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Starwalker - Extra Fine Nib Available ?


A1979

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I have a question. Every Starwalker fountain pen on the Montblanc official online store is only proposed with M, F or B nib. On other websites (such appelboompennen or "Le palais du stylo"), the pen seems however to be available also with Extra Fine nib. Since the official Montblanc Online Store shows the "Extra Fine nib" option for the Meisterstück Collection, I am a little bit confused. Is the Starwalker with Extra Fine nib a "standard factory option", or kind of bespoken nib?

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I bought my Starwalker fountain pen in 2012 from a MB boutique. I've just checked the service guide that came with the pen and it lists nibs ranging from EF to OBB.

 

I wonder if the website only offers the traditional more popular nib options.

 

My advise would be to ask Mb the question either via their website or their boutique.

My Collection: Montblanc Writers Edition: Hemingway, Christie, Wilde, Voltaire, Dumas, Dostoevsky, Poe, Proust, Schiller, Dickens, Fitzgerald (set), Verne, Kafka, Cervantes, Woolf, Faulkner, Shaw, Mann, Twain, Collodi, Swift, Balzac, Defoe, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Saint-Exupery, Homer & Kipling. Montblanc Einstein (3,000) FP. Montblanc Heritage 1912 Resin FP. Montblanc Starwalker Resin: FP/BP/MP. Montblanc Traveller FP.

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I wonder if the website only offers the traditional more popular nib options.My advise would be to ask Mb the question either via their website or their boutique.

Thank you!

Yes, I also assume that they list only the "best sellers". I will contact MB.

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I believe that all Mb pens are available in all of the nib tip sizes that are on the web-site.

 

Even the Writers and Special Edition nibs

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I believe that all Mb pens are available in all of the nib tip sizes that are on the web-site.

 

Even the Writers and Special Edition nibs

It should be like that. That's why I don't understand. Edited by A1979
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I've seen the whole range of nibs from EF to OBB in Boutique. I had Starwalder with M nib and I changed it to EF. It was standard change, the nib was available in the service.

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MB offers Starwalkers in other nib-sizes. The reason you don't see all the nibsize is because they only come in the standard range of the factory. Every model with another nibsize comes with another id-nr. So standard they often deliver it in F-M-B with each one another id-nr. Than you can exchange it to EF-BB (some pens even OBBB).

My preferred supplier (no affiliation just a very happy customer):

Appelboom

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This is the situation that I have seen:

 

Every single pen they sell has a nib available from EF to OBB... However, the EF and F essentially have the same line.

Plus-- since the MB is such a wet writer most of the time, the EF/F looks pretty much like the M of other brands.

 

Very sad :(

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MB offers Starwalkers in other nib-sizes. The reason you don't see all the nibsize is because they only come in the standard range of the factory. Every model with another nibsize comes with another id-nr. So standard they often deliver it in F-M-B with each one another id-nr. Than you can exchange it to EF-BB (some pens even OBBB).

Thank you, sounds more than correct. I have sent an email, waiting also for the "official" answer.

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This is the situation that I have seen:

 

Every single pen they sell has a nib available from EF to OBB... However, the EF and F essentially have the same line.

Plus-- since the MB is such a wet writer most of the time, the EF/F looks pretty much like the M of other brands.

 

Very sad :(

True. That's why I had to send my 149 "EF" to Oxonian.

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As much as I love their pens, it shocks me that with all the QC they talk about, they not once say "wow, this is not EF at all. We need to make it a bit more dry and thin."

 

Cest la vie!

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As much as I love their pens, it shocks me that with all the QC they talk about, they not once say "wow, this is not EF at all. We need to make it a bit more dry and thin."

 

Cest la vie!

It is not a QC issue. MB just happens to make its nibs wider than some other brands. Moreover, all MB nibs are hand finished. If I recall correctly there are 35 steps to the MB nib making process.

" Gladly would he learn and gladly teach" G. Chaucer

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My first choice boutique has all nib sizes. My friend bought a Mb 149 OBB straight out of the stockroom last year.

 

You can request any nib size from Mb

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It is not a QC issue. MB just happens to make its nibs wider than some other brands. Moreover, all MB nibs are hand finished. If I recall correctly there are 35 steps to the MB nib making process.

 

That makes it less dismissable, though. If the nibs are hand finished, then one would assume the differentiation between EF, F, and M would be more noticable.

 

"Handmade" is not always beneficial, regardless of what marketing says. The fact of the matter is that when you introduce a human element to anything it might be fancier and give you more of a story to tell, but a person is never able to have as tight of a tolerance as a machine will. Reliability and Validity suffer... and, in a situation like EF vs F vs M, where we are talking about fourths or less of a milimeter being the difference, a person mass producing nibs will never be as effective as a machine mass producing nibs.

 

The problem is that, at a certain point on the cost spectrum, you begin paying for things like that human element. Most people are not willing to pay $1000 for a pen that is machine made, but they are able to justify $1000 for a "handmade pen where the nib alone takes 35 steps!"

