Five Music Nibs Compared

[Strang]

The contenders are: Pilot Custom (not sure the vintage but likely '80s or '90s,) Goodservice Flat-top (from the '30s or '40s,) Nakaya Art Model Sakura, Platinum #3776 Ribbed, and a Sailor 1911M. The usual excuses for my bad penmanship and wretched photography.

 

I filled all five with Pelikan Royal Blue ink (the Goodservice is a fire hose and the sample is probably slightly tainted as well - lever-fillers, whatcha gonna do?) All of the nibs are from the factory, including the Warranted nib on the Goodservice.

 

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o620/Einy1/aamusicnibs.jpg

Music nibs, left to right, Pilot, Goodservice (Warranted), Nakaya, Platinum, and Sailor.

 

 

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o620/Einy1/aamusicnibwritingcomparison2.jpg

Photograph of the writing test.

 

As far as conclusions go, I'll leave that up to your eyes. The only one I wouldn't buy again (and again) is the Sailor (two tines instead of three) as, to me, it writes like a stub rather than my idea of a music nib. All of the nibs are good quality and delightful to use.

[terminal]

Very interesting I love these kinds of comparisons. THanks for taking the time!

 

The nakaya art model is the big shocker to me here.

 

Is it accurate to say the good service and pilot are more flexible? Or are they simply wider?

[RodneyOK]

Nice comparison! I love writing with big juicy music nibs.

[tinta]

Strang, I would concur with your view of the Sailor.

I started my interest in Japanese pens a year ago, with a Sailor 1911-M (MS nib).

At first the writing experience seemed novel, but soon I had the nib re-ground to a narrower stub.

Years of writing with an OBB got me used to decent line width variation. The MS nib had virtually none.

All my subsequent Sailors stated out with this same MS nib. Each of these nibs was then re-ground into an Italic.

 

This May, I thought I'd revisit writing with a stock (unmodified) Sailor Music nib.

I couldn't even finish a converter full of ink. Mike Masuyama will have to perform his magic on this nib sometime in the future.

Your writing samples bear this out.

The Good Service nib is amazing, the Pilot quite good, the Sailor MS, sadly,.......no cigar.

These sailor MS nibs, with their huge hunk of tipping material, do make an excellent platform for grinding Italic nibs.

 

I've not seen 5 music nibs compared.

Neat!

There's nothing wretched about your photos.

I wish I could take a digital picture & post it on the FPN. It's that dang computer that stands in the way!

[Uncle Red]

Great post Strang! Wow, a Warranted Music Nib! That's really something you don't see around. Looks like a sweet pen. The Pilot looks nice too.

[geoduc]

Thanks, Strang! This is a very useful comparison and one I've been wanting to see.

[pelman]

I have a platinum ms nib and I love it. Thanks for a nice review. Why does the writing sample from the warranted look blackish?

[Strang]

Very interesting I love these kinds of comparisons. THanks for taking the time!The nakaya art model is the big shocker to me here.Is it accurate to say the good service and pilot are more flexible? Or are they simply wider?

 

The Pilot is a bit springy but I wouldn't call it flexible. It is more like a crisp italic than the others. The Goodservice also has a bit of spring to it but it is wider than any of the others as well.

[Strang]

I have a platinum ms nib and I love it. Thanks for a nice review. Why does the writing sample from the warranted look blackish?

 

The Warranted nib is very very wet and the Pelikan ink might also be tainted from whatever ink was used in the pen last time.

[georges zaslavsky]

very interesting review thanks for sharing

[goldiesdad]

Great comparison ... Nice mini review ... I don't have any music nibs but I like the way they write ...

 

Scott

[hari317]

Beautiful, Thanks for sharing Strang. It is interesting to note the way the tipping is welded to the Pilot nib.

 

From the writing sample, I cannot distinguish much in terms of line variation and line width of the Sailor and the Platinum. What is the aspect about the Sailor that disappoints you?

 

Thanks!

Hari

[Strang]

Beautiful, Thanks for sharing Strang. It is interesting to note the way the tipping is welded to the Pilot nib.From the writing sample, I cannot distinguish much in terms of line variation and line width of the Sailor and the Platinum. What is the aspect about the Sailor that disappoints you?Thanks!Hari

 

The lack of line variation in the Sailor is what disappointed me. It writes more like a stub. The writing sample doesn't show it well but the Platinum has more line variation than the Sailor.

