Nibs Pre-Tuned

[eclectic2316]

Hello,

 

Why would anyone purchase a fountain pen directly from Visconti or Sailor 

when their nibs are notoriously unreliable?

 

I would suggest purchasing from nibs.com.

 

I welcome other thoughts or suggestions.

 

Thank you.

 

        Kind regards,

 

             Paul

[zaddick]

Well, one does not buy directly from either company so there is that to start with. You buy from authorized dealers or resellers.

 

The question I think you are asking is why buy an untuned nib. To that I would say that your statement of unreliability is overly broad. I don't even really hear of people complaining about Sailor nibs. Visconti did have a bad habit of over polishing their broader nibs for a while and creating poor writing experiences out of the box at a higher than acceptable rate, but I would not say I hard about really large percentages. So there more likely than not, by a fair margin, is no need to adjust any nib from the factory in a significant way.

 

Other reasons are that a person can do it themselves if needed. Some individuals may not like the default "tuned" nib from a vendor and prefer to have a specific person tune their nib. Or a person may expect to grind the nib, in which case a tune is wasted effort not worth the potential extra cost.

 

As to why not to buy from a specific vendor:

- price (of the item, taxes, import fees, shipping, etc.)

- past negative experience

- lack of stock of what you want or time to obtain

- preference to buy used

 

Please note these are general comments and not directed at the fine folks at Nibs.com.

 

Other people do adjust nibs too so there are plenty of quality small businesses that can be supported and still provide a great pen and service.

[inkstainedruth]

8 minutes ago, zaddick said:

Visconti did have a bad habit of over polishing their broader nibs for a while and creating poor writing experiences out of the box at a higher than acceptable rate, but I would not say I hard about really large percentages. So there more likely than not, by a fair margin, is no need to adjust any nib from the factory in a significant way.

True.  I have a friend that absolutely LOVES her Visconti pens.  

I've read the same thing being said of Pelikan nibs (especially on the higher priced models) -- but the only one I ever had a problem with was the B nib on my first M200 Café Creme, and $20 to a nibmeister at a pen show fixed that easily enough.  The B nib on my M405 Stresemann, OTOH?  No issue whatsoever.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[stevesurf]

9 hours ago, eclectic2316 said:

I would suggest purchasing from nibs.com.

 

I welcome other thoughts or suggestions.

 

Thank you.

 

        Kind regards,

 

             Paul

Interesting!

Indeed, purchase with tuning is well worth the expense from nibs if you're desiring a particular pen, like a mid range Visconti (less costly than a Homo Sapiens) or a mid range Sailer (less costly than KOP) and in UEF, EF or F and desire a wet or dry writer.  Otherwise, you would do better and trust your purchase from any authorized reseller and then take advantage of nibmeisters after purchase that is most likely the best road. See the following (edited and updated from SBREBrown:

 

"Mike It Work" Masuyama
Dan NibSmith
The Nibgrinder Marc Brown
Indy Pen Dance
Pendleton Pens

[MoriartyR]

To express the OP’s point from a different angle I absolutely agree that the nib-tuning offered by some retailers is a very valuable service, which is often provided free of charge. I would recommend always buying from such a retailer.

 

Far too many new fountain pens are sold with nibs that hard-start, skip, or will not write at all. Some very popular pen brands have unacceptable quality rates. Yes, these manufacturers should do much better, but that isn’t reality and it isn’t going to change soon, if ever. Retailers will generally resolve issues if they are notified but it is still extremely disappointing and bothersome to receive a faulty nib and have to return it and wait for the product to be corrected.

 

I would go further than the OP and suggest that all online pen retailers should provide free pre-delivery nib-tuning by a competent technician. If they are serious about running an online fountain pen business, selling to remote customers, then they should consider this service essential, since one cannot otherwise buy many pen brands with confidence. Does a good business just send out products unchecked when they know the failure rate is unreasonably high? Let’s be generous and say a 5% or higher failure rate is unacceptable - and I doubt anyone here would assert that Pelikan or Visconti or Montblanc ship better than 19 out of every 20 pens with good nibs.

