Good Reviews For Pilot's Custom Series

[Freddy]

Every Pilot I have or given to others has been flawless..

no problemo..whatsoever..but there was this Sailor..

which I adjusted for better flow..perhaps a fluke..........

 

Of course your mileage may..will vary.....................

redactin: In the matter of ink...not part of the equation..

 

 

Fred

Surround yourself with people of quality and substance

Edited February 22, 2015 by Freddy

[I.M.]

 

The same pen, filled with Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite is one of the best writers I had.

That makes life pretty simple then; use an ink that your pen gets on well with!

 

In my experience pens often have their own preferences for inks, and it has nothing to do with a poor quality pen.

[wastelanded]

I love my broad 78G so much, I bought a Custom 74 BB. I love that pen so much, there's a Custom Heritage 912 with Sutab nib en route to me.

 

Beautiful nibs, even in their cheap pens. Just like Sheaffer used to do.

[Blue_Moon]

I love my broad 78G so much, I bought a Custom 74 BB. I love that pen so much, there's a Custom Heritage 912 with Sutab nib en route to me.

Beautiful nibs, even in their cheap pens. Just like Sheaffer used to do.

Please post a review of the 912. That pen and nib combo is on my list.

[wastelanded]

Please post a review of the 912. That pen and nib combo is on my list.

Will do. I have a new bottle of Syo-ro waiting for its arrival.

[ailevin]

Just a quick follow up. I received a CH 823 F and a CH 92 M in the mail yesterday.

 

It is too early to review either pen, but I do have some initial impressions. The CH 92 is light, well balanced and feels good in my hand, similar to the way a Pelikan 400 feels. It is the size of a 600 posted, but the weight and balance is more like a 400 (this is high praise since I consider the 400 one of my most comfortable pens). It has a clean, modern look, that doesn't call attention to itself. Only one fill so far, but the piston mechanism is excellent giving a very full fill in the first attempt, with very precise feeling mechanism. The nib is buttery smooth (perhaps I am just used to finer nibs) and shows some of the shading possible with Namiki blue (I almost never see much with a F or XF). This medium nib on the 92 is broader than the medium nib on an 823 that I tried at the pen show, And my 823 is finer than my CH 74 or Decimo both in fine. I am wondering if the #15 nibs tend to run finer than #5. The 92 medium is too broad for my taste, but I ordered it to have it made into a not too wide (.5-.6mm) cursive italic.

 

I was spring loaded to be critical of the 823. I generally do not like larger pens, and it is heavier than the 74 or 92. I also am much more interested in utility than decoration, so the larger nib might have been an unnecessary expense, speaking of which, the 823 is much more expensive than the 92, even with this steep discount. Oh, and a brown pen, well OK amber pen, didn't sound like something I would find in my pocket. OTH, the large ink capacity appealed to me, the filling mechanism was interesting, and the reviews for the F nib were glowing.

 

I was surprised at how lovely the pen looked in person compared to the photos, and it looks better inked. I had tried an 823 at the pen show, so I knew that the balance was good and that it felt good in hand, but the only 823 that they had inked was a medium, and it was at Mottishaw's table, so I couldn't assume that it wrote that way out of the box. I hate to sound like a fan boy or broken record, but this nib wrote the nicest fine line out of the box I have ever experienced. It is finer than I expected, nice and wet, but very controlled. I am excited about my new 823.

 

Alan

[glorfindel]

OK, so I finally got both of the pens by mail today (823F and 74FM).

 

And... man, what a let-down!

 

Both had problems!

 

74FM. I loaded it with Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku. Up-down strokes were OK, however left to right was scratchy and right to left was extremely scratchy and did not lay down any ink. Looking at it though a loupe, I did not notice any misalignment. However, judging by the feel, the left tine must have been lower than the right. So, taking a much longer look, I convinced myself that that was the case. After pulling the left time up several times according to how it's described in a dozen or so youtube tutorials I watch prior to that, the pen started working much better. The tines looked perfectly aligned. There was still scratchiness though. So, I used 12000 grit micromesh which seemed to help.

