Asa Maya: Detailed Review

[Aditkamath26]

INTRODUCTION:

Greetings everyone. I'm back after quite some time and this review is long overdue. The ASA Maya was a pen that I fell in love with on the first sight. I read about this pen in Sagar da's review and wanted one of my own. I get how this is Mr Subramanium's design of a dream pen. So I got one Maya from Mr Subramanium and a kind pen friend from Saudi Arabia, gifted me another one. So without further ado, I'll get straight into details.

 

DESIGN & COMFORT:

The pen has a nice classic design to it. With a straight cap, and a barrel that first bulges and then tapers towards the ends, both subtly, the pen has a nice aesthetic flair to it. It seems to have a few curves borrowed from Kaweco's Dia 2, while still maintaining the original Indian charm. The section is simple business. Straight, with a touch of taper and ending with a thick block towards the nib. The trim on one of my Maya is chrome coated and on the other, I have sanded this chrome coating to bare brass. I have also given a baakul finish to the section on this Maya.

 

 

The pen is quite comfortable in the hand. It has ample length and girth for my hands, that I consider to be larger than usual. The material it is made of, i.e. ebonite, is very nice to the touch. Especially on the Maya with the baakul section. Since it is made of ebonite, it is very light in the hand. Here lies my only gripe. I wish it was slightly heavier. A brass ring or two towards the end of the barrel might solve this.

 

 

 

CONSTRUCTION & QUALITY:

As far as I could find, there are no flaws with the construction of this pen. The threads are slightly rough, but I do know how to smoothen them using some Novus polish. The quality of ebonite is acceptable at this price. The brass trimmed Maya had a lot of pits, spots and discoloring. I used a gel-pen and touched these up. The baakul finish is beautifully done on the chrome trimmed Maya, whereas on the brass one, I had to redo it since the lines were kind of tilted. I can understand that the baakul finish is done by hand, but would appreciate a little more attention over there.

 

 

NIB & WRITING EXPERIENCE:

The chrome trimmed Maya has a Schmidt Fine nib and is a beautiful writer. Depending on the ink, the nib writes from a Japanese fine to a Japanese Fine Medium, which was quite a surprise since this is a nib from the west. It is smooth, with a lot of feedback. its great for controlled writing and handwriting practice.

 

The brass trimmed Maya has a Jowo 1.1 Stub (that I've hand torched to an antique finish that should go well with the brass as it ages). This nib is fun to write with. As most of my Jowo nibs, I found it a bit dry. Its very smooth with a whisper of feedback, which I've smoothed out. It has ample line variation while still being usable for daily writing.

 

 

 

(Please ignore wherever I wrote polished ebonite. That was a failed project )

 

WRAPPING UP:

The Mayas are my go to pens for school and I've written 3-hour exams with these without any fatigue. I highly recommend these to anyone who needs a well priced pen for daily, long writing. Mr Subramanium of ASA pens is flexible to work with, and can do customizations without much hesitation. That said, I hope this review was useful to someone out there. Any comments, either here or on PM, are always welcome. I hope do to more reviews in the future

Edited March 30, 2019 by Aditkamath26

[Yohaanrods]

Hi aditkamath26 amazing review!the first review I saw of URS was that of the Deccan advocate and now this..

Keep the reviews flowing!

[Aditkamath26]

Hi aditkamath26 amazing review!the first review I saw of URS was that of the Deccan advocate and now this..

Keep the reviews flowing!

 

 

Thank you!

[sansenri]

thank you for the nicely done review, the Maya is a very reliable pen.

 

The Maya is a tribute to the Kaweco Dia II, your mod is possibly inspired by the Visconti HS bronze. Nice work!

[Aditkamath26]

thank you for the nicely done review, the Maya is a very reliable pen.

 

The Maya is a tribute to the Kaweco Dia II, your mod is possibly inspired by the Visconti HS bronze. Nice work!

 

 

Yes the Maya is indeed reliable. Thank you!

