Nibmeister Advice

[kenrapoza]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have a Pilot Custom 823 with a broad nib that is nice and smooth on center, but gets pretty scratchy toward the sides.  I'd like to have it ground down to a medium and also smoothed out a little more.  I also have some vintage Parkers and Eversharps that could use some tuning and smoothing.  I've never used a nibmeister before so I'm looking for some recommendations on who I should go to.

 

Mike Masuyama tends to have a pretty long wait and I've heard great things about Gena Salorino and John Mattishaw, I'm not sure if Dan Smith is still in the business or not.  Anyways, I'd love to hear from y'all's experiences.

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

[silverlifter]

Alphabetically US Only:

 

Mark Bacas - Nibgrinder

Pendleton Brown - Pendleton Pens

Danny Fudge - Write Pen

Linda Kennedy - IndyPenDance

Mike Masuyama - MikeItWork

Gena Salorino - Custom Nib Studios

Kirk Speer - Pen Realm

Ron Zorn - Main St Pens

[kenrapoza]

17 hours ago, silverlifter said:

Alphabetically US Only:

 

Mark Bacas - Nibgrinder

Pendleton Brown - Pendleton Pens

Danny Fudge - Write Pen

Linda Kennedy - IndyPenDance

Mike Masuyama - MikeItWork

Gena Salorino - Custom Nib Studios

Kirk Speer - Pen Realm

Ron Zorn - Main St Pens

 

Thank you for the list, it's quite helpful!

[alexwi]

Joshua Lax. He ground my Aurora Ipsilon Deluxe Broad into a stub italic and the result was simply amazing.

 

Alex

[Paul-in-SF]

Also good: go to a pen show, there will be nibmeisters there and you get on their lists early in the morning, and your pen is done by the end of the day. Disclaimer: I've never done this myself, not yet, but I sure hope to soon at the SF show in a couple of months. I think you can even talk to the nibmeister about what you want for your pen. Anyway, for me it really beats the several weeks to months that sending in pens can take. 

[alexwi]

7 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Also good: go to a pen show, there will be nibmeisters there and you get on their lists early in the morning, and your pen is done by the end of the day

I met Josh at a pen show and there was no waiting at all on the pen he worked on.

 

For another pen, I had to leave it at the stand and a few hours later got a call to let me know that work on my pen was about to start.

 

If you must leave your pen and come back later, BE SURE to let the person receiving your pen KNOW why you need it adjusted and make sure that notes are taken. The pen I left needed to have the line narrowed and the ink flow limited, so it was rather upsetting to get there and see my pen forced onto the paper to actually spread the tines. I realized then and there that it was a mistake to just drop the pen and not get into specifics, but I wasn't happy at all.

 

alex

 

 

[kenrapoza]

On 6/27/2021 at 10:28 PM, alexwi said:

Joshua Lax. He ground my Aurora Ipsilon Deluxe Broad into a stub italic and the result was simply amazing.

 

Alex

 

Hi Alex,

 

Thank you for that - I've never heard of him before.  Maybe I will reach out and see what his turnaround time is.

 

Ken

[fuga.mundi]

I've used Custom Nib Studios once, having 2 gold nibs grind down to EF. I've waited about 5 weeks and the nibs were very scratchy, to the point of not useable. In the description I made it clear that I need them as smooth as possible, even if they become Fine instead of Extra Fine. Seems like she grinned the nibs, but never polished them. Thats my experience and so I can't recommend Gena's service. Best of luck.

[inkstainedruth]

On 6/29/2021 at 9:33 PM, kenrapoza said:

 

Hi Alex,

 

Thank you for that - I've never heard of him before.  Maybe I will reach out and see what his turnaround time is.

 

Ken

If you can hold out till September, he might be at the Commonwealth Pen Show, outside Boston.  He opened up the tines on a Parker 51 with an EF nib that I got at an estate sale.  

He, like Linda Kennedy, was trained by Richard Binder.  (Linda has worked on several of my pens; Ron Zorn on a another 51 with an EF nib that I was having repaired at a pen show a few years ago; Mike Masuyama did cleanup on a nib bent in a s-shape that I tried to fix myself (I figured I couldn't make the situation any worse than it already was).  Another name I'll throw in is Deb Kinney, who worked on a couple of pens at a show I was at a few years ago.

