I have just received the Fountain Pen Hospital annual 2008 catalog. On page 81, there is a picture of the Platinum Music FP with an interesting nib that features two slits which "enable you to write narrow horizontal lines and broad vertical lines as smooth as silk". Does anyone have that extraordinary pen? How does it feel to write with it?

Just as described, "smooth as silk". It's a nice pen and I'm looking forward to using mine as soon as it gets back from being Mottishaw-ed into a crisp italic. The flow is the highest I've seen so far - really nice.

How does it feel? It makes me smile...
Nice writing sample in this review by Leigh that illustrates better than I can say. Very interesting line variation.

I don't have the Platinum pen you refer to, but if you want to try some inexpensive music nibs, Esterbrook made a couple of them for dip pens. One is the "Music Pen 499". Another one has a reservoir on it; it is called the "No. 17 Drawlet". I have seen both of these for sale on the internet. They only cost a couple of dollars each.

Paddler

Platinum's Music nib is very smooth and wet. The shape of the nib allows thick vertical lines and thin horizontals, the slit functions to prevent ink starvation.

Ditto to the Bob and Dr:
It's worked smoothly out of the box, every time, and unbelievably smoothly considering there are three tines to keep aligned and supplied with ink. Plus, mine is mounted in a very lovely celluloid pen, variously described as stone and calico.
gary

I have a Platinum 3776 Jade Celluloid with a music nib. Platinum music nibs can also be found in their Maestro and Conductor pens. I also have a music nib in a Pilot Custom which also has a double slit. Traditionally, music nibs are double slit (which gives you 3 tines instead of 2) -- but Sailor has produced one that does the same thing with just one slit. Music nibs offer a bit of line variation -- they add flair to one's penmanship and of course also do the job for music composition. I much prefer Platinum's and Pilot's music nibs over the Sailor.

Edit: Timeout error...

I knew it would be good! Need to have one of those beautiful toys. I will start writing music with it - used to write some piano compositions long time ago for fun. Does anyone know the best music paper for this pen and where to get that paper?

Do you need to hold these pens with the music nibs at a particular angle to write or do they just write like normal pens ?

I had one but the flow was such that is just wrote like a BBB for me. So I sold it.

Kurt

Music paper has to be available somewhere in the Net or you may print your own by PDF.

With these nibs, you have to maintain the ideal angle of nib to paper without rotating the pen in your fingers as you move down the line. It requires little practice.

Sailor's Music nib is more like an elongated stub. All these 3 nibs can write with the nib upside down for a finer italic effect.

The Platinum Music pen is a great writing pen. I love mine, and it was the pen we chose to make our Kamakura LE pens from:


Still have a few left:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=51644

Breathtaking! This pen is so gorgeous that I don't think that I will ever be able to use it. I will be afraid to touch it. And I will stop sleeping and start guarding it - what if someone steals it from me and my heart will be broken to the rest of my life? What if someone sneaks in to write with it and breaks it? I am a humble sinful woman, I don't deserve such splendor... And you say I can have it for mere $600 (or something close). I don't believe you. You can't sell such beauties so cheap. They should be fake. Or something else. I wish I never saw this pen. I can't handle it... Oh!!!

You kiil me, Rita.

But you know... your reaction...with all facetiousness aside, is much like the typical Japanese mindset. Pens are a traditional going away gift in Japan, but usually the recipient finds the pen too nice to use, and the poor pen sits in a drawer forever. This is why I never buy pens for my wife...

When I lived in Kamakura, I would often visit an estate buyer who dealt in antique furniture. 50% of the time when he had to clean out an old desk, he would find a nice pen that was still in its original box.... loved, guarded, but never used.

....sigh...

RD

Yes, you got it, it's beauty worshiping. At some point, a work of art becomes a cosmic symbol of something that could never be explained - how do you explain what beauty is on a verbal level? It's impossible. And it is in the eye of the beholder. My eye is too sensitive for your creation. That rich blue and gold strikes me with something that resembles pain. Congratulations on your masterpiece, maestro.

Rita

We have a calligraphy lady who comes to the Melbourne Pen Show where they stick her in a corner and and she works away. So we had her come and talk to our Club late last year.
Seems as if most of her nibs have two slits, but no real feed as such. THey are pretty crude but very effective and always held at 45 degrees.
Next time we ask her it will be for lessons rather than the story and mechanics of calligraphy.
That's a whole new world and the pen's certainly would not look good in a collection. She arrived with dozens of different styles and inks.

Yes, I have one of these. I bought in about 1974 or 1975 when I was living and teaching in Japan. It is a Platinum pen, plain black barrel with gold trim in the style of the mini-fountain "shirt pocket" pens that were popular in Japan in this period. The barrel is otherwise unadorned. It is 4.75" (12cm) when capped; 5 7/8" (14.8 cm) when posted. The body itself has a short barrel, but a long cap and nib section. The nib itself has two slits and thus three tines and is marked 18K, with the Platinum "P" mark and "music" engraved on the nib. I am not a composer, but I used to love a wide, italic-type line when I was younger, so I used this pen to write with. It lays down a variable, thick line, depending on how it's angled of course. Because of the width of the line, it creates a rather "wet" line. (Is that the right way to use this description?) It's in excellent condition, no cracks, no marks, still bright and shiny. (Frankly, it's spent most of the last 25 years forgotten, in a drawer.)

Has anyone any idea of what such a pen is worth today?

--Vince the Korat

This nib is available in the Nakaya pen as well. For $250, you can get a Piccolo made just for you with this nib.