Pilot Custom Heritage 912 Su (Stub) Vs. Platinum 3776 Ms (Music)

[emceeATD]

Hi All,

 

I'm a long-time reader and first-time contributor inquirer. I am fairly new to the fountain pen world, but since the beginning have been writing almost exclusively with stub/italic nibs. I have purchased several entry-level pens and am ready to take the plunge to the next tier. After countless hours of 'research' I have my selection narrowed down to the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 SU (stub) or the Platinum 3776 MS (music). This may seem like a strange two pens/nibs to be torn between, but please bear with me while I explain.

 

I primarily write with a Pilot Prera fitted with one of the italic nibs from the Plumix set we have available here in Europe. I am constantly switching between the M (same as the American market Plumix and the Prera CM) and the B (same as the 78G broad). Pilot designates their tipping sizes as 0.58 mm and 0.7 mm, respectively. I've noticed that Pilot must measure their tips differently as the M creates a line similar to what you would find on most italic nibs with a 1.0 mm or 1.1 mm designation.* The only tipping sizes I could find for the Pilot SU nib and the Platinum MS nib are posted on nibs.com as 0.7 mm and 1.15 mm, respectively, but it's unclear whether they're using the same measurement system as Pilot, and the Goulet nib nook led to some curious results. Also, I've noticed a really intense variation of line widths based on nib angle (I hold mine fairly consistently at about 45 degrees).

 

So, now that you're super bored, I would like to know if anyone has some side-by-side writing samples with either or both of the nibs in question to the steel Pilot italic M and B.

 

I am slightly concerned that the SU might not have the crispness and line variation that I'm looking for, and worried that the MS might prove to be a bit too broad for my daily use (mostly journaling, letter-writing).

 

I have posted a sample of my own showing my normal quick hand (which I'm still working on cleaning up ) with both the nibs I use regularly and on which I am basing the comparison.

 

Any and all thoughts, advice, and opinions are more than welcome and very much appreciated. It is likely that I will end up purchasing both at some point, but it would be great to know where to start.

 

Greetings from Germany.

 

 

*As a tangential bit of help, it would be great if someone could explain this inconsistency.

 

 

http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp16/emceeATD/image_zpsswa1xfmf.jpeg

 

Paper is Rhodia no. 16.

Edited February 15, 2016 by emceeATD

[PabloAU]

I am slightly concerned that the SU might not have the crispness and line variation that I'm looking for

 

It depends how you hold your pen. The SU is tipped, and has a sharply-ground square blob of tipping about twice as deep as that on an untipped Plumix nib. It's more deep than I'd consider an italic, and too sharp for me to consider it a stub out-of-the-box. As a result of the squared end it would not be particularly crisp if held near vertical. At my normal angle of writing, however, the sharpness of the edge gave good line variation considering the relatively narrow width, but made the pen quite "pushy" for my normal handwriting - which isn't a lovely italic style like yours. I needed to do some work on the nib to round-out and smooth the edge to my liking.

Edited February 15, 2016 by PabloAU

[emceeATD]

Thanks for the reply—definitely food for thought.

 

 

It depends how you hold your pen.

 

This basically gets to the core of why I felt the need to post this as opposed to to just reading other reviews and threads and looking at writing samples. I see an incredible amount of variance among written samples of italic and stub nibs that they seem to be less than useful without knowing the poster's writing angle, pressure, etc.

 

For anyone else interested in these nibs, I found this image of a comparative writing sample of six stub and six music nibs!

 

http://www.penexchange.de/forum_neu/download/file.php?id=9001&sid=68c0c1970880eb2952975ba4233189e2

 

The image is NOT mine. It's from this review of the 912: http://www.penexchange.de/forum_neu/viewtopic.php?t=8136

 

Brief summary of the review for our friends who don't speak German: He really likes the pen.

 

 

[dcwaites]

I have a Pilot Custom 742 with a Su nib, and have always been a bit disappointed with the crispness of the nib. On examination under a loupe I can see that the corners and the edge are quite rounded, compared to an Italic nib I ground myself from a Jinhao medium nib.

However, that is a sample size of one, and I can get the results I want if I use a pigmented (and therefore non-spreading) ink on hard paper.

[emceeATD]

Hi DavidW, thanks for the reply!

 

Just looking at writing samples, it does seem that the variation on the SU is subtle for most users. Would you be able to compare the roundness to the Pilot steel italics? I know the tipping material makes it sort of a difficult comparison.

 

I'd be inclined to go more in the crisper cursive italic direction, but it seems unlikely to find something like that in a factory nib (though, if anyone knows about one, I'm more than happy to hear suggestions).

[gerigo]

I posted this in another discussion. I hope it will be helpful to you. This was done when I was taking a break from all the walking at a pen counter at a Japanese department store.

 

Opps realized you said Platinum and not Pilot music. The Platinum music is about 1.0 to 1.1 mm wide. Depending on the nib grind, it can vary between being quite crisp to very stubby. The day I did that nib comparison page, I bought a Platinum music that's quite crisp.

 

I wanted to get the Pilot SU nib, but it's just too fine for me. Then again my favorite width is a 1.5 italic.

Edited February 16, 2016 by gerigo

[tartuffo]

http://i.imgur.com/7jheMNT.jpg

 

The Platinum 3776 is a beautiful pen and the music nib is the same as the one on the Nakaya.

 

But I have nothing bad to say about the 3 Pilot nibs either .

[emceeATD]

Thank you both so much. Very helpful!

[jmccarty3]

Can't speak to any of the wider Pilot nibs, but I'm very pleased with my Platinum music nib. It's a joy.