Japanese Music Nib Shootout ( The Return)

[The Grim Sheaffer]

This follows the original topic by Jandrese

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=118833

 

The Sailor in tasteful canary yellow vs The Pilot in a somber black

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_jh-xbbONKvw/SrCtVbMZuBI/AAAAAAAAAzc/ovtCbC3WNo8/s800/IMG_1632.JPG

 

 

 

The Pilot has a more solid feel to it and was more comfortable to write with. I wrote well out of the box, with a nice smooth nib.

 

 

 

The Sailor on the other hand fell apart in my hand when I tried to insert the converter and had to be re-assembled. I was disappointed that the nib, not smooth at all. I had to put it to micromesh to stop it rasping.

 

 

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jh-xbbONKvw/SrCtBiZXUcI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/WrQhzteNl50/s800/IMG_1608.JPG

Pilot has the traditional music nib with 3 tines. It does offer some flex and some line variation but less than a normal stub nib. It is a great nib to write with, buttery smooth and very soft due to the flex. The line is unfortunately too broad for general note taking. If you are an extrovert with a large expressive writing - this is your baby.

 

 

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_jh-xbbONKvw/SrCtLKdTLlI/AAAAAAAAAzY/eSxtApGE1ZE/s800/IMG_1627.JPG

 

 

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_jh-xbbONKvw/SrCs--TfcgI/AAAAAAAAAzM/fr9F-hwQjfs/s800/IMG_1605.JPG

 

 

 

The Sailor Music nib was a disappointment. Not so smooth and just a fat nib not much of anything else. It is even less suited for general note taking. If you are tripping on acid or manically tired from being on you feet for a 30 hour shift, consider this pen

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_jh-xbbONKvw/SrCtHWaGYQI/AAAAAAAAAzU/9-B16qa0EGI/s800/IMG_1623.JPG

 

 

In conclusion: Don't buy a music nib unless your really like and use big broad nibs. Also don't buy a second one, If you didn't like the first one.

 

 

 

I liked the Pilot a lot more. I agree with Jandrese that the Sailor has a lot more tipping material on the nib and can and should be modified into anything else.

[reprieve]

These nib-focused reviews are fantastic! Here is my take on the music nibs I have tried:

 

I like broad nibs. I like really broad nibs. I especially like really broad stub and cursive italic nibs. Naturally music nibs are a choice option for me. Thus far I have both a Nakaya music nib (which is the same as Platinum from what I understand) and a Sailor music nib. I use them for everyday writing as I am neither musician nor composer.

 

The Nakaya's nib has more line variation, the broad strokes are broader, and it was tuned by John Mottishaw to be extra, extra wet. The Sailor's nib was out-of-the-box perfect (i.e., it has not been tuned by a nibmeister), and, while it does have less line variation than the Nakaya, it is (in my opinion) still definitely stub-like. The Sailor's flow is very wet, more so than their standard nibs, although it is drier than the Nakaya's fire hose. The Sailor is extremely smooth--buttery--while the Nakaya has a just a bit of feedback that makes the writing experience unique. I really love both of the nibs, but I do prefer using the Nakaya for many different reasons (one of which is the pen's aesthetics (I find the Sailor line a little boring)). If you are not a fan of really broad nibs, in all likelihood you will not be happy with a music nib.

[jandrese]

Thanks for posting this follow up review. It was nice to see the Pilot nib especially. Sailors nib is curiously bad, for a Sailor nib that is. I'm surprised that the Pilot nib does not offer better line variation. That is kind of a bummer.

[Tsujigiri]

Interesting to see a comparison of the music nibs, thanks for posting! I'm surprised that the Sailor was so disappointing, though. Maybe some 10,000 grit abrasive can smooth it?

[effrafax]

Although I have several Pilot Custom 74, none have music nibs (it's on the list). I do have the Sailor (identical model to that reviewed) and a Platinum Maestro 3776 with a music nib, and there really is no comparison between them. The Platinum is a joy to write with: smooth, moderately wet with a big fat line. The Sailor is almost painful to use by comparison: mine squeaks for one thing, and writes very drily. I suspect that the single slit in the nib is just not able to feed enough ink to the tip.

 

I have other Sailor FPs that are really nice to write with, thankfully.

 

I'm planning to stub that Sailor music nib, sometime soon, to put it out of my misery ...

[jandrese]

Interesting to see a comparison of the music nibs, thanks for posting! I'm surprised that the Sailor was so disappointing, though. Maybe some 10,000 grit abrasive can smooth it?

 

 

The tipping of the Sailor music nib is so massive and specifically shaped that simple smoothing is not the answer I think. The individual surfaces are smooth, its just not an easy nib to write with. For example, I think the Sailor Zoom nib has less material. I think it needs a major re-design. Most other stubs, italics, and music nibs have a much slimmer profile.

[Tsujigiri]

Interesting to see a comparison of the music nibs, thanks for posting! I'm surprised that the Sailor was so disappointing, though. Maybe some 10,000 grit abrasive can smooth it?

 

 

The tipping of the Sailor music nib is so massive and specifically shaped that simple smoothing is not the answer I think. The individual surfaces are smooth, its just not an easy nib to write with. For example, I think the Sailor Zoom nib has less material. I think it needs a major re-design. Most other stubs, italics, and music nibs have a much slimmer profile.

 

Thanks for explaining. It's quite unexpected that Sailor would fail so badly in this regard, considering how nice their other nibs are. But it really seems like Sailor took the easy route with their music nibs, not even including a double slit like their competitors.