel like it’s not a fountain pen for die-hard fountain pen people. The lines are so thin that it almost feels like a dip pen that you don’t have to dip. I do often enjoy a slightly wider line, like on my Twsbi Eco, or my Hongdian Black Forest when I want those juicy fountain pen lines that give a bit of shading. When I started my CZcams channel a year ago, I was looking for the ultimate fountain pen for art... but I think now I’m more perusing the ultimate collection. There are so many different categories to appreciate. I feel like the 3776 is totally in a category by itself! I always get excited when I see you reviewing a pen that I own! Thanks for a cool video!
I agree. It would be great for people with small handwriting or the need to print in small, fine detail (even as some do in their bullet journals, etc.).
Well, when buying fountain pen is always self-gifting 😬😬
@@zakiakbarrasdi9351the best kind of gift is the one you give…yourself ;)
Again, I know that this is an older review, but Platinum must watch your reviews. I just ordered a 3776 today and it comes with the converter now.
Nice!
One of my favorite pens. I have this nib with gold trim. Love everything about it and the slip and seal cap really and truly does work on all Platinum pens. This is one of the few pens I always have inked up--that bounce makes it a pleasure to write with and is really noticeable if I've been using other pens for a while.
I recently got my first soft fine nibbed pen (Pilot 742) and like your experience the line variation is quite modest, but noticeable. The bounce is very welcome. I also want to try a soft medium
I haven't shared it on the channel yet, but I've had a Pilot 912 with the FA nib that is just incredible. I think there will be a soft medium somewhere in the future, but I haven't decided on what pen, and I'm not in a hurry.
I have this one with gold trim and I absolutely love it, especially the nib.
On the down side, the gold trim of the clip has faded in one year and the converter makes a clonk sound when it hits the sides of the barrel...
Would I buy it again? Definitely!
Still waiting for that soft medium nib that came with the Kumpoo and it was gone and never to be seen again .... (there is also a laurel green version beyond the burgundy red)
The toothiness of the nib to me was the deal breaker in not buying it. I chose a Pilot Vanishing Point over the 3776 and have been very happy! That’s my preference, though. Good review even though I’m not a Platinum brand fan. 🙂
Proprietary cartridges and converters are annoying, but I will say that the Japanese big 3 haven't changed them in decades. So I have pens from the 60s, 70s on up and I can still use modern cartridges. It makes hunting for vintage pens much less of a pain! 😊
Good point!
I love my Platinum 3776,
Hi James,
Wonderful video!
Please stop talking about food as it makes me hungry.
Thank you for doing this video as it is nice to see what the higher end FPs are like.
It should have arrived with a converter!
I am totally aghast that it doesn't.
Glad to see you comparing it with the Plaisir, which was interesting to see [I invested in the Plaisir].
I like the extra fine & fine Platinum nibs [I might even stretch to the Platinum medium nib].
Sorry for the late response -- I'm catching up after a busy summer. I appreciate your thoughts on this pen, and on gold nibs in general. Of my three favorite writers with a fair amount of time to test them, two are gold -- a Platinum Maki-e 18k M, which is beyond praise for its bounce and gentle flex -- but I can say the same for the Hongdian 885 14k F, at almost half the price! The other is a little (you really want to post it, which it does fine) Scrikks 419 M steel. All three always inked for letter writing. I haven't had my FPR Himalaya V2 ultraflex steel long enough for a considered judgement, but it is amazing. In any case, I can say that sometimes you get better than you pay for.
That Scrikks is underrated, I think. I really like mine. I picked up a Jaipur with the ultra flex nib at the Dallas Pen Show last weekend and it's winning me over quickly.
Good review!
This is hands down the best value-for-money pen available. The M writes like a MF and you will love it over much more expensive ones.
Platinums are consistent. You get what you expect. No surprises.
They make wonderful, reliable, usable pens and they don't pay too much attention to the fashion of the moment. For this reason only they deserve to be rewarded.
PS.