Paul-in-SF may not have had work done by nibmeisters at shows, but I certainly have.  I actually prefer having work on pens done at shows if at all possible (not just nib work).  That way, I can be right there if any issues come up (the thing to do is to sign up at the particular person's table as soon as possible, and leave a contact phone number if you wander off before your name comes up on the list).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Theroc]

I've used the services of Mike Masuyama, Mark Bacas and Gena Salorino. My experiences with all of them were overwhelmingly positive. You can't go wrong with any of the three. The differences are mostly in wait times and services offered.

 

Mike is the most experienced of the three; he's truly earned the "meister" designation. Unfortunately his wait times are quite lengthy even with rush service. Furthermore there are extended periods were he can't accept any orders.

 

Mark's turnaround is faster but you can still expect to wait up to two months, though he does offer rush service and if you are willing to pay the premium you can have your order done in as little as three days. Mark does not offer flex work, but he has the most extensive list of advanced grinds. Mark will also post personalized videos of the work done on your pens before sending out the invoice.

 

Gena's wait times are the shortest of the three, though that maybe changing as she's gaining more renown. Gena does great flex mods in my experience, but also more mainstream grinds like cursive italic.

[kenrapoza]

On 7/2/2021 at 8:40 PM, inkstainedruth said:

If you can hold out till September, he might be at the Commonwealth Pen Show, outside Boston.  He opened up the tines on a Parker 51 with an EF nib that I got at an estate sale.  

He, like Linda Kennedy, was trained by Richard Binder.  (Linda has worked on several of my pens; Ron Zorn on a another 51 with an EF nib that I was having repaired at a pen show a few years ago; Mike Masuyama did cleanup on a nib bent in a s-shape that I tried to fix myself (I figured I couldn't make the situation any worse than it already was).  Another name I'll throw in is Deb Kinney, who worked on a couple of pens at a show I was at a few years ago.

Paul-in-SF may not have had work done by nibmeisters at shows, but I certainly have.  I actually prefer having work on pens done at shows if at all possible (not just nib work).  That way, I can be right there if any issues come up (the thing to do is to sign up at the particular person's table as soon as possible, and leave a contact phone number if you wander off before your name comes up on the list).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Hi Ruth,

 

Thank you for that input, it's very helpful.  I wasn't even aware of the Commonwealth Pen Show until a couple days ago, so this is really good to hear.  I can certainly wait until September and I will consider having it done there.

 

Couple newbie questions for you (I've never been to a pen show before):

 

1.)  I have a few pens that I would like to have worked on, would it be considered rude to sign up for more than one?  I don't want to appear to be a hog but I'm also not sure what the etiquette is.

 

2.) Would you generally be right there with the nibmeister while he/she is working to answer any questions or would that also be rude, like "watching someone while they are trying to work"?

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

[kenrapoza]

18 hours ago, Theroc said:

I've used the services of Mike Masuyama, Mark Bacas and Gena Salorino. My experiences with all of them were overwhelmingly positive. You can't go wrong with any of the three. The differences are mostly in wait times and services offered.

 

Mike is the most experienced of the three; he's truly earned the "meister" designation. Unfortunately his wait times are quite lengthy even with rush service. Furthermore there are extended periods were he can't accept any orders.

 

Mark's turnaround is faster but you can still expect to wait up to two months, though he does offer rush service and if you are willing to pay the premium you can have your order done in as little as three days. Mark does not offer flex work, but he has the most extensive list of advanced grinds. Mark will also post personalized videos of the work done on your pens before sending out the invoice.

 

Gena's wait times are the shortest of the three, though that maybe changing as she's gaining more renown. Gena does great flex mods in my experience, but also more mainstream grinds like cursive italic.

 

That's great to hear, thank you for that.  I think that Mike Masuyama's wait time is also around two months.  It sounds like there isn't anything that would really make you choose one over the other, apart from wait times, unless you wanted a specialized service that was only offered by one of them.

 

[alexwi]

13 minutes ago, kenrapoza said:

1.)  I have a few pens that I would like to have worked on, would it be considered rude to sign up for more than one?  I don't want to appear to be a hog but I'm also not sure what the etiquette is.

