I was the sort of person, when I had less experience with fountain pens, that might have thought of nib meisters “is it worth it” or “will they laugh at me and my little pen”. Then, my first big pen purchase a, Homo Sapiens Magma, fell from my hands when I was “attacked” by a spider. The pen hadn’t been out of the box for three hours the nib was bent 90 degrees from itself. I was devastated. No return or warranty recourse, I ended up sending it off to Mark Bacas. A few weeks and $40 bucks later my (at the time) grail baby was looking great and writing as good as new or better. I have since sent two other pens to Mark and have always been amazed and happy with his work and his efficient courteous service. Anyone on the fence, take the nib meister plunge. I, for one, highly doubt you’ll regret it.
Thanks for this informative video. I'm left-handed. I have the feeling that most nibs are manufactured or tuned for right-handers straight out of the box. After getting a couple of pens tuned by John Mottishaw and experiencing how perfectly they write, I don't think I'll ever buy another pen without the nib being 'meistered for my writing style.
This makes me think I should get into nib meistering because I, as a left handed person with the same problem, always just fixed them myself and they write perfectly and smoothly afterwords.
I can't recommend highly enough the work of Mike, Dan and Mark. They get sent all of my pens that have anything undesirable about them. Not that I can't tune a nib, but I appreciate the level of quality and professionalism of a true nibmeister.
Absolutely. Their work is first-class. I learned how to do it most of it myself so that I wouldn't need to inquire the services of a nibmeister, but realistically, even after 5+ years I'm still learning. Getting a nib from these folks is a first class exemplar. You can learn the skills and invest perhaps 60-100$/£/€ and approximately 3-4 12-packs of pilot varsities, but it still takes time. Or if you have jeweler's-level patience and handiwork it might not.
My Sailor KoP arrived with a tine out of line, uneven iridium and angles. It wrote poorly. I sent it to Matthieu Faivet in France. He had it repaired and posted back to me in 3 days. The pen now writes perfectly. He does excellent work. I recommend him 100%!
Stephen, Your talks are always informative and generally bring me new perspective on Your topic of the day. I value your opinion and the time you have invested in bringing it to me. Thank you for your kindness and being here today. Tim
Great information. I have a pen I’ve spent more on the grind then the cost of the pen, a TWSBI eco with an architect grind which is one of my favorite pens.
Playing with nibs is half the fun of having fountain pens. I have a Jinhao on a slow boat from China, I'm looking forward to smoothing/adjusting the nib when it gets here.
Stephen. Excellent video. ExTREMEly helpful. I bought a Wing Sung 626 specifically to use with my SBREBROWN ink. Its soft springy steel nib is unique for me, but that aside, it not only skips, but burps here and there. Been feeling like an idiot even entertaining the notion of sending an under $50 pen to a nibmeister. But your encouragement reminds me of how good I feel in using my pens that writes very well. Conclusion: I’m sending it to Mike. Thank you Stephen! Now it feels like the right thing to do.
Yeah, I've been getting frustrated buying pens with slight scratchiness to them while writing and it's like your enjoying yourself gliding on the page and suddenly their is this pothole and sometimes it comes up more often.
Humility is gold in the area of nib adjustments. For a person like myself who thinks he is Superman and can do it myself, I needed to hear this. Thank you for these insights! :-)
Excellent Stephen, should help you from having to keep answering the question -just refer folks to the video. Well done and spot on congruent with my nibmeister experiences -all at pen shows. For decades I wrote with two XF pens, day after day, year after year smoothly. Then I fell down the rabbit hole 10-15 years ago like a lot of us (A passing UFO with a “pen-demic” infecting ray? Why not, one conspiracy theory is as good as another, lol.) Since 2016 I now have 2 fantastically tuned nibs, a double broad Pelikan M400 that was way over polished and never wrote and skipped and slid when it did. Richard Binder fixed that in about 20 min at a show. A pre-owned M400 XF that I bought mail order to substitute for the non usable BB. The XF didn’t write very well either until Linda Kennedy tuned that at a show and the pen for the first time in 10 years wrote. 2 Superb Nibmeister tuned nibs for the same pen! After a wonderful extended conversation with Susan Wirth at the Chicago show just a couple of days before her death, I decided I needed to try a cursive italic. I wish I could thank you Susan for 2 great pen conversations, I learned a lot. After a few more Chicago and Ohio Shows I now have 3 CI grinds all by Linda: Crimson Sunrise VP original skippy over polished M, now F CI, Sheaffer Targa 14 K M, now fine CI, and Bexley Schmidt M now F/M CI. The Sheaffer CI gets rotated among the several Targas I have collected. Last year, just for fun, I had Richard Binder grind an Architect on a NOS Parker Super 21 BB, fantastic! Now I need to practice enough to learn how to use it. I also have a Namiki Falcon SF with a John Mottishaw Spencerian Grind that My family Christmas Gifted me about a decade ago. A great really fine EDC, I’m still carefully learning how to flex it. I prefer the delayed gratification of waiting for a show and then waiting for me to be called to the nibmeister’s table to work on my nib in real time with me testing it; to the delayed gratification of 2 direction shipping and probably waiting a few to several months in the queue for my pen to be worked on. Yes this is my unsolicited recommendation of these 2 Nibmeisters. Richard is retired but still attends some shows. See his web site for announcements about his show attendance and all kinds of helpful pen info. Linda and Mike Kennedy are at some shows and also accept nib work, restoration and sell modern and restored vintage pens from their website. Incidentally Mike Kennedy does excellent repair/restoration work. 2 years ago I sat at the table and watched Mike totally disassemble, clean, replace a washer, reassemble and test a 1938 plunger fill W. Eversharp Demi Doric that I bought from someone at a previous show. In
At one time the lady who does Pendemonium’s nib work was very good; she used to work for Sheaffer. Have not used her in awhile. Don’t think there will be any US pen shows for the rest of 2020; Richard Binder has said that if there are any he will not be attending,
Both Mike Masuyama and Dan Smith have made excellent grinding jobs for me. I also purchased a pen from Richard Binder in 2014 with a nib ground to a XXXXF size that writes beautifully.
It all comes down to touch. The reason to use a fountain pen is to make a more intimate connection with writing. It makes perfect sense, then, that coordinating the mechanics of the pen with the preferences of your nervous system is a worthwhile investment. Nibmeisters have the tools--grinders, polishers, hand tools, magnifiers, sometimes brand-specific--and years of training, to be as intimate with a pen nib as a diamond cutter is with a diamond. I have a range of italics and obliques meistered for me, and they are quite wonderful, much more expressive than their out-of-the-box personae.
Dr. Brown great video. It explored some very useful information and the thoughts behind it. Grinding and tuning nibs is something that takes time and steady hand. It's not for everyone. Your view on "is it worth it for a cheap pen" was spot on. I spent 2.5 hours to take a brass Kaweco knockoff w/broad nib to a .7-.8 stub. Was it worth two and a half hours of my time for a cheap pen, YES. I have the exact pocket pen I want that writes the exact way I want it to. Nibmeisters are definitely worth the cost of their work. I have several that have had work on them and a couple more that are waiting for it.
One of the most satisfying things I did was learning to grind my own nibs. I got a bunch of Jinhao nibs and after a few months of practice I could turn out a fine point that finally looked the way I wanted. Expanded into stub and italic and had a ball. It was especially helpful when I special ordered an Italix pen and the nib was way off. I just fixed it. I'm no longer miffed when a pen I want doesn't offer X-Fine. I just fix it.