Girth of this pen is ideal. Unlike the thick ones that are trendy and will eventually become cumbersome in your hand.
The Platinum plastic has been criticized but feels quality with light weight.
The little feedback is a perfect balance. I guess that to get a nice lay down of ink on the paper without a super-wet big flow, you need some vibration at the tip that brings down the ink. The physics are probably complex, but the experience is clear. No feedback means either a nasty gusher or a thick line, or else an over-polished skipping pen.
Are there other nice fairly priced pens out there?
Of course.. Any pen equipped with a modern Jowo nib should be ok. Many Italian pens do it right. Just avoid high prices for thick pens, large nibs, for a piston, for a brand name or for the looks. And this rules out a pretty big chunk of makers.
In Europe, Kaweco, Divine Design, Lamy, Twsbi make excelent reliable inexpensive pens.
Gioia and other manufacturers in Italy make fairly priced nice pens with Jowo nibs, but dont buy them without a good test in YOUR own paper. They are sometimes inconsistent.
Pilots and Sailors are good if you avoid the more expensive range.
Sailor pens write wonderful, but only the expensive ones come with an acceptable size. The best-writing Sailor nib is the #5, 14K in the PG Slim, but this pen is unusably undersized, so that you must get the larger ones, usually expensive, wettter and thicker --avoid!
Pilots are nice also, if you keep to the inexpensive ones and you like the looks. But I mentioned earlier what happens when you focus on smoothness...
I have a few Platinum pens and they all have a bit of tooth to them. For that bounce, try Pilot and sailor from Japan and Pelikan and Diplomat from Germany, also Montblanc and Senator as well. Have you tried Veal/Chicken Cordon Bleu?
I do enjoy a good chicken Cordon Bleu. The best I ever had was a little restaurant in Phnom Penh down on the Mekong riverfront.
My Diplomat Aero and Pilot 912 are two of my absolute favorite pens. The latter has the FA nib that seems about as springy as I'd ever need. Great line variation in that one.
I've never felt drawn to this. It's attractive but I'd want more give in the nib than this. I recently received my first Pilot Custom 74 in solid black with a Soft Medium nib, and that nib is glorious. I don't regret that purchase at all. I feel that I could regret buying a 3776 and the fact that doubt is in my mind is already enough to discourage me.
@@DrManuelSardinha The same could be said of many modern nibs. I eventually bought two 3776s, one with a music nib and the other with the standard medium. Neither of them set my world alight. They're reliable, as are my Pilot nibs from cheap to premium, and that's what matters most to me.
@@DrManuelSardinha That's a difficult one to answer as it depends what I'm after but, from the premium pens I own, I'd have to say the Pilot Custom 823 medium nib is the best overall. The medium in my Pelikan M600 is probably my second choice. My least favourite in terms of expectation versus reality would probably be the Platinum 3776 Century music nib. I bought that specifically for writing music but it just writes like a generic wet broad.
I paid about $80 more buying from the US. I am in New Zealand. Still relatively new, and I wish I had look into Europe, after giving up on the language barrier with non English speaking Japanese shops
Updating from an earlier reply. I eventually did buy a 3776 for one very specific reason: because it has 3-tine music nib. I'll have to be honest, my initial experience was "okay" but it didn't blow my socks off. For writing music (the whole point of my purchase) a BB Plumix works just as well. Cosmetically the 3776 Century (Chartres blue) is fairly appealing but not really a world away from any number of my others in that bodyplan.
I've put this 3776 into my rotation so that I have to use it for more than scribbles. It might win me over if I give it a chance.
Meanwhile I'm awaiting delivery of a Noodler's Triple Tail, for another try at the music nib thing. My expectations are lower for that and I'm anticipating needing to do all that cleaning, scrubbing & heat setting (my Noodler's pen experiences so far have been frustrating).
I'm curious if James has ever tackled the niche world of music nibs, on-camera or not.