 

2.) Would you generally be right there with the nibmeister while he/she is working to answer any questions or would that also be rude, like "watching someone while they are trying to work"?

 

1. You can ask when you leave the pens. Probably 2 or 3 is OK, as they're trying to promote their work to as much people as possible. I doubt that any of them would go to a show, which is a promotional event and be willing to spend all day working for just one person.

 

2. One of the people I used at the only show I've been to was already working on my pen (and doing the opposite of what I wanted) by the time I got to his booth, but you will get a call or a text when they're ready to start working on your pens, so you will be present. And this is one of the advantages as a visitor: you get to talk and, more importantly, ask questions while they do the work, not to mention learn by watching as the work progresses.

 

Alex

[inkstainedruth]

For nib work in particular, you want to be there -- because the person doing the work needs to know what you want done (open up the times for better flow, do a regrind, etc.  And you'll want to test the pen right then and there to say "Wow, this is great!  This is exactly what I wanted!" or "No, it's still a little scratchy...."

The last year I went to DCSS (the year before they moved sites), my husband came with me.  He was sort of dubious about the whole idea, but I talked him into it.  And at one point I was talking to Pierre Miller of Desiderata Pens and happened to look over his shoulder to the corner of the ballroom.  And there's my husband, standing at Richard Binder's table.  And when I got done talking to Pierre, he was still there (and apparently had been there for quite a while -- I think an hour or two in total) just watching Richard work on peoples' pens and nibs and apparently asking questions every now and then.  And then he bought Richard's book about World War II.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JedBrown]

I was once given a Pilot Capless as a gift, which my young daughter proceeded to use to attempt murder of a wooden side table. Ron Zorn in Pennsylvania rescued the bent nib, and it remains to this day one of my favorite nibs. It was my first time using a nibmeister, and Ron and his wife made the process very enjoyable. I highly recommend him. 

[JedBrown]

On 7/4/2021 at 3:40 PM, alexwi said:

 

1. You can ask when you leave the pens. Probably 2 or 3 is OK, as they're trying to promote their work to as much people as possible. I doubt that any of them would go to a show, which is a promotional event and be willing to spend all day working for just one person.

 

2. One of the people I used at the only show I've been to was already working on my pen (and doing the opposite of what I wanted) by the time I got to his booth, but you will get a call or a text when they're ready to start working on your pens, so you will be present. And this is one of the advantages as a visitor: you get to talk and, more importantly, ask questions while they do the work, not to mention learn by watching as the work progresses.

 

Alex

This is great advice! I hope to attend the San Francisco show this year - my first pen show - if we're allowed, and I have a Rotring Newton that needs help, and I wasn't sure how this worked. 

[kenrapoza]

On 7/25/2021 at 12:34 AM, JedBrown said:

I was once given a Pilot Capless as a gift, which my young daughter proceeded to use to attempt murder of a wooden side table. Ron Zorn in Pennsylvania rescued the bent nib, and it remains to this day one of my favorite nibs. It was my first time using a nibmeister, and Ron and his wife made the process very enjoyable. I highly recommend him. 

 

Hey Jed, that's great to know about Ron Zorn, thank you for that!  I've heard great things, maybe I'll reach out to him.

 

Pretty rough story about your daughter's use of the Capless though, yikes!

[SpecTP]

As Ruth pointed out, it's best to be present with the nibmeister to get the desired outcome. I've found it best to wait for the Baltimore/DC pen shows to get my pens worked on. All the attending nibmeisters have been exemplary.

[vinniekowalski]

I can give an enthusiastic thumbs up to Mark Bacas (multiple tunings -- the L2k F he tuned changed it from a disappointment to my favorite daily writer, an amazing stub out of a Jowo M on a Karas Decograph, etc.) and Danny Fudge from The Write Pen (multiple pen repairs and nib tunings). Linda Kennedy from Indy Pen Dance is super nice & thoughtful -- I met her at the Detroit Pen show a couple of years ago -- and is well known for being magic with nibs & pen repair. 

 

Re: EF being scratchy -- how do they compare to any other EF nibs you have? In my experience, EFs are quite scratchy to my hand even when maximally smooth just because they're pointy and precise. Just like my Rapidograph technical pens -- they're meant to have a narrow, delicate line and so have less tipping to skate on a smaller puddle of ink.