I own numerous nibs from both Masuyama(Mike it work) & Bacas(nibgrinder)...they are both very precise/specific in what they do. You can’t go wrong with either of them. Beyond happy with every custom grind I own from both guys. They give the customer the opportunity to be very specific in what they want via videos & written descriptions. They’ll do anything possible to make you happy.
Thanks for the video. Highlights for me the fact that buying expensive pens with flash nibs can't be taken for granted. You must buy from a reputable, knowledgeable dealer who can marry your expectations with a brand/nib whose characteristics you'd be happy with. With a Ballpoint or rollerball a pens characteristics are set in stone. With a fountain pen, especially an expensive one like a grail pen, a nibmeister can get a bad situation back on the rails and running properly. That's worth the outlay with a pen you've wanted for a long time and want to keep for a long time. It adds considerably to the charm of owning, using that particular pen.
Brilliant. bit new to this and I now know all I need to know. Quite fascinated that you had to be so thorough and detailed in your explanations. Clearly this is from experience, people not actually listening to what you are saying.
Thanks for the very informative video. I'm still at the beginning of my fountain pen journey, but I can see the possibility of sending an "imperfect" pen to a nibmeister in the future for tuning or a speciality grind.
Thanks Stephen. Great points. I was explaining this to a friend of mine. They were very much in the "it must be perfect out of the box" camp. So I equated it to buying a suit jacket off the rack and getting one tailored. You absolutely can buy a jacket off the rack and it can fit just fine. it will always fit better when tailored. That worked for them. Also, FWIW, I have always had great experiences with nibs.com in case anyone needs a testimonial.
Thank you for a very interesting video. My experience of nib meisters has been excellent (I live in the UK and strongly recommend John Sorrowka aka "Oxonian"). I once bought a Pelikan M800 with a broad nib, which I asked John Sorrowka to turn into a fine italic. What impressed me was that he asked me to write in front of him so he could see how I held my pen while writing and then proceeded with a few deft strokes and use of his machinery to turn into a very good italic writer that is often in my "rotation". I think nibmeisters may become even more necessary as manufacturers reduce the range of nibs they offer: Pelikan, for example, used to offer a wide range of BB, oblique B and other nibs but now only generally offer a restricted range and even then charge more for an EF nib. Nibmeisters will come to our rescue!
Doesn't using the services of a nibmeister void any warranty with the manufacturer? I'm not against nibmeisters at all. Just making sure about this point. Could you clarify this? On the more expensive pens I know that if this is the case, then one would have to take that into consideration.
@sbrebrownYou bring up some excellent points, however I am left with one question. Before going to a nibmeister to get a pen to how I like it, what steps can I take to become educated enough to actually know what changes/adjustments will best suit me?
I'd say: try a lot of pens (e.g. at a local pen club) to develop a feel for what you like, and also talk to a nibmeister. Most nibmeisters will be happy to advice you in person, on the phone, or through email
You actually need to try to write with custom grinds or tuned nibs by a nibmeister. Going to a pen show near by or a pen club with people that have work done is the best solution. That is the only way. You wont know what you like until you try it yourself.
Thank you so much for the free seminar. To your knowledge, do they commonly take on the job of turning a nib into flex (by mean of cutouts and other adjustments)?
Fine pianos such as Steinways are typically prepped for hours before they are ready for art level performance. The concert techs who do this work are the piano equivalents of nibmeisters.
Excellent video for me, as I'm just starting out with fountain pens. Also, I would not use Canadian Tire auto service as my benchmark for excellence or knowledge.
In some circumstances it's possible to grind nib tipping to write wider without re-tipping. It very much depends on the amount of tipping, and how it's shaped.
Good topic, and timing - I have just received Ensso XS from the Kickstarter with a Ti nib that has a hard start if you keep it off the paper for longer than 2 seconds. In my opinion, this is something on the seller to make it right, awaiting their response. I have sent two nibs that had opposite problems: one from Visconti that was terribly dry and scratch, another from Bock that was a firehose. The nice guys form fpnibs.com (Malaga, Espana) set them both perfectly. Third thing is - I am not aware of any local nibmeister in central/eastern Europe, thus any correction for nib = shipping costs. I would gladly take few of the pens to some local specialist, spent with him a bit of time and paid for his service...
Hi! I'm the nib specialist Stephen mentioned who works at Appelboom. I am originally from Austria and hopefully going to attend pen shows/events all over europe again once the pandemic is over. Perhaps at that point some pen event or pen meet in that general area could be planned. I don't know much about the pen community in Vienna or in countries further east from there but maybe this could be looked into.
@@StringsandPedals I'd love to, but this virus is not so easy thing to get rid of. Or maybe you should open a small workshop and announce it around...? :)
Great video. I am impressed about your depth of knowledge in this particular area. I am kind of a nibaholic. I grind most of my pens and do my own minor repairs (re-forming). But when I screw up or recognize that it is beyond my skill set I go to Greg M. or Mike. I have been lucky to have a couple nibs done by Richard B. and John Mottishaw. A couple things you missed are a nib meister (BTW Greg M told me he hates that name but would not give me an alternative) can also repair a cracked or broken tine. Greg has done that for me in my early days of screwing up. The other adjustment that they can do is to make a nib flexier. Mike, Richard, and John have been the best for me. Mike is the only one who I can go to now and his wait time is months but worth it. I like near needle point Spencerian flex. And I have a few done by these guys. They require a very light careful hand but the line variation that you can get from a modern pen can be amazing. Love your videos....stay healthy!
Stephen, super informative and a service that all of us in the pen community will use at one time or another. For the folks in Canada I highly recommend Salman at Toronto Pen Company (just because it's not in the list above). Once again thanks for putting this together.
Been following your channel for a couple of months now! Great channel. I do believe nibmeisters are a must. I have been following your advice about contracting Salman from Toronto Pen Company to reduce the flow on my MB149. I hope that he will do a fantastic job. Been missing my pen already but hey, it gives me the opportunities to use my other pens!! :) P.S: IMHO, I would not send my car to Canadian Tire. ;)
I bought a Leonardo Momento Zero Grande at Akkerman. Great pen. Teun (nice guy) and I talked about pens for a while and another pen that I have came up. It doesn't write very nice and he said to send it to them and back and he would look at it. Should I send it to him or to Annabelle? I've never had a pen tuned.
A few months ago I purchased a Monteverde Innova 1.1 mm nib. From the very start it will write for maybe a paragraph in my journal and then it loses Inkflow until it stops completely. I then have to turn the converter to give the feed a little ink. I was wondering if anyone out there knows/has any idea of what could be causing this problem. I paid $50 for the pen. I can’t imagine how much it would cost to fix. And I can say only that I am on a very tight budget otherwise I would send it into a nib master immediately. So if anyone could suggest what could be the problem, it would be much appreciated. Cheers.
I have a Regatta with the same problem. I’ve used two different converters, reseated the nib and feed, cleaned between each step, and tried a cartridge. That’s as far as I’m comfortable with doing. Now I will call Yafa direct. They have great customer service.
I have no experience with nib meisters, but I've spent a lot on $30 dress shirts and never wear them because they don't fit properly. I'd rather spend $200 on a shirt custom sized to me and actually wear it. The unbelievable scratchiness of my kakuno EF made me get super fine polishing paper and try to fix it myself. It worked and I used the pen daily until I broke it.
