Yesterday I received one of my favourite pens back from having the nib worked on. The pen in question is a 147 in vermeil finish and I rate this pen as one of the more attractive pens in my ‘flock’.

Anyway the original nib profile was a medium but it performed poorly no matter what I did and took a lot of ‘coaxing’ to get it going and , when spending a good sum of money on any pen, I refuse to have to use a certain ink or paper as a few people on here have advised me to. My attitude has always been that if the pen does not perform it is sold and something else is tried. My experience with MB has been patchy to be honest, my 144 in silver is fantastic and writes at once regardless of ink or paper selected and feel this pen is one of the few I own that will be with me forever. My 149 experiences have been bad and still have to find the ‘one’ in that model. From fine to OBB nothing has yet performed well.

Now then……the 147 I mentioned previous was lined up to be sold and due to there being no established nib masters in the UK that I have heard of I could see no reason to retain the pen other than purely cosmetic but I then decided to see what a USA nib fixer could achieve. This was the first time I had gone down this route and was a bit sceptical but it has opened my eyes as to what can be achieved when in the right hands. Re profiled (re ground?) from a medium to a fine and the flow adjusted it has been totally transformed. Writes at the first light touch on any paper, doesn’t dry out in a nano second and the nib works in any position. Why then, and yes I have owned brand new MB’s, do the factory not turn them out like this? That aside my sincere thanks go out to Greg Minuskin for his communication & pictures through every step of the work he did for me. Anyone not happy with the way their pen performs should really consider what services are available to them and ask around on this forum for recommendations before giving up and selling their pen. I have no commercial connections with Greg other than being a very pleased customer and recommend him for nib work without hesitation.

Ian Robertson.

Could we see some pics of your newly re-invented pen?
B

Nice report, Pen Nut.

It's curious that adventures of nibmeister "intervention" don't appear frequently on the MB forum. In contrast, thread after thread within, say, the Pelikan forum is devoted to tales of fixes, tweaks and mods by the likes of Binder, Kinney, Minuskin, Mottishaw and others.

So why the difference, especially given the perpetual crusade for MB perfection? Indeed, we observe common issues that call for a nib-mechanic's touch, to wit:

1) MB's inclination, well documented, to render a line one-to-two widths thicker than rated (e.g., MB's "EF" typically weighing in at the industry's 'reference' (heh) "M"),

2) MB's lack of OEM specialty nibs (e.g., italic, stub, music, etc.), and

3) MBs having at least their fair share of performance challenges, such as those cited above by the OP.

Perhaps four factors principally account for the contrast vs. Pelikan:

1) Unlike Pelikan's modular nib/feed assemblies, MB's are not trivially changed; as a result, a multiple-nib habit is far more expensive for the MB scribe (requiring additional FPs),

2) Certain nibmeisters offer for sale new Pelikan FPs--for delivery, if specified, with enhanced/custom nibs. None sells new MBs on any basis, in part due to MB's restrictive franchise terms (no Web sales, etc.),

3) Nibmeister services often demand a long turnaround interval (up to six months), a discouraging prospect for those subject to MB separation anxiety, and

4) MB forum chatter often focuses on investment pens, including LE, SE, Series and Commemorative product releases. While fascinating to study and explore, many of these instruments are showcased--but never inked--by their stewards. Thus, they don't aspire to nibmeistership or stimulate interest in nib services.

Just observations worthy of submission for the record. Still, if one seeks MB's highest art, the nibmeister's value is manifest.

--BAM

By the way, as far as I know, there is no industry standard for nib widths. From reading around FPN, the trends seem to be that Japanese are finer, European nibs tend to be wider, and USA in the middle.

Qoute :3) Nibmeister services often demand a long turnaround interval (up to six months), a discouraging prospect for those subject to MB separation anxiety

This was a consideration of mine having once approached another nib fixer a coiuple of years ago and getting a time window of between 5 to 6 months turnaround. I did start a thread on that but think I will leave let subject alone !

Having done my research on the expected seperation time it was Greg that beat anyone else hands down on getting the pen back to me.

Ian.

Oh pictures will be posted later today

Stood to attention then at rest with some of the 'others'

Nice photos of the troops!

Kalessin,

Quite right about the lack of any official nib- or line-width standards. Meant to suggest, tongue-in-cheek, a mere convention--that most folks probably envision an "M" FP line-width at, say, 1.0mm, with an "F" at 0.7mm and an "EF" at 0.5mm.

It's funny that pen-makers tend to use the same nomenclature for nib choices--EF/XF, F, M, B, BB, etc.--when these terms define only a factory's current-production, *relative* scale and are otherwise useless.

To illustrate, my MB #149 EF--on its best behavior--cranks out tracks of 1.0mm+ diameter. Under no permissive theory of relativity can this 1.0mm Humvee fairly be classified as..."EF."

One way the entirety of nib-size confusion could be cleaned up would be for pen-makers to drop letter designations and simply indicate each nib's line-width output in mm--based on declared "tracking force" and "angle of attack," and with specified ink and paper.

Anyway...with a wink to the obvious, some will enjoy this Richard Binder nib primer written several years ago for Pentrace.

--BAM

http://www.pentrace.net/article052501085.html

Given the lack of consistency in the advertised nib grades, irrespective of manufacturer, MB at least has the good sense not to engrave the (irrelevant!) grade on the nib. The 0,5 mm M nib on my Proust had little in common with the 1,0mm M nib on the Woolf (before it was changed for an OM). What further complicates the matter is that some MB nibs are far more flexible than others. My M Proust or M Charlemagne have appreciable line width variation (> 1,5X) while others such as the Dostoevsky or Woolf are far more rigid.

PS Greg has done some wonderful work on my pens, including a Dostoevsky and his turnaround time is incredible in comparison...

Very nice!
I am a huge fan! Is this a vintage pen?
I thought 147s were just traveler pens.
Are they the same size as a 146?

B

Bryant,

The 147 is the 'traveller' but has the same dimensions as the 146. The 147 is a cartridge only pen while you probably know the 146 is a piston filler.

The 'traveller' comes with its own leather carry case containing slots for the spare mini cartridges that it uses. As for your vintage question I am not sure as to when the 147 started production but mine is a ls not that old and I only collect quite modern pens.

Hope this helps.

Ian

The pen in my Avatar was a pen that had serious nib problems, It was way to broad, wouldn't start, skipped, ran very dry, it was terrible.

I sent the Pen to Dillion, who is a member on this forum, For $ 40.00 Dillion ground the nib to a M and he had the pen back in my hands in 2 weeks working perfectly. This is the first work dillion has done for me but I highly recommend him. I believe his forum name is Dillio.