I got the pen to a working condition, however, I left it for about 3 hours, came back and the same problem of not writing write-to-left has reappered....

 

823F. I loaded this one with Tsuki-Yo. It was working well, but it was very scratchy. Possibly it may be attributed to this being an F nib. However, I have several F nib pens (non of them Japanese admittedly) and I never had any scratching issues with them. Now this one did show a bit of misalignment through the loupe. However, no matter how the tines were aligned (perfectly, left a bit up, right a bit up) it could not loose its scratchiness. I did try a bit of micromesh, but I'm afraid to do it more since it does not seem to help. At this point I'll just leave it be for now and sleep on it.

 

Arrrrrgghhh, SO frustrating! Especially since I really like both of them, especially 823. But a pen is supposed to write...

[Blue_Moon]

OK, so I finally got both of the pens by mail today (823F and 74FM).

 

And... man, what a let-down!

 

Both had problems!

 

74FM. I loaded it with Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku. Up-down strokes were OK, however left to right was scratchy and right to left was extremely scratchy and did not lay down any ink. Looking at it though a loupe, I did not notice any misalignment. However, judging by the feel, the left tine must have been lower than the right. So, taking a much longer look, I convinced myself that that was the case. After pulling the left time up several times according to how it's described in a dozen or so youtube tutorials I watch prior to that, the pen started working much better. The tines looked perfectly aligned. There was still scratchiness though. So, I used 12000 grit micromesh which seemed to help.

I got the pen to a working condition, however, I left it for about 3 hours, came back and the same problem of not writing write-to-left has reappered....

 

823F. I loaded this one with Tsuki-Yo. It was working well, but it was very scratchy. Possibly it may be attributed to this being an F nib. However, I have several F nib pens (non of them Japanese admittedly) and I never had any scratching issues with them. Now this one did show a bit of misalignment through the loupe. However, no matter how the tines were aligned (perfectly, left a bit up, right a bit up) it could not loose its scratchiness. I did try a bit of micromesh, but I'm afraid to do it more since it does not seem to help. At this point I'll just leave it be for now and sleep on it.

 

Arrrrrgghhh, SO frustrating! Especially since I really like both of them, especially 823. But a pen is supposed to write...

 

I'm very sorry about your difficulty. From personal experience (not from those particular pens) I understand your frustration. It's terrible to have your expectations dashed like that. By using the micromesh, you've probably voided the warranty. However, you can send them to a nibmeister, and they'll come back writing beyond your wildest expections. Pendleton Brown is my go-to nibmeister. You can even request the type of grind you'd like, or you could just have them adjusted. I know it's throwing more money at the pens, but look at it this way - you'll have your dream pens writing perfectly the way you'd like.

 

Would you mind sharing who you bought them from?

[glorfindel]

 

I'm very sorry about your difficulty. From personal experience (not from those particular pens) I understand your frustration. It's terrible to have your expectations dashed like that. By using the micromesh, you've probably voided the warranty. However, you can send them to a nibmeister, and they'll come back writing beyond your wildest expections. Pendleton Brown is my go-to nibmeister. You can even request the type of grind you'd like, or you could just have them adjusted. I know it's throwing more money at the pens, but look at it this way - you'll have your dream pens writing perfectly the way you'd like.

 

Would you mind sharing who you bought them from?

 

Thanks. Yes, I'll probably end up going to ask a nibmeister's help.

I bought it from pisuke2005 which a lot of FPNers seem to highly recommend.

[Blue_Moon]

 

Thanks. Yes, I'll probably end up going to ask a nibmeister's help.

I bought it from pisuke2005 which a lot of FPNers seem to highly recommend.

 

Yes, I've seen his pens on eBay. A lot of people do highly recommend him. After you get them back from the nibmeister, they'll write like a dream, and you can put the bad part of the experience behind you.