I've had the opportunity to purchase custom grinds or tuning services of Mike, Dan, Mark, and Gina (who apprenticed under John Mottishaw). My first pen show grind experience was amazing. Dan turned my Visconti Opera Master broad palladium nib from a non-stop firehose, to a lovely moderate-wet broad cursive italic.
I see your point, but I do feel that in certain brands of pens it takes something away from the character of the pen. for example, I have a sailor pro colour 500 winter sky with a steel fine nib .it has a lot of feedback that I did not like initially. now grinding that down feels like I am taking something away from how the pen should feel if you understand what I mean. I got used to it and now its one of my most treasured pens. whenever I use some of my smoother pens like a Faber castell loom I miss the feedback of my sailor.
Excellent topic, thank you for answering so many questions Stephen. The only one I have for you, which probably isn't a question for you but I'll ask anyway is, how does someone become a nibmeister? It's fascinating to me. I especially liked how you brought up getting inexpensive pens worked on - though the monetary value of the pen may be very low, perhaps the sentimental value is priceless and the owner would love to be able to write with it again. Right? Write. :-) Thanks again Stephen! Stay safe up there in Canada!
What about the man at Italix? Is he a nibmeister? Peter Ford - I'm guessing that he grinds the nibs since it appears he is going to retire at 75 next year as per his website comment.
He definitely knows what he is doing, but I don't know if he works on pens not purchased through his website (which would be completely understandable). As I don't know if he does that, I don't have Mr Ford mentally filed as a nibmeister, but that may just be an idiosyncrasy on my behalf
Thanks DocStephen this was useful of course; I recall some of your old videos on nibulation and learned a lot, I also completely buggered up nibs trying to fettle them BUT... your advice on inexpensive nibs was followed back then and I only do little adjustments now when I get a pen costing a bit more than a hero... Nibmiestering is a skill and a talent, the car illustration was good..hey I can now deactivate the alarm all by myself 🙄 This talk was interesting and helpful I'm sure to everyone reaching for their dremmel. Your ACE..... Best wishes to all PenPeople 💜 mind how you go. LeZc @@
Thank you. This was informative and understandable even for me, a relative newbie! I marvel at people who can do such noticeable things to such tiny objects. How light-handed they must be! On pens, I think all fountain pens should write, passably, straight out of the box, as is their purpose. BUT: The higher the price tag, the higher the quality of the nib. If a £15 Lamy Safari writes better from the word 'go' than the £150 Platinum 3776, there's something wrong. Budgeting for a nibmeister should be for either tuning a nib as a treat, or repairing a nib that got damaged with use. NOT paying extra for cleaning up behind overpriced, shoddy manufacturing. On the other hand, budgeting for a nibmeister in advance is genius.
I will digest a few brands for nib performance, I find most brands stay consistent to these rules regardless of make/model. *Pilot: As much as others have had good luck with their nibs I have not, I have owned several of their pens and I have found them not to write very well, the metro skipped and or didn't feed, the 74 same thing but this one was like a glassy babies bottom. My 92 wrote good just SO boring. N O character to the nib. Semi Stiff nib. Below average smoothness and more feedback *Montblanc: Tend to write scratchy at first but after long term use (6 months +) they truly adapt to your writing style and it becomes no longer a pen but YOUR pen, TONS AND TONS of character. Their nibs have this amazing ability to change flow based on pressure. I do not care one bit about the brand-hate jealously, they make an outstanding nib. Standard gold springiness. No feedback or feel of the paper. *Omas: Mine was the scratchiest nib I ever had out of the box but I smoothed it for literally 2 minutes on a brown paper bag and has become one of my favorites. Absolute gusher but you can tame her with varying pressure , straight shooting pen kind of boring in the finer fonts but for larger writing MAN THIS THING IS THE BEES KNEES. Standard gold springiness (despite forums saying spring!) *Pelikan: Really not a fan of Pelikan, when I buy a fine I expect a fine not a broad. Pelikan seems to not understand that and they pair that on top of an asinine amount of wetness. If you're not painting bulletin boards I don't recommend Pelikan, they do write out of the box and yes you can send it back in to them in the first 30 days if you don't like your nib performance but when you buy a pen do you really want to send it right back and have to wait a month + ? ? More flexi and springy than what you would expect. Smooth out of the box. *Montegrappa: They seem to have a lot of flow issues, ALL I have received are dry writers, they do not do well with pressure and tend to rail road. They tend to skip a lot too. Boring pen straight line no character, tend to write fatter than what they say. However ironically once I did some grinding on them they became one of my favorites. I wouldn't try anything past a medium in them for flow issues. STIFF nibs. Smooth out of the box. *Delta: Now these are some good nibs, accurate with lots of character. Medium flow. No feeling the paper from this guy. SMOOTH and I mean SMOOTH. They are the most balanced nib. STIFF. Make the best fine nib/size in my opinion. *Aurora: another very good nib but different, accurate writer, some character, medium stiff. Semi dry. Will work out of the box but I don't think you will make it your favorite writer more so best work horse. These are like the B+ student not much to say bad or good. Doesn't mean they're not good but won't be on top of anyone's list. Same sizing as Delta *Visconti: Absolute sh1t, they're littered with issues. Especially the Pd nib's. If you dip the nib it will be the best writer you have used out of the box (smooth as it gets boys). But after your ink saturated nib goes away every problem imaginable will begin. Strongly avoid, I know it's tough because they make the best looking pens but it's a beating. *Lamy: These are similar to aurora just fatter in line width, STIFF nibs. In fact I would say they're the same as aurora just stiffer. *ST Dupont: In my opinion the holy grail of nibs. They all write out of the box. They are the smoothest of any out of the box. They offer a lot of wetness variation depending on pressure. Appropriate line widths. Somewhat flexible nib. Really adaptive to you. They're similar to Montblanc with the difference being smoother out of the box. *Twsbi (or any JoWo nib for the matter): Stiff straight shooting accurate nib. Not much character but they will work. Make good workhorses. Medium flow. Finer line than standard european sizes. I really like them for workplaces when paper is doo doo quality. Because they don't feather because they're finer and the correct amount of wetness. *Pineider: Absolute terrible Pen company, even worse than visconti. Anything you buy from them will work out of the box and the pen itself is always half baked (yes it looks good) but you will see quickly in the detailing it was rushed. Tons and TONS of things wrong with them even looking past the nib. AVOID *Sailor: I did not like the sailor in the one I had mostly because the fine is WAY TOO fine. Like writing with a needle. Tons of feedback. Good wetness and does have a variation ability. Pretty looking nibs though. THEY ARE NOT HARD AS A NAIL. I have no clue why forums say they're hard as a nail. 21k gold is VERY soft and springy. I would not get a sailor in anything less than a medium which that is equivalent to some brands extra fine. I will say though the 21k nib being bouncy has TONS of character to it. *Faber-castell: Almost a complete copy of Pelikan in the being too wide department BUT STIFFER. Boring boring nibs with no character. Medium wetness but so stiff you will never see any of the flex to use it. Lots of feedback at first but tames down. *Feel Free to hijack onto this comment and add your opinions !*
interesting how you only mention MB and ST dupont having adaptive nibs, can you elaborate on that? aren't all gold nibs supposed to do that? my pilot CH91 writes differently now than it did when i got it
@@FookFish Absolutely. You are 100% correct, gold is a soft metal and it will wear over time. I have found over time means about 2 years of writing. Mind you variables such as low quality office paper will grind a nib down much quicker than soft tahoe river paper but still it's going to be at least a year even on that. What I am saying by adaptive is the amount of pressure you put on them, the direction your hand is in. Just about everything that has to do with writing. I guess a better word would be responsive, but to me that's more like it will put ink on the paper. The MB and ST Dupont REALLY listen to you and your motions. You will get tons of line variations and flare without having to get some screwy grind. I found those brands listed don't really have that character. They more or less just shoot the ink down in the same line width, upstroke downstroke w/e. You can push hard on them and get that super thick variation but that's only when driven hard. MB and ST Dupont just do it naturally. Look up writing samples of Montegrappa/Faber Castell/Pilot in one tab (no particular pen just the brand) and then look up writing samples of MB and St Dupont in other tabs. You will see night and day what I am talking about. Really pay attention to the variation not the font. Some people get fancy and go all loopy with their pen and it LOOKS good but you will still see there is no variation/character to the actual writing.