[Sudharshan_S]

I've got a Maya in the same finish with a Jowo medium steel nib and I use it for taking notes which usually lasts atleast for a couple of hours and I must say that it really makes my day when I do so. I use it with Bril Blue Ink. The section is really comfortable for my not so big hand.

[Aditkamath26]

I've got a Maya in the same finish with a Jowo medium steel nib and I use it for taking notes which usually lasts atleast for a couple of hours and I must say that it really makes my day when I do so. I use it with Bril Blue Ink. The section is really comfortable for my not so big hand.

 

It is a great pen and I use it for note taking in school

[Fuellerfuehrerschein]

I use a rather course P80 sanding sponge to touch up the brushed matte surface finish on my semi-custom ASA Maya that has become my trusted pocket/traveling pen. My Maya has no cap bands and only sports a clip. That is all I tape off to protect it from being sanded. The shiny ebonite grip section and finials I maintain with an ebonite polish intended for smoking pipe stems. I think hand sanding and polishing the pen refined the original surface finish on my ASA Maya, but that is not purely a technical observation but also a matter of personal preferences.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Fuellerfuehrerschein

[Aditkamath26]

I use a rather course P80 sanding sponge to touch up the brushed matte surface finish on my semi-custom ASA Maya that has become my trusted pocket/traveling pen. My Maya has no cap bands and only sports a clip. That is all I tape off to protect it from being sanded. The shiny ebonite grip section and finials I maintain with an ebonite polish intended for smoking pipe stems. I think hand sanding and polishing the pen refined the original surface finish on my ASA Maya, but that is not purely a technical observation but also a matter of personal preferences.

 

I've resorted to slightly scrubbing the finish with Scotch Brite with a lot of soap. That removes all the hand oils and still maintain that baakul finish. As for polished parts, I have a buffing machine for that sort of stuff

[YonathanZ]

I love my Maya with an ASA Fine nib (very smooth for how fine it is!) but it always dries within an hour or so so I have to prime it pretty much always.

I love the material and size, too, and am curious why they don't make the section from ebonite as well, it's such a nice material.

[Fuellerfuehrerschein]

The grip section of the ASA Maya is made of ebonite and normally has a polished surface finish. When I vigorously polish the grip section I can actually smell the Sulphur contained in the ebonite evaporating. The smell of Sulphur/warm tires when polished or otherwise worked on in ways that will heat it up will give away ebonite surfaces.

[Harry44]

Awsome review!

[MuddyWaters]

Mine is in the mail and I cannot wait to receive it.

[Aditkamath26]

I love my Maya with an ASA Fine nib (very smooth for how fine it is!) but it always dries within an hour or so so I have to prime it pretty much always.

I love the material and size, too, and am curious why they don't make the section from ebonite as well, it's such a nice material.

 

 

Unfortunately my experience with the ASA fine nib was less than satisfactory. It had a lot of feedback. The section is ebonite too, did you get a section in a different material?

[Aditkamath26]

Awsome review!

Thank you

[Aditkamath26]

Mine is in the mail and I cannot wait to receive it.

Do let us know how you like it.

[MuddyWaters]

Do let us know how you like it.

Awesome pen. The material is not the highest quality ebonite but the size and weight of this pen is just made for long writing. The Asa fine nib is also very nice. Has a hint of feedback and with the eyedropper fill behind it gets nice and wet. Writes with zero pressure.

[Karmachanic]

Awesome pen. The material is not the highest quality ebonite but the size and weight of this pen is just made for long writing. Writes with zero pressure.

 

Agreed. Very happy with my matte black, Bock threaded, sans cap rings Maya. Pleasing in the hand. Section width is, for me, just right. Always inked. Excellent value.

[cvk]

Do you have other ASA pens ( Nauka, Writer, Daily etc)? How does Maya compare to those? 

[Karmachanic]

My ASA Maya is now making friends with an 80s MB 146 B nib. They're getting along nicely.