Music writing pen

[PenWorks]

Sorry Larry the pics were not up to my regular standard, but the focus was on the nibs and not the pen holders.

But yes, that is snakewood & cocobolo. I did not grind the nibs, I have a hard enough time gringing one edge on a nib, let alone 5 !

But I do need to work on that pointed nib. That sucker is to sharp, it needs a little smoothing. The nibs are available from the calligraphy section on my site.

 

 

Since Richard and Barbara are speaking of music nibs I kinda agree about the Sailor, mine is like a round over. But I have a Platinum that has a really nice music nib.

 

 

[ViolinWriter]

Edit: This post was made by Richard -- Barbara had logged into my laptop without telling me, and at midnight I was too dopey to notice. But I won the Hundred Year Pen set I wanted in the auction here at the Raleigh Pen Show...

 

Try Sailor 1911M. Inexpensive but great nib.

I must disagree. Sailor "music nibs" are not well crafted. Frequently they have poor flow, and more often than not the tips are shaped more like a roughly rounded box than like a proper music nib. (They're not very consistently shaped, either; this one may bear only a remote resemblance to that one.) I regularly regrind them for clients who are displeased with them. Here is the definition of a music nib from my site's glossary. Take a loupe to your Sailor music nib and compare it to the illustration here:

 

music nib A nib that is relatively flexible and has a tip shaped like a broad stub italic with very soft edges (illustrated below) to allow for extreme freedom of use, especially at very high angles of elevation relative to the paper, as when a composer or arranger writes on the music desk while sitting at a piano. Music nibs often have three tines to support a very heavy flow.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_info/glossary/music_shape.jpg

 

Just call me "Lucky", I guess. I've got a Sailor with beautiful, consistent flow and wonderful response. It was not always that way. I also was initially disappointed with the pen after purchase. Then I realized I needed to learn the best way to hold it and angle the nib it to get the precise results I wanted. It didn't disappoint after I learned the various ways to use the nib to best advantage.

 

Once I learned how to use the nib, I could write without even thinking about the mechanics and that made the Sailor one of my favorite pens for music and other writing. I also had to learn the best way to hold and use cursive italic nibs, regular italic nibs and the oblique nibs in my collection.

 

I'm wondering if the reality of a learning curve for the nib has been the cause of some comments/complaints of uneven quality control. When striving for good line variation, which is very consistent and lovely for lots of musical notation, particularly ties, slurs, 16th note bars and flags, takes some practice. I find that any broader nib pen requires a bit of a "warm up" for the best results. After about a week of 'learning the nib', it now only takes about 2 minutes of "practice" with various figures to get the best from the pen if I've not used the music nib for a few days.

 

Could it be the pen demands learning skills to use it the best way? I don't expect to play (in public) any decent flying spiccato or portamento without a bit of bowing practice beforehand. Perhaps there are pens that also demand a little effort on the writer's part before we just jump in and declare them lacking.

[hichakhok]

Hi All.

 

So as of june 2007 the sailor music nib is the only music nib available to buy?

[ChristineR]

Pelikan makes a music nib, unless they discontinued it. Esterbrook also had a music nib, and NOS nibs are not that hard to find. (There are several on e-bay right now.)

[silentwarrior]

Hi ...

I'm a concert band arranger from the Maldives.For all these day I have been using Sibelius to write my final sheets...Now I want to have a copy of all my arrangements..(a hand written one)...but i couldn't find the right tool for my music writing... so can u guys help me to figure out a good pen to write beautiful sheets..thanks...I realy want to depend on cheep but efficient ones... thanks

 

[Robert Hughes]

Here is a set of dip music pens I made. More of a novalty to add to my collection, but it is alot of fun drawing with the staff nib, it makes some wild patterns. Takes a little practice to draw a straight staff as well.

I use the Brause 5-line music staff nib regularly when working on projects - it frees me from the tyranny of staff paper - or lack of it when I need it most, like during a rehearsal or pasting in comments to a script. I can just draw a staff in the margins, notate as needed and keep going.