Thanks for a comprehensive view of your opinions. This deserves a thread of its own. My own experience of nibs is far narrower and I enjoyed reading this.
That's SO interesting. I'm in Europe (Spain) and I have a 1930's Montblanc from my grandfather that needs retipping. Can someone in the replies help me as to who may be the nibmeister adequate for the job?
Thank you, Stephen, as always, for an excellent and informed talk. It's an excellent corrective to some unfortunate blather floating around in our community. On a lighter note, the concurrent video overlay transcription is a hoot. "Nibmeister" becomes, "nip my sister," as in, "don't ask if I know a nip my sister in Tel Aviv." Much needed levity for these times 😉
I was just thinking about this. I have a pen I call “poor nibless “ because I’ve purchased 3 nib units for it and it still doesn’t write well ( the black coated JOWO) so do I purchase yet another or go to a nibmeister? A pretty silly dilemma in today’s world lol
The problem with a black coated nib might be that the black coating will be grinded off the nib a bit. If you want to be sure of a good writing experience I also can recommend sending it to a nibmeister, though and don’t bother of a tiny bit of less black nib. Sending one to a nibmeister (or the 3 of them) will make them beautiful writers! Black nibs tend to be more feedbacky, because of the black layer.
Good points. If you buy a Visconti you should buy it from a pen shop that has a link to a penmeister. I wouldn't touch a Visconti nib by myself - they are very twitchy on warranties. " It did not leave our factory like that."
Good advice even if I prefer to tune my own nibs I do see the value in sending off a more expensive pen to an expert. Then there are those who prefer a nail clipper. :P LOL
Haha! I’m also a fan of Inkneedlastforever! Snipping off nibtips like anything on screen! Boosted my irreverens for writing tools. LOL. Wouldn’t do it on an irreplaceable or expensive nib though.
Very in-depth, thank you. But I agree with the caveat, a nib never writes the same for every person. It can be perfect for me, but not at all usable for the next person to try it.
I alway appreciate your videos. The reasoned, even-handed, thoughtful presentation is such a delight in a world where extremist right/wrong, black/white, good/evil public commentary is so much in the norm. Until watching this, I too kind of felt like, a pen should write the way I want it to out of the box. I now realize how unfair that is to the manufacturer. They can't possibly know what I personally like. If a pen is otherwise serviceable, but isn't EXACTLY to my personal preference in the manner it writes, tuning and engaging the services of a nibmeister is not unreasonable. This is especially true of a pen that otherwise has value to the user (aesthetics, sentimental meaning, etc.) Thank you!
I have thousands of dollars in my pen collection. After a while you buy pens not because you need another, but because you like it. It also seems the longer you collect, the more you spend per pen. The bottom line is you want your newest pen to meet your dream standards. Don't cheap out and invest in a tuning, if needed and enjoy the love affair you want want from that pen.
I agree. Spending $50 on a $5 pen is worth it if you really like the pen. If a nibmeister can make the pen sing, it’s well worth it. I do however have a problem with a $100 or more pen needing tuning. I feel it should write smoothly without skipping or hard starts immediately. Anything less than that is poor quality control in my opinion.
Interesting, I just found this video ... Tomorrow I am to receive back 2 pens I send to #NibGrinder Mark Bacas (yes, he's in Georgia). A brand new Santini Libra with a stub that was ground incorrectly and my beloved 1992 Omas Paragon Arco. The fee he charged, plus shipping (and tip) is worth every cent, knowing that my pens with be exactly the way I want them to be. How do I know? Because He's already perfected my (twice repaired) HS Bronze Age that Coles and the factory in Italy could not resolve.
Here's what I think: not satisfied with your Jinhao nib? DO NOT send it to a nibmeister! Simply swap it for a German nib courtesy of Goulet Pens! And what do you know... bingo!
I certainly agree that pens should at the very least function as pens out of the box. The bank will give you a pen that writes for free, so I expect as much from a fountain pen costing hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, all too often a pen technically writes but is over-polished or what have you, leading to crumby performance. Mike is a pen wizard. And Dan should be counted among the masters, even if he hasn't been doing it for a long time. Both have sorted-out poor writing pens for me in the past. I have fixed expensive nibs myself in the past, sure, but a nibmeister does it better. I try to purchase expensive pens from stores that will test and tune the pen before shipping to avoid the hassle. It's just a better experience to receive a new pen that's perfect out of the box. I'd rather pay full price to guys like John Mottishaw or Dan Smith to receive this experience rather than save a buck on Amazon and roll the dice with a pen that's not so great out of the box!
You are pretty much the only pen reviewer/ commenter that I trust and truly appreciate. Always something to learn here. Thanks!
Never need to apologize for the length. What you are saying is important and takes time. Thank you
I was the sort of person, when I had less experience with fountain pens, that might have thought of nib meisters “is it worth it” or “will they laugh at me and my little pen”. Then, my first big pen purchase a, Homo Sapiens Magma, fell from my hands when I was “attacked” by a spider. The pen hadn’t been out of the box for three hours the nib was bent 90 degrees from itself. I was devastated. No return or warranty recourse, I ended up sending it off to Mark Bacas. A few weeks and $40 bucks later my (at the time) grail baby was looking great and writing as good as new or better. I have since sent two other pens to Mark and have always been amazed and happy with his work and his efficient courteous service. Anyone on the fence, take the nib meister plunge. I, for one, highly doubt you’ll regret it.
Pensmith, one of our few Australian pen repairers say on their website that the Homo Sapiens are one of the most-dropped models of all time.
Thank you for this reply, have just made contact with them for my Homo Sapiens - dropped off my desk and I'm beyond crying right now.
Thanks for this informative video. I'm left-handed. I have the feeling that most nibs are manufactured or tuned for right-handers straight out of the box. After getting a couple of pens tuned by John Mottishaw and experiencing how perfectly they write, I don't think I'll ever buy another pen without the nib being 'meistered for my writing style.
This makes me think I should get into nib meistering because I, as a left handed person with the same problem, always just fixed them myself and they write perfectly and smoothly afterwords.
It would be interesting to see writing samples of some of the nibs that have been worked on......
Superb overview which was very beneficial to me as a newbie. Thanks .
I can't recommend highly enough the work of Mike, Dan and Mark. They get sent all of my pens that have anything undesirable about them. Not that I can't tune a nib, but I appreciate the level of quality and professionalism of a true nibmeister.
That's a great way to put it: I know exactly what you mean
Absolutely. Their work is first-class. I learned how to do it most of it myself so that I wouldn't need to inquire the services of a nibmeister, but realistically, even after 5+ years I'm still learning. Getting a nib from these folks is a first class exemplar.
