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Standard Typewriters » SG Owners Club » 06-1-2019 23:22:32

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 278

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I've owned several SG-1's and just acquired my first SG-3, so some impressions on compare and contrast:

First impression was that the SG-3 had been cheapened, but second take is that it has been simplified. Gone are the over-the-top spring-loaded key tops.  But were they necessary?  I don't notice any discomfort typing without them.  The external appearance of the machine is of course grossly simplified: from crinkle to smooth, from appurtenances to smooth, from knobby to smooth... etc.  One cheapening though which seems to be entirely cheapening with no redeeming design value: the paper rest has gone from something which looks like it moonlights as a slide rule to a stubby thing with sloppy tolerances in the slide. I did not like the grommet and post method of attaching the top at first: it's not something you can just flip open, you have to stand up and pull it off the typewriter. If there are issues with the ribbon this can become annoying -- as received it was not reversing but after a new ribbon with the path right and the rivets in the right places it seems to be working fine, and with lack of need to open the machine annoyance fades.

The decision between them seems to be mainly a matter of decor -- though of course all machines are individuals - but I can say that after initial skepticism i would admit the SG-3 as a true and worthy successor to the SG-1, or at least the one I found which was still manufactured in Western Germany. 

Type Talk » Recent Acquisitions Thread » 28-12-2018 18:18:18

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 1977

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Please excuse my enthusiasm in posting an ephemeral link rather than my own photos...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Olympia-Werke-AG-Manual-SG-3-Typewriter-Western-Germany-/113454762538

...but this SG-3 is one nice writing machine.  It gave me some bad moments when I unpacked it as it had taken a knock to the plate behind the carriage and had a bad rub even with the plate off, but - removable carriage to the rescue! - the carriage went back and forth smoothly off the typewriter so it could only be a minor issue, traced to the feed rollers rubbing a shield with enough adjustment in it to move out of the way.

Still made in Western Germany, good rubber, quiet, fine imprint, built like a Panzer, yadda, yadda.. The funny Spanish diacritical and punctuation keys are icing.

Only significant problem is that near perfection makes it hard to justify buying even one more typewriter. Fortunately, addiction knows no logic.

Type Talk » Recent Acquisitions Thread » 28-12-2018 18:03:05

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 1977

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Markmotown wrote:

Gosh, it's been almost a year since I've posted here. How time flies! Here are my 2018 acquisitions:
...
Hmmmm. Writing it all out like this makes me think that I MIGHT have a typewriter problem! 
 

I don't think you have a problem - many of them were sold before the end of the year and as long as inflow does not greatly exceed outflow, no problem. Not to mention the work you put into several which was the reason that you bought them.  If you kept piling them up meaning to work on them someday, but first, just a few more....!

Type Talk » New Member Thread » 09-12-2018 15:01:35

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 984

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On writing on typewriters:

Yes to everything everybody has said, ever ... well, almost ever.  I am not a writer but i love to write and I too over-edit in one operation when using a computer.  There is a writer's tool which costs several hundred dollars, don't see why the user does not just go out and buy a typewriter already but I suppose there are some advantages to this method, which does not allow you to edit as you go nor do anything else except write; I read a review of this device by a young writer born into the world of computers and he felt it necessary to explain to his readers that the machine produced something called a "draft", though he was not sure he preferred this to "writing", which to him meant the combined writing and editing operation.

Writing indeed clarifies the thinking, moreover it is a form of thinking with an external aid, and add-on eprom which you can burn as you go and reprocess later; it's not just the committing thoughts to paper (or e-ink) but to language, which forces a certain clarification of the necessary but inchoate and inarticulate proto-thoughts of the unconscious: language was the greatest aid in igniting human thought and writing was like unto it taking it to another power of ten, though sometimes I have to admit that thoughts can get through the physical gateway into the external ROM a lot faster via a computer keyboard: but heck, I like typewriters anyway.

I'd hate to admit that 80 typewriters were a step in the wrong direction... What could be wrong with 80 typewriters? 

Type Talk » New Member Thread » 09-12-2018 14:14:33

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 984

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thetypewriterman wrote:

Cork doesn't grip the paper as well as rubber, but it doesn't deteriorate in the same way either.  Wartime apart, it was always offered as an alternative to rubber, but maybe only 5% of typewriters were so fitted because of the poor paper feed.

Just bought my first cork platen machine, it fits this bill exactly. The cork is resilient and quiet to the extent that the chief source of noise is rattling in the action, but the paper starts to tilt near the bottom of the page. Of course I have machines with slick rubber platens which do the same, but interested to know this one example of cork is behaving according to the breed.
 

Resources » Factory drawings/blueprints for typewriters available? » 25-11-2018 15:06:16

Right now on eBay someone is offering original sketches and photos of mock-ups of the Royal Empress.  First $950 takes the lot (plus shipping).

Type Talk » Absolute quietest typewriter… » 25-11-2018 15:01:36

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 49

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" Albeit, the SG-9 does look like a super-sized SM-9."

SG-3 does look...

Type Talk » Absolute quietest typewriter… » 25-11-2018 15:00:21

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 49

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Well, BlackLicorish, the main difference between between the SM-9 and the SG-3 is that the first is a portable and the second an office machine, which is a dead giveaway if you are sitting in front of one.    Albeit, the SG-9 does look like a super-sized SM-9. At this point the inevitable flogging of the obvious that there are many sources of variation in the noise of a machine besides the original design, age (lost insulation, loosening parts, hardening platen) seldom favoring quiet. This means that sight unseen all you can do is play the odds, with some models and epochs having a higher probability of satisfaction. I like almost all species of typewriter sounds, except as we agree the highest pitched and most painful.  They provide constant feedback that 'Hey, this guy's working!". 

If you want to develop upper-body strength I recommend of a course of full-sized standard acquisition with frequent rearrangement. You can follow this up with full-sized electric typebar standards, but be sure you've worked through the manuals first and done warm up exercises to avoid injury.

Type Talk » Absolute quietest typewriter… » 24-11-2018 16:44:04

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 49

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P.S.,  When you say you have a "massive" SM-9 I wonder if you are referring to the SG-3. The styling of these two machines is so similar that without something to set the scale it's not hard to mistake one for the other in a photograph

Type Talk » Absolute quietest typewriter… » 24-11-2018 15:39:59

UnderwoodStd
Replies: 49

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BlackLicorice wrote:

Hi UnderwoodStd, I'm not sure if you were replying to me, but if you were, then thank you for the suggestion.

I have an Olympia SM-9, but it's the massive one from the late 70's (with wide carriage) and it's very loud. It is lovely to type with, though, and returning the carriage is so effortless. It's a quality machine.
Is there a specific decade/year of SM-9 you would recommend? Perhaps an older one?

Hi BlackLicorice - I have one with a wide carriage also, though the serial number puts it at 1966. Late 1970's was the Twilight of the Typewriters and a lot may have changed although the model number did not, though you seem overall satisfied with it except for the noise. I share your distaste for high-pitched noise: a thudding or even a clacking sounds like work being done, while a sharp slapping noise is unpleasant. I am not a fan of the feel of "silent" actions either, though I find a lot of machines with conventional actions are very quiet, including examples of the SG-1 and the Royal QDL as others have mentioned. Only brand/model which is definitely NOT quiet in my experience is, ahem, an Underwood Standard, except for the late ones which have things like "FIVE" (not 5) and "Golden Touch" in their name. The classic Underwood 5 is a loud machine in my experience - albeit the ones in my experience were all in need of new platens - and I have a 1940's era SS which sounds like an entire newsroom by itself.

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