New Visconti 18K Bock nibs

[NickUK]

Hey all,

 

Just a quick one for anyone wondering or looking for a writing sample. 
 

Here’s the Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, with the new 18K Rose Gold Bock nib - MEDIUM.
 

It’s too dry and slim for me, so it’s being swapped for a Broad. 

Historically people say they are “fire hoses”, but the new age of Visconti is anything but that (especially on these Bock nibs). 
 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

 

[TheDutchGuy]

Pelikan nibs tend to be on the wider side of the spectrum and they tend to be wet writers. In that sense it’s not surprising that your M1000 medium writes a thicker and wetter line than your Homo sapiens Medium. Having said that, your Visconti M does seem a little bit on the dry side. In my personal experience (I have one myself with the 18k Bock, though mine is a Fine) the Homo sapiens is sensitive to ink choice. I’ve tried MB ink in my HS and wasn’t impressed. At some point I tried Sailor ink and have never looked back.

 

Though swapping to a B will make your lines wider, it remains to be seen if it improves the flow. It might still be a dry pen with your particular ink choice. After some experimentation I’ve come to the preliminary conclusion that the flow is mostly influenced by the ink being held up in the barrel, i.e. due to phenomena like clinging to the walls, viscosity, surface tension and the like. And not so much by the feed or the nib. Anyway, hopefully you’ll be happy with your pen after the change to a B. It’s a great pen.

[NickUK]

1 hour ago, TheDutchGuy said:

Though swapping to a B will make your lines wider, it remains to be seen if it improves the flow.

It didn’t. I tried sailor ink (Yama Dori), Visconti Blue and MB Toffee Brown.

 

From my experiences (only 2 of these nibs), the new Bock 18K nibs on the Bronze Age are SUPER dry.
 

It was a literal effort to drag it across the page at time, and would only lay down a line of pressure was applied. 
 

Sure, I could send it to a nibmeister, and maybe if I was in love with the pen in general, I would have. 
 

Out of the box, the broad barely wrote because the tines were so tight. Really poor.

 

I did like the lava material, and it felt much more robust compared with your typical resin pens. 
 

I also liked the cap system, very nice. 
 

But for me, it’s all about the nib, and I’m sorry to say that whilst they are using these Bock nibs, I won’t be getting one. 
 

I’m also not overly stoked about their general QC still. 
 

Look at the finish on the cap…..

 

 

[TheDutchGuy]

Sorry to hear that… Hopefully you can return the pen and get a refund.

[NickUK]

3 minutes ago, TheDutchGuy said:

Sorry to hear that… Hopefully you can return the pen and get a refund.

Yeah, both have been sent back for refunds. 
 

Still, I have the Pilot Custom Urushi to look forward to! 

[Dante Rosatti]

I took delivery on a Bronze Age this week from Goulet Pens. No problems with quality control, though I suppose its just the luck of the draw. Perhaps it also depends on who you get the pen from.

 

more interesting is the wetness issue. see writing sample with my EF(!) nib which seems wetter (or at least not drier) than what you posted. (ink is kon-peki)

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Dante Rosatti

[NickUK]

11 minutes ago, Dante Rosatti said:

 

I took delivery on a Bronze Age this week from Goulet Pens. No problems with quality control, though I suppose its just the luck of the draw. Perhaps it also depends on who you get the pen from.

 

more interesting is the wetness issue. see writing sample with my EF(!) nib which seems wetter (or at least not drier) than what you posted. (ink is kon-peki)

 

 

 

That looks wetter than the medium and the broad I had! Lol. 
 

Maybe I was unlucky, but I’ve also seen other reviewers say they now write a bit dry. 
 

Glad you like yours though, I love the overall look and feel of the pen! 

[TheDutchGuy]

My HS flows just right with a lot of ink, just not with some (such as MB). There are no QC issues with my two HS pens (one 23k Pd Midi F, one fullsize rose gold 18k F).  Good pens. I guess got lucky.

[markh]

I have a number of Visconti pens - more than a dozen acquired over a few years.

They all have EF nibs.

They are all consistently inconsistent - that is no two nibs are alike. Every one of them writes differently. Some wider, some narrower, some stiffer, some softer. Most started with some kind of nib issue. Line too wide, too narrow, flow too high, too low, etc....

 

Visconti is design first, function second. When you buy a Visconti pen that's what you get. They've actually gotten better over time, but they are still don't have the QC of many other pens.

 

I find the design of the pens very interesting and attractive, and can fix the nib/feed if that's a problem. I understand not everyone wants to put up with this.

 

If you want a perfectly predictable pen, buy something else. That's just the way it is.

 

.

