Best Music Nib For Writing Music?

[requiescat]

I was thinking vaguely of saving up for a Nakaya next, but I am coming up against the fact that using a cursive italic to write music looks slightly odd. (Fun! But slightly odd.) How are Nakaya's music nibs? Or would it be better to go with something different?

 

(I used to use a ballpoint to sketch ideas when I wasn't using a DAW or Finale.)

[Antoinem]

Hello

 

The best music nib in the market is the Platinum one (just my own opinion). They are very smooth and shade the ink very well.

 

Antoine

[Soot]

You could get a stub and have it adjusted to wet flow. That's one option.

 

I don't recall there's that many pen companies out there that make music nibs. Pilot, Sailor, Platinum. Platinum being the best one there-- from reviews and all.

[Wolverine1]

A friend is a Composer at the local University's Music School. Recently, he has become a fountain pen enthusiast. I'll ask him, and get back to you. On the other hand, one of the Woodwind Profs uses a normal medium nib to write on staff paper, but, I think he isnt trying to make his work look very artistic.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Consider a 'fude' nib, (aka 'Asian calligraphy nib'), that can make marks of various line-widths, and narrow lines when the nib is inverted.

 

Or a caprenters' pencil with soft rectangular lead.

 

Bye,

S1

 

Link to prior Topic: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/169539-sailor-sapporo-broad-vs-music-nib/page__view__findpost__p__1696540

Edited March 3, 2012 by Sandy1

[GutSchrift]

There was a review on FPN about the three top asian music nibs: Platinum, Sailor and Pilot (I think) You should search for it. I recall that it was rather thorough.

[requiescat]

@Gutschrift: I found this comparison of Pilot vs. Platinum but it doesn't seem to specifically address how well the pens work for writing music? I think I saw the review you mentioned, but IIRC it was about using the pens for regular writing, not music notation.

 

@Sandy1: I hadn't heard of fude nibs, will investigate, thank you! Sadly, I've used pencil in the past and I end up with smudged pages, so not for me.

 

@Wolverine1: Thank you--I'll be curious as to what your friend says.

 

Thanks all!

 

Of course, I could just use the pens I have and take the finished piece into Lilypad for notation; the resulting PDFs look quite nice. But I like being able to do things on paper.

[CountryDoc]

Sailor music nib or zoom nib!

[Strang]

I have music nibs by Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, Nakaya, and even a vintage factory Goodservice music nib. I'm not sure exactly the criteria you're using to judge which nib would be best but I will say the Pilot (on a Pilot Custom from the '90s) is the crispest. The Sailor (with only two tines instead of the usual three for music nibs) writes like most of my stub nibs. The Platinums, Nakaya, and Goodservice are all broad, smooth, and wet - the way I like most of my nibs. Not sure this helps but...

[stevemauldin]

For 20 years I copied music as a professional arranger/copyist using Osmiroid pens and nibs. The music nib was slightly angled to give a flare to the sides of the note yet a thin line on the outer parts of a whole note. Because we used a thick, special music ink blend, the pens would not write as fast as I could copy, so I would take the plastic spine out of the nib and widen it with a razor blade. The new nib would catch the corners of the pen and spatter ink on occasion, so I used emery cloth to take the sharp edge off. Because my wife was left handed, I had to file the music nib the opposite direction for her hand. I had the standard music nib for years, until I discovered the gold nib. By far, the gold nib was faster and wrote better. Because I was using the pen 16 hours a day for extended periods of time, the nib would bend. After bending the nib back and forth many times it would eventually break. I could always tell when the nib was going to break, it was when the pen would flow perfect and write as fast as I wanted to go.

 

In 1992, the computer replaced hand copy in my life, but I have kept my music pens and nibs. I have one brand new pen in the box that has never been inked, with the nib puller, that I am saving for my children's children.

 

I have just started collecting pens of different types as a personal hobby.

[Soot]

Or an OMAS Music nib...

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6853043143_d8f635f336_z.jpg

[Lalique]

The Platinum company is a subsidiary of Nakaya, Nakaya being the premium brand reflected in the price compared with Platinum. Nakaya works their products to perfection. You can trust their engineering.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Lalique

[raging.dragon]

The Platinum company is a subsidiary of Nakaya, Nakaya being the premium brand reflected in the price compared with Platinum. Nakaya works their products to perfection. You can trust their engineering.

 

Namiki owns Pilot; however, I believe Nakaya and Platnium are technically independant, but are owned and managed by different members same family, collaborate closely, and most of the Nakaya artisans are retired Platinum employees.

Edited March 6, 2012 by raging.dragon

[Leks]

I recently bought a few books on music copying and the pens recommended are:

Esterbrook 2312/9312

Osmiroid with a medium italic

Sheaffer with a fine italic

Pelikan graphos

 

I don't think a music nib is a good option as it is too wet and doesn't provide a crisp line. My favorite nib so far is osmiroid left oblique italic medium. Also depending on which paper you are using you may want to consider inks which feather less.

 

Out of the modern pens you can look at pilot plumix, or get a bunch of $1 noodler's non flex nibs and create any type of nib you like.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Leks

[requiescat]

I gave up using a fountain pen for scribbling music either at the keyboard or on the go and went with a ballpoint or gel pen. The reason is that these manuscripts are for my personal use--the last time I had to copy out score and parts by hand (edit) for the use of other musicians was over 15 years ago. As long as I can read them and get them input into the computer afterwards, I'm good. Sorry to betray the cause, but I couldn't deal with smearing ink while jotting down piano sketches anymore...

Edited August 29, 2016 by requiescat

[sidthecat]

My dad wrote his music in pencil, then sent it to a copyist he'd worked with for years: her pages were beautiful. I should see if I have any of her pages...they usually went to the players.