Thursday 15 October 2015

Vintage/Retro Typewriters (What's Great About Them?)

Friday 16 October. 1:49 p.m.

Well, they aren't exactly that vintage. Some years ago (like more than 10 years ago), I was still using an old typewriter & the lousy keys would entangle & jam up & I would have to undo them with my fingers to be able to type again, all the time.

That typewriter in its black plastic case (portable, clumsy)... was sold to a Karang Guni man.  Can't remember how much that lousy Karang Guni man paid me. I didn't know who to go for repairs. It was a newer model of old typewriters, that's why it was so bad. After that, they stopped making.

The keys were lightweight, flimsy metal strips, flying & entangling. The keys had to be hammered hard with fingertips. It made a lousy, thin metal noise of poor quality. Not careful & your finger will slip into the space between the keys. The effort to push the damn roller back to start at every line of the page & the pull of the handle to go to next line.

The brand was... I can't remember. Neither do I recall how or where I acquired it.  I used it for a while, kept it for a while. I don't throw away my things.

After that, an electric typewriter was purchased for me. Panasonic? Well, it was good & so high speed, like a machine gun with just a press of one key (without lifting the finger).  No more entangling keys, black & oily, no more changing of greasy black & red ribbon reels.

The reason I'm typing this (now on my laptop), is that I am now aware of a shop that does repairs of ancient typewriters. That shop is at Katong & while I won't be visiting it any time soon, it got me curious.

Then I just read a female blogger who sounds like a "vintage" typewriter is so goddamn new to her (& she don't look young enough not to know about such typewriters.). She don't even have her own opinion of what's so great about such a typewriter & need to copy & paste someone else's opinion.

I'll tell you, in my opinion, not from copy & paste, what's so great about such ancient typewriters.

I've always liked their look. Very Steam Punk. You know steam punk? It's odd that such a large instrument is used to type small things. The small words don't match the large size of the instrument used to type them. But that's not quite it.

There's something about these antique typewriters that ... what's the right word... "make" me look.  I stare. I'm interested & would like to type on them. But I also know the disadvantages in using them & in this era, they are very expensive to buy. The expense alone, I cannot afford. So, I can only look.

At the same time, I don't want them to just sit there & be just a novelty in a corner. These are functioning instruments for a greater purpose that they were made for. To reduce them into just a novelty is wrong.

Therefore, I won't buy a typewriter that isn't functioning anymore. If I had one, I will send it for repair. If I can afford the cost of repair.

Of course the laptop/modern keyboard is better for many reasons, that's why the ancient typewriter became extinct.

But what is it that makes it superior to modern keyboards?

The feel. The hammering. And as that female blogger said, the "ding!" when you reach the end of the roller (a.k.a. page margin). Other than that...

I think I go for the look. The more steam punk, the more interesting. I wouldn't call it beautiful. Made by man, no sense of aesthetics. Rather crudely made.

I didn't even know they had different fonts back then. Wow.  I have only seen the same old boring font & font size. Maybe I need to get to know more ancient typewriters to know them better.

Maybe some people like the ink missing from certain curves of a letter. But I like mine solid black.

I guess I do like the old typed font style. Even now when typing my novel on laptop, I select the old typewriter font & size. Back when I was typing on the old typewriter, I was typing out the short stories that I wrote in pencil on paper.

Come to think... looking at those vintage typewriters that people on Carousell are selling, I think if I had money, I will collect as many of these typewriters as possible. What for? Seriously, I don't know. Just hoarding. Put each one on a pedestal with lights so that when people come, can see them. Like a museum.

Eh... then again, didn't I say I want them to be functional? Hmm... Well, occasionally, I'll type different pages of my work on each of them. Then I can say I typed this page on this 1920s typewriter & that page on that very first typewriter ever invented.  So, you're not just holding a piece of work but a whole heavy body of antique typewriters that wrote it. Cool eh?

I  remember I was once at a flea market where I saw a vintage typewriter & asked the male seller how much it cost. He said $150 or around that price. I was quite surprised by the high price. Would have liked to purchase it but had to walk away.  That was when I was still quite young. Maybe teenager? I was out with my parents & while they were ahead or somewhere around, I stayed to ask this man. He wasn't friendly, didn't smile. I guess he thought I couldn't afford it. 

Since then, even now, I still cannot afford it...



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