You can learn the skills and invest perhaps 60-100$/£/€ and approximately 3-4 12-packs of pilot varsities, but it still takes time. Or if you have jeweler's-level patience and handiwork it might not.
My Sailor KoP arrived with a tine out of line, uneven iridium and angles. It wrote poorly. I sent it to Matthieu Faivet in France. He had it repaired and posted back to me in 3 days. The pen now writes perfectly. He does excellent work. I recommend him 100%!
Excellent content
Stephen,
Your talks are always informative and generally bring me new perspective on
Your topic of the day.
I value your opinion and the time you have invested in bringing it to me.
Thank you for your kindness and being here today.
Tim
Thank you, that was very helpful and I appreciate the honesty and perspective. You have provided a valuable service to this community.
Great information. I have a pen I’ve spent more on the grind then the cost of the pen, a TWSBI eco with an architect grind which is one of my favorite pens.
Laughing, laughing... OK, I take it back about criticising the intro. Such a clever and humourus turnaround. Bravo! I eat my words.
wonderful video. thank you.
Thank you, Stephen. A good topic.
Very informative video. I deeply appreciate your insights and your point of view on WHY to send a pen to a nibmeister.
Playing with nibs is half the fun of having fountain pens. I have a Jinhao on a slow boat from China, I'm looking forward to smoothing/adjusting the nib when it gets here.
Stephen. Excellent video. ExTREMEly helpful. I bought a Wing Sung 626 specifically to use with my SBREBROWN ink. Its soft springy steel nib is unique for me, but that aside, it not only skips, but burps here and there. Been feeling like an idiot even entertaining the notion of sending an under $50 pen to a nibmeister. But your encouragement reminds me of how good I feel in using my pens that writes very well. Conclusion: I’m sending it to Mike. Thank you Stephen! Now it feels like the right thing to do.
Yeah, I've been getting frustrated buying pens with slight scratchiness to them while writing and it's like your enjoying yourself gliding on the page and suddenly their is this pothole and sometimes it comes up more often.
Humility is gold in the area of nib adjustments. For a person like myself who thinks he is Superman and can do it myself, I needed to hear this. Thank you for these insights! :-)
Excellent Stephen, should help you from having to keep answering the question -just refer folks to the video. Well done and spot on congruent with my nibmeister experiences -all at pen shows.
For decades I wrote with two XF pens, day after day, year after year smoothly. Then I fell down the rabbit hole 10-15 years ago like a lot of us (A passing UFO with a “pen-demic” infecting ray? Why not, one conspiracy theory is as good as another, lol.) Since 2016 I now have 2 fantastically tuned nibs, a double broad Pelikan M400 that was way over polished and never wrote and skipped and slid when it did. Richard Binder fixed that in about 20 min at a show. A pre-owned M400 XF that I bought mail order to substitute for the non usable BB. The XF didn’t write very well either until Linda Kennedy tuned that at a show and the pen for the first time in 10 years wrote. 2 Superb Nibmeister tuned nibs for the same pen! After a wonderful extended conversation with Susan Wirth at the Chicago show just a couple of days before her death, I decided I needed to try a cursive italic. I wish I could thank you Susan for 2 great pen conversations, I learned a lot. After a few more Chicago and Ohio Shows I now have 3 CI grinds all by Linda: Crimson Sunrise VP original skippy over polished M, now F CI, Sheaffer Targa 14 K M, now fine CI, and Bexley Schmidt M now F/M CI. The Sheaffer CI gets rotated among the several Targas I have collected. Last year, just for fun, I had Richard Binder grind an Architect on a NOS Parker Super 21 BB, fantastic! Now I need to practice enough to learn how to use it. I also have a Namiki Falcon SF with a John Mottishaw Spencerian Grind that My family Christmas Gifted me about a decade ago. A great really fine EDC, I’m still carefully learning how to flex it.
I prefer the delayed gratification of waiting for a show and then waiting for me to be called to the nibmeister’s table to work on my nib in real time with me testing it; to the delayed gratification of 2 direction shipping and probably waiting a few to several months in the queue for my pen to be worked on. Yes this is my unsolicited recommendation of these 2 Nibmeisters. Richard is retired but still attends some shows. See his web site for announcements about his show attendance and all kinds of helpful pen info. Linda and Mike Kennedy are at some shows and also accept nib work, restoration and sell modern and restored vintage pens from their website. Incidentally Mike Kennedy does excellent repair/restoration work. 2 years ago I sat at the table and watched Mike totally disassemble, clean, replace a washer, reassemble and test a 1938 plunger fill W. Eversharp Demi Doric that I bought from someone at a previous show. In
At one time the lady who does Pendemonium’s nib work was very good; she used to work for Sheaffer. Have not used her in awhile. Don’t think there will be any US pen shows for the rest of 2020; Richard Binder has said that if there are any he will not be attending,
Good decision. Like a sports car you got to tune for the riding style you’re planning to use the car for drag or course
Thanks Stephen, great info !
This was an excellent video. Thank you Dr. Brown.
Thank you for this! This is great for beginners like myself!
Both Mike Masuyama and Dan Smith have made excellent grinding jobs for me. I also purchased a pen from Richard Binder in 2014 with a nib ground to a XXXXF size that writes beautifully.
I enjoyed every minute of the video. Thank you :D
This was a great video especially considering I ordered my first custom grind yesterday from Appelboom
Another good one, Dr. Brown! Wise, fair, and informative. Thanks!
It all comes down to touch. The reason to use a fountain pen is to make a more intimate connection with writing. It makes perfect sense, then, that coordinating the mechanics of the pen with the preferences of your nervous system is a worthwhile investment. Nibmeisters have the tools--grinders, polishers, hand tools, magnifiers, sometimes brand-specific--and years of training, to be as intimate with a pen nib as a diamond cutter is with a diamond. I have a range of italics and obliques meistered for me, and they are quite wonderful, much more expressive than their out-of-the-box personae.
Dr. Brown great video. It explored some very useful information and the thoughts behind it. Grinding and tuning nibs is something that takes time and steady hand. It's not for everyone. Your view on "is it worth it for a cheap pen" was spot on. I spent 2.5 hours to take a brass Kaweco knockoff w/broad nib to a .7-.8 stub. Was it worth two and a half hours of my time for a cheap pen, YES. I have the exact pocket pen I want that writes the exact way I want it to. Nibmeisters are definitely worth the cost of their work. I have several that have had work on them and a couple more that are waiting for it.
One of the most satisfying things I did was learning to grind my own nibs. I got a bunch of Jinhao nibs and after a few months of practice I could turn out a fine point that finally looked the way I wanted. Expanded into stub and italic and had a ball. It was especially helpful when I special ordered an Italix pen and the nib was way off. I just fixed it. I'm no longer miffed when a pen I want doesn't offer X-Fine. I just fix it.
Great video and topic. Well balanced view point. Thanks for the information.
Awesome video. The more I watch your videos the more I fall in love with this hobby. Thanks man!
I've had work from Dan and Mark. Both are phenomenal
I own numerous nibs from both Masuyama(Mike it work) & Bacas(nibgrinder)...they are both very precise/specific in what they do. You can’t go wrong with either of them. Beyond happy with every custom grind I own from both guys. They give the customer the opportunity to be very specific in what they want via videos & written descriptions. They’ll do anything possible to make you happy.
Dr. Brown, Thank you for the very informative video.
Roger looks cold. I think he needs a #BOOM T-shirt.
This video needs more views.