I haven't, yet. I've sure considered it, though. A hobby I've not really talked about on here is music. I don't write notation much anymore, but I do play a few instruments and was raised in a family and religious tradition that is big into 4 part harmony, so music theory was part of my upbringing.
@@JG3Reviews If my life depended on it, I'd probably name JS Bach as my favourite composer, just edging out Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn & Scarlatti. It's difficult to find finer counterpoint than Bach's so when I'm studying a piece, transcribing it longhand helps to cement each phrase & each voice in my mind.
@@JG3Reviews I eventually bought a second 3776 which arrived a couple of hours ago. The first is a Chartres blue with a music nib as we discussed. The new one is the Bourgogne with a Medium. I took the plunge as I wanted to try the standard nib for comparison with the Music nib. I've only given it a quick once over with a fill of yama-budo. It's probably fair to say I like the medium more than the music. It still doesn't blow every other pen of mine out of the water but it's nice enough. I do find the step down to be a little irritating, but that's a fairly common thing for me. I'm finding myself holding such pens further back up the barrel. It's similar in impact with another recent purchase, a Sailor 1911 standard. With that one it's more about the threads being a distraction. So, I think I'm now 3776d out. I have put both these into my rotation and subsequent writing sessions may warm me more towards this model, but it's currently little more than a well made and competently executed smooth pen to me. Quite good but not exceptional.
As for the Noodler's Triple Tail also mentioned above, I can't remember if you've reviewed that yet but if you don't have one then I'd definitely recommend getting one. Mine is far more reliable, consistent & solid than my Ahabs and Nib Creapers. Much less temperamental and worked straight out of the box without heat setting. It does a better job at being a music nib than my 3776, though of course it's less refined & more smelly.
Quedo suscrito y atento a sus muy entretenidos comentarios. Saludos cordiales desde Medellín Colombia
Betting that you will always have a liking for steel nibs, even if you have gold nibs. I have, and use, both regularly. Really depends on what I'm writing, myself.
I don't have a single modern gold nib. And plenty of steel, both new and vintage. All of my gold nibbed pens are 14K and vintage. Depends, pen to pen, what I get from any of them. I have an extremely flexible 1912 Mabie Todd Swan, a Wahl-Eversharp Skyliner that the nib could be driven into oak, and a bit of everything in-between. Nothing hooded and gold, however.
Vintage, for me, was the budget friendly option, as none of my gold nibbed vintage pens were the cost of an upgrade from steel to gold from a modern pen.
My first set of fountain pens had one with a gold nib that made me swear off gold nibs for years. Was worse than the pretty grotty Wearever, the 3rd of my first fountain pens (my first love was a grey Esterbrook J. Best writer of the bunch.)
I've been thinking about saving for a modern gold nibbed pen, and, hands down, the reviews of the 3776 sound like it's probably the way I'll eventually go. Thanks for sharing this and God bless!
Yes, they do both have plastic liners in the cap. If you leave it for weeks, it will dry out some and a quick dip in water will fix it. Using them every few days, they do fine.
You're are making me hungry mentioning coq au vin. 🤣🤣🤣
I love my Platinum #3776 Century Black Diamond (an "almost black" semi-translucent, if you shine a strong light directly through it, pen trimmed in rhodium), with a UEF nib! Unfortunately, I can't find it right now! I was using it every day for journaling, and I took it out of my pocket when I was going to physical therapy one day, because I didn't want to chance losing it, and now I can't find it! wahhhh!
Good luck finding it soon! That kind of think drives me crazy.
@@JG3Reviews Still haven't found my Black Diamond 3776, but I "replaced" it with this same Chartres Blue 3776 with a UEF nib. Obviously, this 3776 is worth the extra price to me! (Of course, I've got 100 Jinhao pens.. lol)
Japanese fine, soft or not, is just too small for my Western writing. If I had to draw little pictures for Asian characters, maybe I would understand. I can handle a Western fine, at times preferring it over the Western M. I have gone to a “B” on a lot of Japanese pens (especially Platinum). I would recommend a SM. I even recommend the B.