[hari317]

Beautiful, Thanks for sharing Strang. It is interesting to note the way the tipping is welded to the Pilot nib.From the writing sample, I cannot distinguish much in terms of line variation and line width of the Sailor and the Platinum. What is the aspect about the Sailor that disappoints you?Thanks!Hari

 

The lack of line variation in the Sailor is what disappointed me. It writes more like a stub. The writing sample doesn't show it well but the Platinum has more line variation than the Sailor.

 

Thanks Richard, my experience is the opposite which is interesting. I have only one Music sailor in 14K and one platinum Music nib. My Platinum is much more smoother but my Sailor provides a sharper line variation more like an Italic. I think this can be attributed to the hand finish that the nibs gets and which can vary.

 

Best

Hari

[jslallar]

I would concur with Hari317,

I have only one Music nib - a Sailor 1911M - and it writes like an italic should (or so I think) - hand grinding?

 

With the fear of sounding stupidly novice (which I am compared to the posters above) what exactly is a Music nib? Isn't it an italic with a downstroke more than 1.5 mm, or is there some other criteria too. Plus my Pels M200 and M400 both BB have equal or more line variation compared to the Sailor 1911M MS nib, as do my MB149s OBB and OBBB. Can they be called Music nibs?

 

Lastly I have always been afraid of buying a three tined nib for fear that the tines will get misaligned all to often - I have difficulty keeping two tined nibs aligned. Can anyone comment on that please.

[Strang]

I would concur with Hari317,I have only one Music nib - a Sailor 1911M - and it writes like an italic should (or so I think) - hand grinding?With the fear of sounding stupidly novice (which I am compared to the posters above) what exactly is a Music nib? Isn't it an italic with a downstroke more than 1.5 mm, or is there some other criteria too. Plus my Pels M200 and M400 both BB have equal or more line variation compared to the Sailor 1911M MS nib, as do my MB149s OBB and OBBB. Can they be called Music nibs?Lastly I have always been afraid of buying a three tined nib for fear that the tines will get misaligned all to often - I have difficulty keeping two tined nibs aligned. Can anyone comment on that please.

 

I always thought that the usual criteria for a music nib was three tines and a lot of difference between the horizontal line and the vertical, for forming musical notes on a score. But I may be way off there. And the Sailor music nib, of course, has only two tines. The fact that you are getting more line variation from your Pelikan BB nibs than from the Sailor music nib is telling. Line variation is not what BB nibs are known for particularly. I doubt that the three tines on a music nib are any more likely to become misaligned than a two-tined nib but I don't find I get misaligned tines in any of my pens with normal use. YMMV.

[tinta]

In my experience, Sailor MS nibs have less line variation than a well executed stub grind.

My current stock MS nib produces wider down strokes & narrower across strokes, when drawing a cross-hatch pattern. But, this variation does not show up well in my cursive writing. Maybe my writing is at fault?

Edited June 3, 2012 by tinta

[sirach]

I love my music nib pen

 

 

I got this one from the Baystate Blue label thing. I had been looking at the Platinum one for a long time... I really thought it was swanky, but then this arrived in the mail.

 

 

I loved your review of the music nib. It would be intriguing to see how many people actually use them to write music. I have used mine once to write down a copy of the song my wife walked down the aisle to when I was learning it on the violin a little while back. Just because... but it bled so bad on my cheap paper... I think I will stick to pencil.

 

It's just really broad and bold. I know the thing can flex, but if I hold it right, I like the variation it has. I tried to compare it to my others a few days back.

 

Noodler's Neponset w/ Music Nib (Black Swan in English Roses), TWSBI 540 with a Fine (Green Marine), Schmidt EF nib in a kit pen (Noodler's Black), Noodler's Ahab W/ Flex nib (Baystate Blue)

 

I am so sorry about making this so long with the pictures, I don't mean to hijack the topic, or anything like that.... I just wanted to share... Music nibs are kind of exciting to me...

[terminal]

I'm really looking forward to the Noodler's Neponset becoming available to the general public

[Twoodi]

This is a really helpful post because I haven't bought my first music nib yet but I have a better idea for what to look for and I didn't realize that info about the 2 tines in Sailor music nibs. Thanks very much again.