Ever since Moleskine started making their music notebook (affiliate link*)I thought they were cool, but there’s not much use for one other than music so I resisted buying one.

When I revived my guitar playing a year ago I finally bought one. I wasn’t writing music, but I wanted a place to record little riffs and bits that I picked up here and there. It actually didn’t work out. TAB is much easier to use for guitar, and that is one format Moleskine doesn’t do yet.

But more recently I restarted an interested in learning the penny whistle. And again, out came the music notebook to write down a tune I’d found – one of the bits of fife music from The Patriot. Anyway, this time it worked out much better and before long I’d filled up 15 pages with 20 tunes. Normal musical notation is perfect for the whistle – hardly any ledger lines – and it works great for putting all the tunes I’m learning in one easy to carry place.

I’ve been using three different pens to write the tunes. A Pilot G2 gel pen in .5mm works ok, but is a tad wide. My Pelikan M200 with a home-ground italic was a little disappointing. I’d thought it would give me the roman-style line thicknesses I see in printed music, but it didn’t. It just didn’t work as well, and neither did the color of the ink. I’ve landed on my Namiki Vanishing Point in fine, black Namiki ink. It works a tad better than the G2, and is portable enough to take anywhere and toss in any bag.

Make sure ink is dry before you close the book. Little dots of undried ink in a writing journal causes no harm, and may even bring charm. In a music notebook it can cause dotted notes. Ditto with bleeding ink. This may rule out some wetter fountain pens. So far mine have been ok.

I’d thought it would be hard to write anything I’d be able to read while playing, but I actually find I prefer the denser style I write the notation in. Printed notation tends to make the bars all the same width, and allows more space to longer notes. I find that tedious to read, so I write them more densely. A whistle tune easily fits on a page or less, so it will be a few hundred tunes before I can fill up this book.

*You can assume any link is an affiliate link on this post. I own and use all of these items, and they work well for me.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve set aside the ball point and gone back to a fountain pen. This morning I actually remembered to throw my pen case in my briefcase.

So I opened the case just now and grabbed my Pelikan M200
(affiliate link). It wrote perfectly. No tapping the nib to get things started. No licking (yuk) the nib to loosen up dried ink. It just wrote like I’d just set it down. The last time that pen was used was January 5th.

The Namiki Grance is no longer sold, which is a real shame because it is a great combination of quality, price and pure usability.

I bought it back in 1997 or so, and it quickly became one of my favorites. It writes very well, with a ink feed that almost never dries out. I swear I can leave this pen full of ink for months, pick it up and if there is any ink left in it, it will write.

The cap is a click-on, instead of twist or threaded which I like. The pen is not very thick, and the nibs run narrow, but if you write fairly small it’s all good. The nib is not very flexible, but it’s very smooth. Construction-wise, Namiki doesn’t disappoint. Solid feel, reasonably tight threads with only a little grittiness when screwing the body together. There’s an O-ring to keep things tight, which is a nice touch. The cap doesn’t noticeably rattle when it’s on, which is often a problem with click-ons. The clip is very tight, and is designed to put a death-grip on a shirt pocket – it’s not going to be so useful when gripping thicker fabrics. The reveal is pretty short – perhaps a quarter of an inch – but enough to reliably grab the pen.

While these are no longer made, they are still showing up on Ebay for $100 or so. At that price, they are a nice pen, very usable, without the fragility you sometimes feel with more expensive pens.

Realizing I can’t review only ballpoint pens, I decided to review the Namiki Vanishing Point fountain pen. If you are someone who uses fountain pens, especially if you need one you can carry reliably, the Namiki is for you. These are the only retractable fountain pens out there, and they write wonderfully.

The pen can be filled via cartridge or converter, but I use cartridges because a) Namiki ink is among the most waterproof and fade resistant, b) I can carry spare cartridges a lot easier than an ink pot, and c) Who doesn’t love Pilot-Blue ink?

The pen is fairly comfortable to hold, with the pocket clip aligning the pen into proper writing position. I don’t care for the ultra smooth gripping surface – a matte surface would be easier to hold on to, although probably not as attractive. The clicker mechanism is not very quiet, but has a solid, positive feel to it. There is a sort of trap door that seals the nib from the outside, with the idea of keeping it moist and ready to write. It mostly works really well – too well, as it’s easy to forget to empty this pen if it’s going to be left unused for a while.

When then pen is opened, there is a central portion that is the nib and ink feed, with the cartridge or converter attached. No other parts come out of the pen, and the architecture makes it easy to swap nibs and bodies if you have more than one. I have the feaux carbon fiber, and an older green one, with one medium and one fine nib. The fine is very fine, and the medium is more like a fine in other brands.

The reveal is a tad too short – it can be difficult to grab the pen out of a tight sleeve or pocket, but most of the time this isn’t a problem. The clip is a simple spring style, but has pretty good grip if not much capacity. It certainly seems strong enough, and I’ve had no problems with it loosening.

I love my Namiki’s, and will never sell them. They’re great writers and are easy to carry. The only downside is that, being fountain pens, they don’t write on many kinds of paper you commonly run across in daily life. However, for serious note-taking, nothing beats a fountain pen for reducing hand fatigue. If you are looking for a reasonably priced (~$100) fountain pen and would prefer something simple to own, try a Namiki Vanishing Point.