[Frank C]

I have pens from all of the big three Japanese makers. I find their quality to be very high. I have several Custom 823s; they all work flawlessly. I have sent many pens to Pilot USA in Florida. My daily users are Pilots and I have damaged several of them. Pilot USA always repairs them without charge.

 

I generally use ink made by a fountain pen company in that companies pens; I figure they were made for each other.

[Kuhataparunks]

I experienced this with the Custom 74 indeed (it was like writing with a fish hook, snagged a lot!), but I got a Custom Heritage 912 with a Posting Nib, and it performs very well.

[Maurizio]

I think you read from a hater. All of my Pilots are excellent.

 

I have 4 Pilots and they have all written beautifully right out of the box with no flushing or tweaking required. From oldest to newest:

Pilot Ecrino med. point (18 years old and still writing beautifully)

Pilot Custom 74 med point, great writer, beautiful, slightly springy nib; consistent ink flow

Pilot Vanishing Point fine nib

Pilot Vanishing Point medium nib

[Buzz_130]

I don't own any of the Pilot Custom series, but I have a pretty broad range of Japanese pens from Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, and Nakaya. I'm sorry you were disappointed with your purchase, but remember that F nibs (which for Japanese pens trend toward the XF equivalent in Western nibs) are going to have more feedback or scratchiness. The nib "floats" on a pool of fountain pen ink as it writes, and a finer nib just doesn't have the amount of lubrication that a broader nib can lay down. Before doing any more grinding, think about making the flow wetter. Try a wetter ink to see if the ink will make a difference.

 

A good pen, a daily writer, and a faithful tool are all worth a bit of patience.

 

Or, as some have pointed out, have a nibmeister adjust your pen.

 

Buzz

[Bill Wood]

After hearing a lot of good things about Pilot (and being very pleased with the performance of Metropolitan and Cross Solo's nib) I've been dying to get my hands on some higher-level Pilot pens.

 

 

"Whilst the VP series is excellent in almost every regard, the same cannot be said of the Custom series. Almost every Custom I have either has or had flow issues out of the box. Opening the tines helps a little bit, but whereas I am always confident my Platinums will not ever fail on me, I am under constant fear that my Custom 74s or 823 will skip and hop and fall over at any time. In fact, even after grinding and adjusting and trying different inks in my 823, it is currently unusable due to rampant skipping issues that were present from day one."

 

Has anyone else had similar bad experiences with these pens?

 

actually Andy I think the reviewer is incorrect. Lots of problems with the VP's - that converter can't keep up - great reviews on the 823. The 823 has a huge ink capacity and really serves the purpose for whatever nib you get. Can't comment on the 72's or 74's. Inherently I've read that Japanese pens are dry writers - but using Pilot inks, and Noodlers eel inks as well as ISO inks I think you'll love the 823. It's easy enough to increase the flow on a tighter nib anyway.

 

 

[jojinkho]

I wonder if nib can get misaligned easily thru shipping.

[Flounder]

One thing I've noticed with the no.5 nib in my CH92 is that the feed is a 2 part arrangement, sort of in the style of the Parker 51. The finned feed has a shaft running through its centre, in which a channeled rod is installed.

 

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/Pilot%20Custom%20Heritage%2092/Pilot%20Custom%20Heritage%2092%20Two%20part%20feed.jpg

 

The rod can be pushed into the pen (there is a stop preventing it from coming out the front of the pen), varying how much the channels extend into the ink chamber.

 

In my case though, the nib was just not very well tipped. The B tipping was like an upright rugby ball hanging off the tines, with a Sumoesque baby bottom. There seemed no real effort to shape the tipping, it was just left like that and polished to an unusable degree.

 

If I order direct from Japan again, I will definitely be asking for macro shot of the nib from a few angles.

 

edit - in contrast, the steel F nib in my 78G is beautifully smooth as well as a consistent writer. It is as beautifully smooth as my grandfather's Parker 51 F nib, the which is the smoothest F I've ever used. I get the completely unsubstantiated feeling that Pilot "get" fine nibs more than broads, like they are more in their wheelhouse.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Flounder