 

In a sane world nibmeisters exist (a) to work for pen manufacturers, (b) to work for pen sellers, and (c) to provide nib work for customers to either repair a damaged nib or make a desired change to a functional nib’s characteristics (e.g conversion to an italic or a different width). We as customers should never need the services of a nibmeister to fix a new nib that isn’t functioning correctly. I really am strongly against the often expressed acceptance here that one should expect to send a pen to a nibmeister after purchase. No new pen should require the attention of a nibmeister just so it writes reliably.

 

And don’t forget that we in this forum do not represent the vast majority of fountain pen buyers. Most buyers will never know that there is such a thing as a nibmeister, let alone how to find one. They will just receive an inferior product from a retailer and put up with it or simply throw it in a drawer and never buy a fountain pen again. And that’s a terrible shame because a properly functioning fountain pen is a true pleasure to write with and I want every buyer to get a good one.

 

[sgphototn]

Well-expressed. The lack of assurance that a high-dollar Visconti nib will work out-of-the-box is similar to buying a new Lexus without assurance the engine will run.

I'm also tired of being told by reviewers and others that bad nibs are just to be accepted and I should spend more money and time to have it fixed. That's bullcrap.

 

Costly pens should write. No excuses accepted.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

On 1/4/2021 at 10:02 AM, eclectic2316 said:

Hello,

 

Why would anyone purchase a fountain pen directly from Visconti or Sailor 

when their nibs are notoriously unreliable?

 

I would suggest purchasing from nibs.com.

 

I welcome other thoughts or suggestions.

 

Thank you.

 

        Kind regards,

 

             Paul

Sailor nibs are known for their high quality control and reliability. Now, some may not like the feedback that is built into a Sailor nib (that is how they are designed). I would dare say the quality control of SAILOR pens is higher than that of Pelikan. So if a pen has high percentage of q/c issues, then the Pen should not be purchased....

 

Now, why would somebody not purchase from nibs.com?

 

Most of his offerings are over priced. He relies on his tuning service for pen sales. But the same pen, the majority of times, can be purchased from another vendor at more than half off. I do not believe his tuning service is worth the extra $200++. Heck with this, you can a few custom grinds with the extra $$$ spent on nibs.com

 

Personally, I think his tuning service is a gimmick...

[Paul-in-SF]

On 1/4/2021 at 7:19 PM, stevesurf said:

...

The Nibgrinder Marc Brown
...

I believe it's Mark Bacas, but in any case you'll find him at the link. 

[MHBru]

I bought a Visconti while on vacation in Amsterdam and when I got it home and really put it to the test it sucked.... stupidly dry flow and constant skipping.  It required two trips to a nib meister to get it where it needed to be.  When I got my Nakaya from Nibs.com and had them tune the nib for smooth writing it was absolutely perfect on arrival.  So yeah... buy from Nibs.com... and ... I will never buy another Visconti from anyone.

[silverlifter]

On 1/5/2021 at 7:02 AM, eclectic2316 said:

Why would anyone purchase a fountain pen directly from Visconti or Sailor 

when their nibs are notoriously unreliable?

 

I struggle to understand how you could lump a company notorious for poor QC (Visconti) with one that has a reputation for exactly the opposite.

 

Nevertheless, there other retailers that offer nib checks: Annabel Hiller at Appleboom is one that springs to mind. Nakaya have in-house nib grinders/tuners. When I purchased from the Writing Desk in the UK, they checked the nibs of both pens and included the writing sample in the boxes. Audrey at Franklin Christof grinds nibs. There are probably others that escape me at the moment.

