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I've been given a Nakaya Naka-Ai Shobu by a very generous and lovely friend and I've been told it's cleared customs. Hopefully it'll be with me on Friday but I couldn't contain my excitement so I figured I'd let you all know so you can be impatient with me It'll have a Rhodium-plated clip and Mr Mottishaw's custom Spencerian-ground nib. It's gonna be cool. A photo from Mr Mottishaw's website: http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/Nakaya-Naka-ai-Writer-Rhodium-Shobu-Capped.jpg I'm so excited Joe

The Nakaya Naka-ai in Shu-nurippanshi (unpolished red) caught my eye on the nibs.com web site some months ago. I was really hooked when I saw Earthdawn's gorgeous photos. Others were activated by that topic too, because my good TFL friend who shall remain un-named snagged the last one in stock moments before I ordered mine. Fortunately, more were already on order, and mine arrived last week. I had salved my wound from not receiving instant gratification by ordering a Piccolo in Shu, so I am able to provide a side-by-side comparison of Naka-ai/Piccolo size and of Shu/Shu-nurippanshi. Both Pens have yellow gold BB nibs ground to 0.7 mm crisp cursive italic by John Mottishaw. Here is another photo of the Naka-ai's nib: In these photos, one can certainly see a difference in the color of the two pens. The unpolished shu looks darker. Actually, the difference is less marked than I expected, and the shu-nurippanshi has a shinier, less matte finish than I expected. I can detect no tactile difference between the two pen's finishes. I initially filled the new pen with Pelikan Brilliant Black. It had less crispness than I desired, and it was very toothy. I wrote with it for a couple days with a bit of improvement. This morning, I rinsed out the nib and converter very well and re-inked with Waterman Black. Interestingly, the line differentiation was much better, and the toothiness seems to be subsiding. I think I will continue to try different inks in this pen until I find a favorite. I'm thinking it may be Diamine Oxblood. David

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3674/8905954095_00c1133a61_n.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/8905953879_34f1f2abd0.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7412/8905953703_50280e5f3f.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/8906574264_0259352753_n.jpg David