i think i got lucky this morning (it's morning here in the philippines). woke up groggy from the nadal-federer classic last night, but fired up ebay and saw this lovely faber-castell FP in pernambuco wood (one of my personal holy grails for many many years now---i have the black guilloche version) being sold, practically brand-new, but with a sadly bent nib:



for $200 with free US shipping.... (it retails here for $450) it took me about two minutes to take the plunge.

this will be one for the nibmeisters! (i'm not sure how much they'll cost--any ideas and suggestions?--but i'm betting it will be a lot less than another $200

Assuming the tipping material is intact, this is probably a $30-50 straightening job. Threre are several great nib repairers out there. I send my nibs to Greg Minuskin. He does great work, for a good price, with very fast turnround.
http://gregminuskin.com/


Best regards, greg

many thanks for the info, greg! i'll check him out. another question for people who've had nib jobs done before: what's the standard operating procedure here--send the whole pen, or just the nib (and/or the nib/feed/section assembly)?