Visconti HS Crystal Dream gap between nib and feed?

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I recently purchased a brand new Visconti Homo Sapiens Crystal Dream via eBay. It was a calculated risk--since there'd be no warranty or shop to request a swap or returns--and hey! it turns out the odds were stacked against me. I gambled and I lost. I seem to've received a Visconti nib that ticks off every single "legendarily poor QC" check box on the list!

 

I dipped it at first and it refused to write. After a bit of scribbling, it started to produce some extremely thin, dry lines but as soon as I attempted to write anything in earnest the whole affair was plagued with hard starts, skipping, and scratchiness. The feed was saturated, but the flow was almost non-existent. I then flushed the entire pen with cold, distilled water, then let it sit in water with the tiniest bit of dish detergent added to it. Once everything was flushed thoroughly and dried, I tried inking the pen proper to see the results. Same dry, scratchy writing. 

 

Inspecting it under the loupe showed that the tines were out of alignment, so I attempted to correct that as best I could. Now the nib writes smoothly enough, the flow is improved so that the hard starts and skipping are all but gone, but still with barely any ink flow (much better when slight pressure is applied).

 

I'm guessing this requires the expertise of a nibmeister, but I'd appreciate any feedback on what it is that's actually causing these problems. I've attached images that, to me, seem to indicate that the points of the tine are too close together at the tip. The shot in profile also shows a noticeable gap between the nib and the plastic feed, which I've never seen on any of my other pens. It actually seems to make contact with the nib at its very tip, then dips down to form a valley. Is this normal? Would attempting to widen the tines with a brass shim be a worthless endeavor if this gap is the main culprit?

[TheDutchGuy]

Your photos don’t show anything that explains why the nib writes as bad as you say. What you describe is a non-functional, defective nib. What I would expect from that nib, purely based on the photos and my personal experience, is some drag or a bit of tooth and perhaps the occasional hard start with a drier ink. With a wet ink (such as Sailor Jentle Blue, Sailor Shikiori Yonaga, Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs, Herbin Rouge Grenat) I’d expect it to work well (though not necessarily pleasant).

 

I’d expect the small gap between nib and feed to make the pen wetter, not drier (this seems counterintuitive, but WimG taught me this and subsequent personal experience has confirmed it). I wouldn’t worry about this.

 

Your 2nd and 3rd photo’s both show a head-on view of the tip at slightly different viewing angles.

 

The 2nd photo might indicate that the undersides of the tines (feed side) are ever so slightly misaligned. The right tine (viewed head-on) seems to be just a tad lower and this might explain the scratchiness. Also, this photo might indicate either baby’s bottom or some clockwise rotation (or both) of the left tine (viewed head-on). This might explain some of the skipping, but it could also be a trick of the light.

 

The 3rd photo might indicate that the slit has been cut at a clockwise angle of about 8 degrees. So not just the left tine is off-kilter (as seen in the 2nd photo) but the entire slit.

 

While disappointing and inconvenient, for a modest fee a good nibmeister can turn this nib into a gem. I don’t know what you paid for this pen, but you might still have made a very good deal.

[Mezu]

Agree with some of the comments in the above post.  However, I'd argue the gap between the nib and feed is likely the major issue.  There may be accumulated dried ink along the feed channel.  I would expect pulling the nib/feed and cleaning with a toothbrush will help substantially.  Reducing the gap may be tricky... I've had mixed results heat setting plastic feeds.  You could look for a replacement feed through Visconti or alternative party but it may be cheaper or more worthwhile to just send to a nibmeister at that point.

[como]

It could be a number of issues here: 1. nib feed not seated properly; 2. defected feed; 3. nib tine issues... In any case, it will need to go to a nibmeister. In case of a faulty feed, he/she will need to source another one. I wouldn't want to gamble on a Visconti if the seller (be it a dealer or not) is not willing to provide a solution in case of problems. Let's hope that problem of your Visconti can be fixed by a nibmeister. Visconti pens would have been so much better if they hadn't got various QC issues. Good luck!! 

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Thanks to all who offered their help.

 

I was able to unscrew the nib unit but the nib and feed would not budge when I attempted to pull them from the housing for closer inspection. I ended up sending these photos and a few more images to Coles of London, and the service tech there said the nib needed to be re-seated. Hopefully they'll be able to get it writing properly!

[mlrreynolds]

Greetings all,

 

At the Triangle Pen Show in 2022, I purchased a NOS Visconti Van Gogh from a collector/broker for my wife's birthday.  He had a case of NOS. The Visconti was absolutely new - outer sleeve, box, and pen cellophane never opened. I have been a collector and refurbisher for almost ten years; I have never encountered a pen that refused to lay down ink until this Visconti Van Gogh crossed my path. On examination I found multiple defects of workmanship in the nib feed - splayed and misaligned nibs, irregularly shaped tipping, poor feed and nib proximity (too close), and misalignment of the feed channel and breather hole. It took me two hours to diagnose the issues and repair the pen so that wrote in fits and starts, then finally laid down a decent line. Additionally, it was marked as a F but is definitely a Medium. I also dumped the Visconti ink for Sailer's Jentle, which is quite wet.

 

In short, I will never buy another Visconti - new or pre-owned - nor offer them to other pen enthusiasts. Be warned.