[MoriartyR]

I don’t want us to create the impression that Nibs.com is the only good option for this service. Some other vendors have already been mentioned, and I would like to call out nibsmith.com (Dan Smith) who has tuned many nibs wonderfully for me and also frequently offers great discounts on his pens. He just delivered an Aurora 88 to me that is so sumptuous to write with that it is immediately my favourite pen and raised the bar on how I imagined a nib could feel. It is that good.

 

[Detman101]

I've spent my entire fountain-pen life looking for the perfect flex nib. I've bought FPR, Noodlers, Kanwrite, Franklin-Christoph, Blue Dew, Click, a few independent sellers and even vintage pens(too small).

I finally gave up and sent the "Flex" 14k F-C nib to Gena Salorino (a well-known nibmeister trained by John Mottishaw) to have what I NEED done to make the nib perfect. It's truly the best method to get the EXACT nib performance you desire.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

11 hours ago, silverlifter said:

 

I struggle to understand how you could lump a company notorious for poor QC (Visconti) with one that has a reputation for exactly the opposite.

 

Nevertheless, there other retailers that offer nib checks: Annabel Hiller at Appleboom is one that springs to mind. Nakaya have in-house nib grinders/tuners. When I purchased from the Writing Desk in the UK, they checked the nibs of both pens and included the writing sample in the boxes. Audrey at Franklin Christof grinds nibs. There are probably others that escape me at the moment.

I find this very strange, how he would send a Nakaya to be tuned without first writing it. 

[lionelc]

 

13 hours ago, silverlifter said:

 

I struggle to understand how you could lump a company notorious for poor QC (Visconti) with one that has a reputation for exactly the opposite.

 

true - took a risk recently and bought a sailor kop from japan when they had a sale, was a bit apprehensive as the price looked so much more reasonable than usual - when it came, it wrote well out of the box.

 

i have bought from nibs.com before and although they are more expensive, the price is worth it considering the huge cost in time and money to fix an unsatisfactory nib (the postal costs alone!).  obviously this is particularly relevant with certain brands of pens.  john mottishaw's good reputation for his nib grinds is well deserved.

 

ps in australia - larrypost has jen who looks at all the pelikan nibs before shipping ... excellent service, dramatically decreases risk of pen rage 

 

 

[TitoThePencilPimp]

1 minute ago, lionelc said:

 

true - took a risk recently and bought a sailor kop from japan when they had a sale, was a bit apprehensive as the price looked so much more reasonable than usual - when it came, it wrote well out of the box.

 

i have bought from nibs.com before and although they are more expensive, the price is worth it considering the huge cost in time and money to fix and unsatisfactory nib (the postal costs alone!).  obviously this is particularly relevant with certain brands of pens.  john mottishaw's good reputation for his nib grinds is well deserved.

 

ps in australia - larrypost has jen who looks at all the pelikan nibs before shipping ... excellent service, dramatically decreases risk of pen rage 

 

 

Ahh. I have heard the same reasoning from Australian members here. So I am assuming that tariff/shipping cost is a bit too much compared to members from the States? If so, then I can understand why a person in Australia would purchase from NIBS.COM.

[lionelc]

6 minutes ago, TitoThePencilPimp said:

So I am assuming that tariff/shipping cost is a bit too much compared to members from the States?

i am pretty cheap - one way to the usa would take around 2-3 weeks and cost 39aud.   

[silverlifter]

2 hours ago, TitoThePencilPimp said:

I find this very strange, how he would send a Nakaya to be tuned without first writing it. 

 

I don't understand. You quoted me, but it is unclear (to me) how your comment applies to what I posted. Who is "he"? And how does this relate to Nakaya?

[TitoThePencilPimp]

55 minutes ago, silverlifter said:

 

I don't understand. You quoted me, but it is unclear (to me) how your comment applies to what I posted. Who is "he"? And how does this relate to Nakaya?

MHBru post above the one I quoted you in initially. Then read my response... 

[silverlifter]

Still no clearer...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[TitoThePencilPimp]

6 minutes ago, silverlifter said:

Still no clearer...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It is not that serious...