Thanks for the video. Highlights for me the fact that buying expensive pens with flash nibs can't be taken for granted. You must buy from a reputable, knowledgeable dealer who can marry your expectations with a brand/nib whose characteristics you'd be happy with. With a Ballpoint or rollerball a pens characteristics are set in stone. With a fountain pen, especially an expensive one like a grail pen, a nibmeister can get a bad situation back on the rails and running properly. That's worth the outlay with a pen you've wanted for a long time and want to keep for a long time. It adds considerably to the charm of owning, using that particular pen.
Brilliant. bit new to this and I now know all I need to know. Quite fascinated that you had to be so thorough and detailed in your explanations. Clearly this is from experience, people not actually listening to what you are saying.
Very useful to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks!
Such a helpful video!!! I’m lucky to live in LA and Mike M is local...I’m going go through my pens and bring a bunch to him!
Thanks for the very informative video. I'm still at the beginning of my fountain pen journey, but I can see the possibility of sending an "imperfect" pen to a nibmeister in the future for tuning or a speciality grind.
Thanks Stephen. Great points. I was explaining this to a friend of mine. They were very much in the "it must be perfect out of the box" camp. So I equated it to buying a suit jacket off the rack and getting one tailored. You absolutely can buy a jacket off the rack and it can fit just fine. it will always fit better when tailored. That worked for them.
Also, FWIW, I have always had great experiences with nibs.com in case anyone needs a testimonial.
A great video, answers a lot of questions
Thank you for a very interesting video.
My experience of nib meisters has been excellent (I live in the UK and strongly recommend John Sorrowka aka "Oxonian").
I once bought a Pelikan M800 with a broad nib, which I asked John Sorrowka to turn into a fine italic. What impressed me was that he asked me to write in front of him so he could see how I held my pen while writing and then proceeded with a few deft strokes and use of his machinery to turn into a very good italic writer that is often in my "rotation".
I think nibmeisters may become even more necessary as manufacturers reduce the range of nibs they offer: Pelikan, for example, used to offer a wide range of BB, oblique B and other nibs but now only generally offer a restricted range and even then charge more for an EF nib. Nibmeisters will come to our rescue!
I loved how you sang the intro :)
Very interesting. Thanks!
But does it void the warranty? Think MB 149.
Doesn't using the services of a nibmeister void any warranty with the manufacturer? I'm not against nibmeisters at all. Just making sure about this point. Could you clarify this? On the more expensive pens I know that if this is the case, then one would have to take that into consideration.
It likely will
@@sbrebrown Thanks for responding so quickly!
@sbrebrownYou bring up some excellent points, however I am left with one question. Before going to a nibmeister to get a pen to how I like it, what steps can I take to become educated enough to actually know what changes/adjustments will best suit me?
I'd say: try a lot of pens (e.g. at a local pen club) to develop a feel for what you like, and also talk to a nibmeister. Most nibmeisters will be happy to advice you in person, on the phone, or through email
You actually need to try to write with custom grinds or tuned nibs by a nibmeister. Going to a pen show near by or a pen club with people that have work done is the best solution. That is the only way. You wont know what you like until you try it yourself.
Thank you for this information doc, good intel!
The auto subtitles say "Greg my new skin summer in California" 3:13 I did laugh out loud. Oh, and at 9:46 you can "send your nibs to nibble my stew"
Thank you so much for the free seminar. To your knowledge, do they commonly take on the job of turning a nib into flex (by mean of cutouts and other adjustments)?
Some do and some don't
i put a nemosine broad nib on my x750 Jinhao and then had it ground into CI by Marc Bacas at Philly Pen Show. Absolutely worth it to me.
Fine pianos such as Steinways are typically prepped for hours before they are ready for art level performance. The concert techs who do this work are the piano equivalents of nibmeisters.
Excellent video for me, as I'm just starting out with fountain pens. Also, I would not use Canadian Tire auto service as my benchmark for excellence or knowledge.
In some circumstances it's possible to grind nib tipping to write wider without re-tipping. It very much depends on the amount of tipping, and how it's shaped.
Good topic, and timing - I have just received Ensso XS from the Kickstarter with a Ti nib that has a hard start if you keep it off the paper for longer than 2 seconds. In my opinion, this is something on the seller to make it right, awaiting their response.
I have sent two nibs that had opposite problems: one from Visconti that was terribly dry and scratch, another from Bock that was a firehose. The nice guys form fpnibs.com (Malaga, Espana) set them both perfectly.
Third thing is - I am not aware of any local nibmeister in central/eastern Europe, thus any correction for nib = shipping costs. I would gladly take few of the pens to some local specialist, spent with him a bit of time and paid for his service...
Hi! I'm the nib specialist Stephen mentioned who works at Appelboom. I am originally from Austria and hopefully going to attend pen shows/events all over europe again once the pandemic is over. Perhaps at that point some pen event or pen meet in that general area could be planned. I don't know much about the pen community in Vienna or in countries further east from there but maybe this could be looked into.
@@StringsandPedals I'd love to, but this virus is not so easy thing to get rid of. Or maybe you should open a small workshop and announce it around...? :)
Great video. I am impressed about your depth of knowledge in this particular area. I am kind of a nibaholic. I grind most of my pens and do my own minor repairs (re-forming). But when I screw up or recognize that it is beyond my skill set I go to Greg M. or Mike. I have been lucky to have a couple nibs done by Richard B. and John Mottishaw. A couple things you missed are a nib meister (BTW Greg M told me he hates that name but would not give me an alternative) can also repair a cracked or broken tine. Greg has done that for me in my early days of screwing up. The other adjustment that they can do is to make a nib flexier. Mike, Richard, and John have been the best for me. Mike is the only one who I can go to now and his wait time is months but worth it. I like near needle point Spencerian flex. And I have a few done by these guys. They require a very light careful hand but the line variation that you can get from a modern pen can be amazing. Love your videos....stay healthy!
Stephen, super informative and a service that all of us in the pen community will use at one time or another. For the folks in Canada I highly recommend Salman at Toronto Pen Company (just because it's not in the list above). Once again thanks for putting this together.
Been following your channel for a couple of months now! Great channel.
I do believe nibmeisters are a must. I have been following your advice about contracting Salman from Toronto Pen Company to reduce the flow on my MB149. I hope that he will do a fantastic job. Been missing my pen already but hey, it gives me the opportunities to use my other pens!! :)
P.S: IMHO, I would not send my car to Canadian Tire. ;)
I bought a Leonardo Momento Zero Grande at Akkerman. Great pen. Teun (nice guy) and I talked about pens for a while and another pen that I have came up. It doesn't write very nice and he said to send it to them and back and he would look at it.
Should I send it to him or to Annabelle? I've never had a pen tuned.
I don't know Teun but I'm sure they will take care of it too
Thanks Steven that was verry usefull. 👍
A few months ago I purchased a Monteverde Innova 1.1 mm nib. From the very start it will write for maybe a paragraph in my journal and then it loses Inkflow until it stops completely. I then have to turn the converter to give the feed a little ink. I was wondering if anyone out there knows/has any idea of what could be causing this problem. I paid $50 for the pen. I can’t imagine how much it would cost to fix. And I can say only that I am on a very tight budget otherwise I would send it into a nib master immediately. So if anyone could suggest what could be the problem, it would be much appreciated. Cheers.
That is likely ink starvation, which is an issue with air exchange in the feed, and that is not easy to resolve yourself.
I have a Regatta with the same problem. I’ve used two different converters, reseated the nib and feed, cleaned between each step, and tried a cartridge. That’s as far as I’m comfortable with doing. Now I will call Yafa direct. They have great customer service.
