I know that Melpens on ebay has a decent reputation; I am wondering if anyone on this board has used/owned one of the Sailor 1911 Young Black pens offered here.

I am just curious how it compares with the regular 1911, as it obviously is not a full on 1911. Is it more similar to say a Pilot 78G than a 1911 (I know I am mixing brands, but I don't know if Sailor marketed a direct competitor to the 78G).

Donnie

Hello there,

Where's that "blushing" emoticon, anyway...I own one of these pens, but I confess that I haven't inked it. Mine is a broad, and I believe it has the TiGP nib - maybe that's a different variant. Dipped, the nib is fully as smooth as you would expect from a Sailor.

The pen was purchased in Japan, by one of my fiancee's friends, during a business trip. He was more than happy to undertake the enterprise, but - not being a pen person - he was understandably confused by the range of choices. So we set an arbitrary price limit, acquainted him with the names of the "big three" pen makers, told him that we would prefer a broad nib rather than a fine, and wished him Godspeed. He came back with the "Young" pen. (It took me a bit of online research to figure out exactly which model it was.)

It is definitely a much higher quality pen than the Pilot 78G (a pen which I like quite a bit, by the way): thicker resin, higher-quality fittings. It's skinnier, obviously, than the 1911. In terms of "feel" in the hand, I would liken it more to some of the old Pilot Customs, or to the Platinum Conductor (ignoring the difference in nib materials)...or maybe, moving beyond the borders of Japan, a pen like the Aurora Ipsilon or (ignoring the gold nib again) Waterman Charleston. (I'm talking purely "feel" here, not design profile or nib performance.) Excellent fit and finish throughout.

Not a lot of help, I know, and I hope that someone with more useful information will chime in. But I feel confident, at any rate, in saying that this pen is at least a notch - maybe two - above the 78G.

Now I need to go ink mine up....

Cheers,

Jon

I think it is one market niche below the M1911, two below the 1911.

Feel free to correct, this is just my best guess from looking at the ujuku shop listing.