Taming A Pilot Music Nib

[JakobS]

I sometimes confuse them. I’m in the US (though right this moment I’m near London), so I generally don’t order from them. If you do get some of those samples, I do highly recommend Citrus Black. Its a super fun ink to see transform from the nib on the paper: from very pale yellow to murky olive-ish hue within a second or two. Most dramatic with a wet pen—it can actually go from barely visible toward black with a dip pen! The other colors don’t shift as much. I’ve tried them all except Forest Black.

 

P.S.: did not find any interesting pen stores in London. Probably nothing in Norwich too... Wish I could get a good selection of Diamine somewhere since they are “local”, or some German inks (Octopus and R&K).

 

 

Sorry. London doesn't do pens really. Inks even less. Harrods, Selfridges, Pen Shop is it I'm afraid. You could order from Cult Pens/The Writing Desk/Hamilton Pen Company.

 

In London:

 

Choosing Keeping is a neat stationary store with a selection of pens and ink, as well as some paper goods!

 

Green & Stone, is an art supply store that has a few different brands of fountain pen ink, and a smaller selection of pens, such as the Rotring Art pen

Edited January 22, 2019 by JakobS

[Uncial]

I'm so jealous... Look at mine. With a dry ink it's a torture:

 

I'm baffled. I have Andromeda and find it a wet ink. Takes an absolute age to dry.

Or are you demonstrating that it skips with a wet ink?

[minddance]

Actually my 74music nib skips alot and is dry. It can never be too wet unless I removed the breather tube, that, is then the optimal flow for me.

[lgsoltek]

I'm baffled. I have Andromeda and find it a wet ink. Takes an absolute age to dry.

Or are you demonstrating that it skips with a wet ink?

 

I find Andromeda to be rather dry. And indeed what is put on paper takes ages to dry.

[Noihvo]

[Karmachanic]

Thank you Noihvo. I did some digging using the search function. I'll try 4:1 ink to water to start and see how it goes. I also found suggestions using glycerine. I'll stick with water to begin with.

 

I'll also order samples of inks deemed dry to include: Edelstein Topaz, Sailor Souten, Platinum Cassis Black, and Callifolio Equinox 6.

 

edit to add; Rober Oster Blue Sea (thanks Intensity)

 

This should keep me busy for a while!

Edited January 23, 2019 by Karmachanic

[Intensity]

Just remembered Robert Oster inks. All the ones I’ve tried are on the dry side.

[biancitwo]

Really? My Pilot Music nib is dry as hell... It skips a lot and needs the wettest inks to be able to write decently smooth!

I haven’t tried a wet enough ink to coax my Pilot CH 912 MS to write. My 912 BB poured ink so that the feed could not keep up. I had the nib modified to CI, but the feed still does not keep up. Shame, because the pen feels great. And, the CI writes beautifully, just not for very long.

[A Smug Dill]

I think whether the Pilot MS nib is "too" wet or dry depends largely on the speed/rate of travel of your pen strokes.



I don't like how wet my #5 Music-nibbed Pilot Custom 74 writes, with Robert Oster Marrone Mustard ink, when I'm "printing" to fit 7mm-ruled lines. It is tolerable when I use the rule-of-thumb of setting the x-height to five nib-widths (i.e. about 5mm) for "italic" lettering, but then the physical dimensions of the handwritten words make me want to vomit.

[Karmachanic]

I've sent the pen off to a nib spa. It will return with a slimmer vertical line. That in combination with a drier ink should do the trick.

[A Smug Dill]

I've sent the pen off to a nib spa.

I'd say that's a good call. It's a shame sending pens/nibs off to be customised, especially after they have already been received from the vendor after their initial purchase, is not really a viable/sound option here in Australia.

 

I'm told by the organisers of the Sydney Pen Show 2019 that there will be a nibmeister in attendance and taking customisation work on the spot, so I'll be bringing my very neglected (and much disliked) Pelikan M815 there to have its nib reground. On the other hand, I really don't love the form factor of the Pilot Custom 74, so I'm not sure it would be a good call for me to have my C74's Music nib reground at (what I expect will be) another 40%-50% of the pen's initial purchase price.