 

I guess my irritation is that when I took my new 149 back to the boutique, they all agreed that it was too thick and wet to be an EF. They shipped it back and the service center said "nope that's marked EF, it's EF hah!" and sent it back without bothering at all. The 149 still writes such a thick line that it is painful to do more than a line or two in it because it ends up looking messy.

 

To prove my point, if you ever go into a boutique and try out their pens, begin writing with the EF, F, and M and then randomly ask "what nib size is this?"

 

They will act flustered and look at the side of the pen and say "ah yes... it's an ______!" because the difference between the nibs is smaller than the tolerance to which the nibs are made... so even people who work around then day in and out are unable to say better than random chance!

 

I still love MB and wouldn't trade them for the world. It just stinks that I know I need to grind my nibs as a "cost of business" for every new one I grab!

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That makes it less dismissable, though. If the nibs are hand finished, then one would assume the differentiation between EF, F, and M would be more noticable.

 

"Handmade" is not always beneficial, regardless of what marketing says. The fact of the matter is that when you introduce a human element to anything it might be fancier and give you more of a story to tell, but a person is never able to have as tight of a tolerance as a machine will. Reliability and Validity suffer... and, in a situation like EF vs F vs M, where we are talking about fourths or less of a milimeter being the difference, a person mass producing nibs will never be as effective as a machine mass producing nibs.

 

The problem is that, at a certain point on the cost spectrum, you begin paying for things like that human element. Most people are not willing to pay $1000 for a pen that is machine made, but they are able to justify $1000 for a "handmade pen where the nib alone takes 35 steps!"

 

I guess my irritation is that when I took my new 149 back to the boutique, they all agreed that it was too thick and wet to be an EF. They shipped it back and the service center said "nope that's marked EF, it's EF hah!" and sent it back without bothering at all. The 149 still writes such a thick line that it is painful to do more than a line or two in it because it ends up looking messy.

 

To prove my point, if you ever go into a boutique and try out their pens, begin writing with the EF, F, and M and then randomly ask "what nib size is this?"

 

They will act flustered and look at the side of the pen and say "ah yes... it's an ______!" because the difference between the nibs is smaller than the tolerance to which the nibs are made... so even people who work around then day in and out are unable to say better than random chance!

 

I still love MB and wouldn't trade them for the world. It just stinks that I know I need to grind my nibs as a "cost of business" for every new one I grab!

I will take the handmade "human" process anyday over the mass manufactured route. For me it gives the nib and the pen more character, and that is what what I am after. It is fine that you are interested in machine made precision so perhaps MBs are not for you. Why should you have to pay extra or wait an extended period of time to get what you want?

Regarding going to an MB boutique, I visit quite regularly. I have 40 MBs and am quite familiar with the nib testing process.I really like that there can be such variation in the nibs, to me this signifies that the nibs are in fact hand made. Differences in taste and preference is what keeps so many pen companies in business. I wish you the best of luck with your MBs and I hope that you enjoy them for many years to come.

Edited by orfew

" Gladly would he learn and gladly teach" G. Chaucer

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I love my MBs. I just wish that they had more differentiation between the nibs. I don't know how others feel (as you say, different strokes for different folks!) but I feel that the thicker and juicier the line, the more... I don't know... messy, the pen looks on paper.

 

By the way, let's not kid ourselves... the MontBlanc, handmade or not, is still very much a "mass produced" pen unless you are looking for one of the 888 or more limited version ;-)

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I love my MBs. I just wish that they had more differentiation between the nibs. I don't know how others feel (as you say, different strokes for different folks!) but I feel that the thicker and juicier the line, the more... I don't know... messy, the pen looks on paper.

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I’ve tried the whole range of Starwalker and Meisterstuck nibs in boutique and it was fairly painfull to make a choice between EF and F, because they were almost the same nibs but I chose EFs.

I had only two Montblancs (MB 145 I sold, because it was too small for me) and they were giving quite a fine line, sometheing inbetweeen Nakaya’s F and M.

However in MB boutiques I was told the story about the possible line variation in one tiping size because of the “handmade 35 steps process”. Well, that is quite weird, because my Nakayas with F nibs give the same lines. Moreover Nakays’ Fs are the same as Platinums’ Fs.

Edited by Ratel
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Just received the MB answer:

 

"We offer the Starwalker Ultimate Carbon Fountain Pen with F and M nibs. However, should this two widths not suit you, our customer service will gladly supply a different nib (ex. EF)"

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Just received the MB answer:

 

"We offer the Starwalker Ultimate Carbon Fountain Pen with F and M nibs. However, should this two widths not suit you, our customer service will gladly supply a different nib (ex. EF)"

 

I was talking about Black resin Starwalker collection. I've checked info about Starwalker Carbon and only F and M nibs are offered with this pen :blush:

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