I've mostly liked every pen that I've ever bought. Perhaps I have low standards. Thanks for this video.
I have no experience with nib meisters, but I've spent a lot on $30 dress shirts and never wear them because they don't fit properly. I'd rather spend $200 on a shirt custom sized to me and actually wear it.
The unbelievable scratchiness of my kakuno EF made me get super fine polishing paper and try to fix it myself. It worked and I used the pen daily until I broke it.
I've had the opportunity to purchase custom grinds or tuning services of Mike, Dan, Mark, and Gina (who apprenticed under John Mottishaw). My first pen show grind experience was amazing. Dan turned my Visconti Opera Master broad palladium nib from a non-stop firehose, to a lovely moderate-wet broad cursive italic.
I see your point, but I do feel that in certain brands of pens it takes something away from the character of the pen. for example, I have a sailor pro colour 500 winter sky with a steel fine nib .it has a lot of feedback that I did not like initially. now grinding that down feels like I am taking something away from how the pen should feel if you understand what I mean. I got used to it and now its one of my most treasured pens. whenever I use some of my smoother pens like a Faber castell loom I miss the feedback of my sailor.
Very very interesting video Stephen !
I want to turn a Bock into an architect nib and now I know where and how !
Thank you !
Excellent topic, thank you for answering so many questions Stephen. The only one I have for you, which probably isn't a question for you but I'll ask anyway is, how does someone become a nibmeister? It's fascinating to me. I especially liked how you brought up getting inexpensive pens worked on - though the monetary value of the pen may be very low, perhaps the sentimental value is priceless and the owner would love to be able to write with it again. Right? Write. :-) Thanks again Stephen! Stay safe up there in Canada!
There is no formal process: usually it is a matter of informal apprenticeship, self-study, or both
Thank you!
My bucket list consists of an 8" nib, an architect and oblique nibs. Any nib miesters in Australia?
What about the man at Italix? Is he a nibmeister? Peter Ford - I'm guessing that he grinds the nibs since it appears he is going to retire at 75 next year as per his website comment.
He definitely knows what he is doing, but I don't know if he works on pens not purchased through his website (which would be completely understandable). As I don't know if he does that, I don't have Mr Ford mentally filed as a nibmeister, but that may just be an idiosyncrasy on my behalf
where is the Professor and the Lord red crab?
Mike tuned out the scratchiness of my extra fine Visconti HS Bronze Age to perfection. Great communication too.
Thank you Steven, it was very useful. You are very useful engine (forgive me, my son is Thomas addict). Whats up with these blank walls though?
Thanks DocStephen this was useful of course; I recall some of your old videos on nibulation and learned a lot, I also completely buggered up nibs trying to fettle them BUT... your advice on inexpensive nibs was followed back then and I only do little adjustments now when I get a pen costing a bit more than a hero... Nibmiestering is a skill and a talent, the car illustration was good..hey I can now deactivate the alarm all by myself 🙄 This talk was interesting and helpful I'm sure to everyone reaching for their dremmel.
Your ACE..... Best wishes to all PenPeople 💜 mind how you go.
LeZc
@@
Thank you. This was informative and understandable even for me, a relative newbie!
I marvel at people who can do such noticeable things to such tiny objects. How light-handed they must be!
On pens, I think all fountain pens should write, passably, straight out of the box, as is their purpose. BUT: The higher the price tag, the higher the quality of the nib. If a £15 Lamy Safari writes better from the word 'go' than the £150 Platinum 3776, there's something wrong.
Budgeting for a nibmeister should be for either tuning a nib as a treat, or repairing a nib that got damaged with use. NOT paying extra for cleaning up behind overpriced, shoddy manufacturing.
On the other hand, budgeting for a nibmeister in advance is genius.
I will digest a few brands for nib performance, I find most brands stay consistent to these rules regardless of make/model.
*Pilot: As much as others have had good luck with their nibs I have not, I have owned several of their pens and I have found them not to write very well, the metro skipped and or didn't feed, the 74 same thing but this one was like a glassy babies bottom. My 92 wrote good just SO boring. N O character to the nib. Semi Stiff nib. Below average smoothness and more feedback
*Montblanc: Tend to write scratchy at first but after long term use (6 months +) they truly adapt to your writing style and it becomes no longer a pen but YOUR pen, TONS AND TONS of character. Their nibs have this amazing ability to change flow based on pressure. I do not care one bit about the brand-hate jealously, they make an outstanding nib. Standard gold springiness. No feedback or feel of the paper.
*Omas: Mine was the scratchiest nib I ever had out of the box but I smoothed it for literally 2 minutes on a brown paper bag and has become one of my favorites. Absolute gusher but you can tame her with varying pressure , straight shooting pen kind of boring in the finer fonts but for larger writing MAN THIS THING IS THE BEES KNEES. Standard gold springiness (despite forums saying spring!)
*Pelikan: Really not a fan of Pelikan, when I buy a fine I expect a fine not a broad. Pelikan seems to not understand that and they pair that on top of an asinine amount of wetness. If you're not painting bulletin boards I don't recommend Pelikan, they do write out of the box and yes you can send it back in to them in the first 30 days if you don't like your nib performance but when you buy a pen do you really want to send it right back and have to wait a month + ? ? More flexi and springy than what you would expect. Smooth out of the box.
*Montegrappa: They seem to have a lot of flow issues, ALL I have received are dry writers, they do not do well with pressure and tend to rail road. They tend to skip a lot too. Boring pen straight line no character, tend to write fatter than what they say. However ironically once I did some grinding on them they became one of my favorites. I wouldn't try anything past a medium in them for flow issues. STIFF nibs. Smooth out of the box.
*Delta: Now these are some good nibs, accurate with lots of character. Medium flow. No feeling the paper from this guy. SMOOTH and I mean SMOOTH. They are the most balanced nib. STIFF. Make the best fine nib/size in my opinion.
*Aurora: another very good nib but different, accurate writer, some character, medium stiff. Semi dry. Will work out of the box but I don't think you will make it your favorite writer more so best work horse. These are like the B+ student not much to say bad or good. Doesn't mean they're not good but won't be on top of anyone's list. Same sizing as Delta
*Visconti: Absolute sh1t, they're littered with issues. Especially the Pd nib's. If you dip the nib it will be the best writer you have used out of the box (smooth as it gets boys). But after your ink saturated nib goes away every problem imaginable will begin. Strongly avoid, I know it's tough because they make the best looking pens but it's a beating.
*Lamy: These are similar to aurora just fatter in line width, STIFF nibs. In fact I would say they're the same as aurora just stiffer.
*ST Dupont: In my opinion the holy grail of nibs. They all write out of the box. They are the smoothest of any out of the box. They offer a lot of wetness variation depending on pressure. Appropriate line widths. Somewhat flexible nib. Really adaptive to you. They're similar to Montblanc with the difference being smoother out of the box.
*Twsbi (or any JoWo nib for the matter): Stiff straight shooting accurate nib. Not much character but they will work. Make good workhorses. Medium flow. Finer line than standard european sizes. I really like them for workplaces when paper is doo doo quality. Because they don't feather because they're finer and the correct amount of wetness.