Platinum makes very good M nibs, so I'd think the SM would be quite good. I've not tried their B.
I love the pen. I love the nib. I hate the feed. The feed drags when flexing way too easily.
1. To me gold nibs are more pleasant to use, but the look of the writing or drawing on the paper is no better.
2. I'm intrigued by China's recent foray into the gold nib market. Maybe it will stir this (like price) up a bit.
Agreed on both points. I think the gap between gold and steel is not as great as I expected much of the time.
Worth every penny... Mine with #3776 Century Green Laurel with 14k soft fine nib 🤭
How does it compare with a Pilot 323 ? I would always prefer a medium or stub nib myself.
Hopefully, someone will share. I don't have the 823, just a recent WS 699 that resembles it.
I have seen these lately for less than $120 on Amazon lately.
Platinum should really consider making a VAC version of the 3776.
I have this pen with the same nib. Actually I am somewhat disappointed with the writing performance.
The nib is bouncy but it does not provide the type of line variation I was hoping to see.
Other pens with similar nibs provide bounce and line variation and smoother than the Platinum version.
I can see that. It is a nib that I've had to adapt to. I don't always like adapting to a pen. lol
Helow i have found sailor fountain pen look like that iwant to sell it how cant i cantact you sir.i will send the picture this is very old
Just like with Sailor, I think Platinum is somehow being misunderstood. And I think is has a lot to do with the writing style of the one using i. I found Sailor F and MF nibs very good writers, and I think I would like to try the Platinum 3776.
Thank you for the video.
I'm sure that's a factor from time to time, certainly so as people continue to feel out what nibs match their style and needs. I've enjoyed the Sailor Compass with its MF nib.
@@JG3Reviews
Happy to see your comment about the Sailor Compass 1911 MF.. I just ordered one on sale from Goulet pens.. pretty new to fountain pens and so far really liking the Platinum & Pilot pens.. I think I need to start my own dictionary for terms like toothy and feedback 🤔.
These reviewers always say there are steel nibs that write as well as or better than gold nibs, yet never give any example of such pens. All my steel nibs always lack the bounce and cushioning my gold nibs have. So please lets have those examples of "better" steel nibs. All the holy grail pens have gold nibs, now I am not saying they write well cus they are have gold nibs, but all the high end pens that write have gold nibs.
I bought a 3776 in ‘Fine’ and I was so irritated with its ‘feedback’ that I felt I’d have rather spent this money on a steak dinner ( even though I’m a vegetarian and there’re no Steak houses here in India ) 😉
Anyway, I’ve sent it to a Nib smith for smoothening and awaiting its return !
I’ve 3 more Gold nib pens.. In my experience as an ‘average Joe’, gold nibs are highly overrated..
😂 …steak dinner, vegetarian, India 😂 that’s funny
Got a nib that was horrible straight out of the box. Thought I could deal with it on my own after having problems with the online shop I bought it from.
Never got it going quite right. Couldn't order another nib because it's Platinum. Also didn't really want to because I detest the body pen anyway. Too light. Feels cheap. Looks cheap.
Lesson: Don't buy the cheapest gold-nibbed pen just because it's got a gold nib.
Got really frustrated.
It's sitting in a box somewhere.
In all honesty, after being delighted with the steel nibs with ebonite feeds I'm using from Wancher and FPR, I don't really care if I see that pen again.
Yes.
This review could have taken one third the amount of time you spent on it. I have this pen - same SF nib and same color. I also have the same exact pen in Medium. I much prefer the medium. Also - why didn't you just tell us what you paid for the pen. Is it a state secret?
it sounds very scratchy , i even hear it
That's two things: my old mic set up, and Platinum's gold nibs are known to make noise, but it's not because it's scratchy, they just have that aural feedback.
@@JG3ReviewsI have Platinum 3776 medium nib. It is not scratchy, actually it is very wet, but I hear noise on the paper in quiet environment