*Pineider: Absolute terrible Pen company, even worse than visconti. Anything you buy from them will work out of the box and the pen itself is always half baked (yes it looks good) but you will see quickly in the detailing it was rushed. Tons and TONS of things wrong with them even looking past the nib. AVOID
*Sailor: I did not like the sailor in the one I had mostly because the fine is WAY TOO fine. Like writing with a needle. Tons of feedback. Good wetness and does have a variation ability. Pretty looking nibs though. THEY ARE NOT HARD AS A NAIL. I have no clue why forums say they're hard as a nail. 21k gold is VERY soft and springy. I would not get a sailor in anything less than a medium which that is equivalent to some brands extra fine. I will say though the 21k nib being bouncy has TONS of character to it.
*Faber-castell: Almost a complete copy of Pelikan in the being too wide department BUT STIFFER. Boring boring nibs with no character. Medium wetness but so stiff you will never see any of the flex to use it. Lots of feedback at first but tames down.
*Feel Free to hijack onto this comment and add your opinions !*
interesting how you only mention MB and ST dupont having adaptive nibs, can you elaborate on that? aren't all gold nibs supposed to do that? my pilot CH91 writes differently now than it did when i got it
@@FookFish Absolutely. You are 100% correct, gold is a soft metal and it will wear over time. I have found over time means about 2 years of writing. Mind you variables such as low quality office paper will grind a nib down much quicker than soft tahoe river paper but still it's going to be at least a year even on that. What I am saying by adaptive is the amount of pressure you put on them, the direction your hand is in. Just about everything that has to do with writing. I guess a better word would be responsive, but to me that's more like it will put ink on the paper. The MB and ST Dupont REALLY listen to you and your motions. You will get tons of line variations and flare without having to get some screwy grind. I found those brands listed don't really have that character. They more or less just shoot the ink down in the same line width, upstroke downstroke w/e. You can push hard on them and get that super thick variation but that's only when driven hard. MB and ST Dupont just do it naturally. Look up writing samples of Montegrappa/Faber Castell/Pilot in one tab (no particular pen just the brand) and then look up writing samples of MB and St Dupont in other tabs. You will see night and day what I am talking about. Really pay attention to the variation not the font. Some people get fancy and go all loopy with their pen and it LOOKS good but you will still see there is no variation/character to the actual writing.
@@nickmiller9677 so the nibs have more bounce and flex more easier ; in layman's terms?
@@FookFish Pretty much, it's a nice combo of the 2 working together.
Thanks for a comprehensive view of your opinions. This deserves a thread of its own. My own experience of nibs is far narrower and I enjoyed reading this.
That's SO interesting.
I'm in Europe (Spain) and I have a 1930's Montblanc from my grandfather that needs retipping.
Can someone in the replies help me as to who may be the nibmeister adequate for the job?
fpnibs.com - they are in Malaga, and yes, they do retipping. Good luck!
@@tayterlik thanks a lot, Marek!
Yes! Pablo and Ester from fpnibs.com
Greg Minuskin does retipping professionally
Thank you, Stephen, as always, for an excellent and informed talk. It's an excellent corrective to some unfortunate blather floating around in our community.
On a lighter note, the concurrent video overlay transcription is a hoot.
"Nibmeister" becomes, "nip my sister," as in, "don't ask if I know a nip my sister in Tel Aviv."
Much needed levity for these times 😉
That's amazing:-)!
The intro music sounds better in your voice!
Professor I was thinking about nib meisters.....really ... thanks ...
I was just thinking about this. I have a pen I call “poor nibless “ because I’ve purchased 3 nib units for it and it still doesn’t write well ( the black coated JOWO) so do I purchase yet another or go to a nibmeister? A pretty silly dilemma in today’s world lol
The problem with a black coated nib might be that the black coating will be grinded off the nib a bit. If you want to be sure of a good writing experience I also can recommend sending it to a nibmeister, though and don’t bother of a tiny bit of less black nib. Sending one to a nibmeister (or the 3 of them) will make them beautiful writers! Black nibs tend to be more feedbacky, because of the black layer.
Katja Engelkamp Thanks for your thoughts. In the fall, I will prob send off 2 to be smoothed/ fine-tuned!
You should put a tv-14 rating at the top of the episodes on account of Roger’s smoking habit lol
Good points. If you buy a Visconti you should buy it from a pen shop that has a link to a penmeister. I wouldn't touch a Visconti nib by myself - they are very twitchy on warranties. " It did not leave our factory like that."
Stephan, get some pictures!
Good advice even if I prefer to tune my own nibs I do see the value in sending off a more expensive pen to an expert. Then there are those who prefer a nail clipper. :P LOL
Haha! I’m also a fan of Inkneedlastforever! Snipping off nibtips like anything on screen! Boosted my irreverens for writing tools. LOL. Wouldn’t do it on an irreplaceable or expensive nib though.
Very in-depth, thank you. But I agree with the caveat, a nib never writes the same for every person. It can be perfect for me, but not at all usable for the next person to try it.
Oh Thanks Sir .
I alway appreciate your videos. The reasoned, even-handed, thoughtful presentation is such a delight in a world where extremist right/wrong, black/white, good/evil public commentary is so much in the norm.
Until watching this, I too kind of felt like, a pen should write the way I want it to out of the box. I now realize how unfair that is to the manufacturer. They can't possibly know what I personally like. If a pen is otherwise serviceable, but isn't EXACTLY to my personal preference in the manner it writes, tuning and engaging the services of a nibmeister is not unreasonable. This is especially true of a pen that otherwise has value to the user (aesthetics, sentimental meaning, etc.)
Thank you!
Thank you: that balanced view is something that is very important to me, so I am happy that it comes across
I have used Mike for my Homo Sapiens that was all intent purposes a fire hose he definitely fixed it and made it smoother too
I have thousands of dollars in my pen collection. After a while you buy pens not because you need another, but because you like it. It also seems the longer you collect, the more you spend per pen. The bottom line is you want your newest pen to meet your dream standards. Don't cheap out and invest in a tuning, if needed and enjoy the love affair you want want from that pen.
Mike just came out of a backlog Stephen...
I agree. Spending $50 on a $5 pen is worth it if you really like the pen. If a nibmeister can make the pen sing, it’s well worth it. I do however have a problem with a $100 or more pen needing tuning. I feel it should write smoothly without skipping or hard starts immediately. Anything less than that is poor quality control in my opinion.
Interesting, I just found this video ... Tomorrow I am to receive back 2 pens I send to #NibGrinder Mark Bacas (yes, he's in Georgia). A brand new Santini Libra with a stub that was ground incorrectly and my beloved 1992 Omas Paragon Arco. The fee he charged, plus shipping (and tip) is worth every cent, knowing that my pens with be exactly the way I want them to be. How do I know? Because He's already perfected my (twice repaired) HS Bronze Age that Coles and the factory in Italy could not resolve.
Here's what I think: not satisfied with your Jinhao nib? DO NOT send it to a nibmeister! Simply swap it for a German nib courtesy of Goulet Pens! And what do you know... bingo!
I certainly agree that pens should at the very least function as pens out of the box. The bank will give you a pen that writes for free, so I expect as much from a fountain pen costing hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, all too often a pen technically writes but is over-polished or what have you, leading to crumby performance.
Mike is a pen wizard. And Dan should be counted among the masters, even if he hasn't been doing it for a long time. Both have sorted-out poor writing pens for me in the past. I have fixed expensive nibs myself in the past, sure, but a nibmeister does it better.
I try to purchase expensive pens from stores that will test and tune the pen before shipping to avoid the hassle. It's just a better experience to receive a new pen that's perfect out of the box. I'd rather pay full price to guys like John Mottishaw or Dan Smith to receive this experience rather than save a buck on Amazon and roll the dice with a pen that's not so great out of the box!