 

 

[lonelyboy]

On 8/12/2021 at 11:14 PM, NickUK said:

Hey all,

 

Just a quick one for anyone wondering or looking for a writing sample. 
 

Here’s the Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, with the new 18K Rose Gold Bock nib - MEDIUM.
 

It’s too dry and slim for me, so it’s being swapped for a Broad. 

Historically people say they are “fire hoses”, but the new age of Visconti is anything but that (especially on these Bock nibs). 
 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

 

 

Hello, where do you buy Visconti nib?  I want to swap my HS Crystal Dream 18K fine nib to medium as well.  Thanks.

 

[NickUK]

4 hours ago, markh said:

I find the design of the pens very interesting and attractive, and can fix the nib/feed if that's a problem. I understand not everyone wants to put up with this.

 

The only one I'm remotely drawn to is the Home Sapiens Lava (predominately the Bronze Age, and not the newer ones with ink windows) - I'm not a huge fan of their plastic pens, but that's just personal taste.

 

As for the nib, I'm not a nibmeister, and wouldn't feel comfortable playing around with the nib of an expensive pen like this to tune it myself.

 

Also, and maybe this is my own naivety, but I don't consider consistency and predictability a bad thing. I value the skill it takes to produce very similar results from hand finishing.

 

On the other hand, you have to wonder about the attention to detail that goes into the QC with their nibs. It's widely regarded that they've had poor QC over the years with the nibs (of course YMMV, and I'm sure it's likely to be slightly less of an issue than the internet would have you believe) - But for me, I value that aspect of a pen, and my experience with Visconti has fallen well short.

 

3 hours ago, lonelyboy said:

Hello, where do you buy Visconti nib?  I want to swap my HS Crystal Dream 18K fine nib to medium as well.  Thanks.

 

I don't know, I bought the pen brand new with the respective nibs. 

[thott]

I have totally 4 Visconti pens. Two Homo Sapiens with Palladium B and Stub 1.3 nib and a Wall Street (Palladium) 

and a Manhattan with a gold nib. 

 

The Palladium nibs are perfect with a rich ink flow as I like it and a perfect smooth writing. 
 The gold nibs didn’t have such a rich ink flow as the Palladium nibs.  
I could compare it with same nib sizes Palladium vs Gold. 
That is, among others, due to the better wettability of Palladium vs Good. This helps the capillarity of the nib system 

and therefore supports a rich ink flow. 
It is sad, that the palladium nibs are not anymore available from Visconti. 

The Visconti QC is indeed unacceptable. 
The printing of the clip is sometimes terrible, you hear a lot of disappointments of the nib performance….

Very sad for such high priced pens. 

When we bought it, we could select the best ones from several pens 🙂
But if you got a flawless one…than you have a real nice pen with a dream touch nib.

I love my HS Viscontis with its nice patina at the bronze parts. if you don’t like it, you can easily polish it 

to high gloss. But as with silver, the patina comes again….

 

 

[NickUK]

2 minutes ago, thott said:

But if you got a flawless one…than you have a real nice pen with a dream touch nib.

 

Yeah, I've heard that quite a lot, and in hind sight, I'd rather have bought a Palladium nib (even if it took me 10 pens to get a good one!)

 

I'm really surprised to hear others say the new 18K nib is soft. It doesn't feel soft to me in the slightest, which was exacerbated by the dry flow.

 

Your Bronze Age looks perfect! 

[thott]

1 hour ago, NickUK said:

 

Yeah, I've heard that quite a lot, and in hind sight, I'd rather have bought a Palladium nib (even if it took me 10 pens to get a good one!)

 

I'm really surprised to hear others say the new 18K nib is soft. It doesn't feel soft to me in the slightest, which was exacerbated by the dry flow.

 

Your Bronze Age looks perfect! 

I also didn’t feel that the gold nibs are more soft.

But I think this is more a personally subjective perception…..

 

Thomas

[Bo Bo Olson]

Visconti has hamfisted nibmeisters....no other company (& there are some 20-30 companies who use Bock nibs) has so much trouble with it's Bock nibs than Visconti.

Bock made the nibs to Visconti specs......more than likely the cheap Bock nibs....even if 18K....Visconti ruins the nibs.

 

Been reading for years and years how Visconti nibs are no good.....I just don't know what they do them when they put them on their pens.

 

I'd buy their blue ink, but nothing else.

[thott]

21 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Visconti has hamfisted nibmeisters....no other company (& there are some 20-30 companies who use Bock nibs) has so much trouble with it's Bock nibs than Visconti.

Bock made the nibs to Visconti specs......more than likely the cheap Bock nibs....even if 18K....Visconti ruins the nibs.

 

Been reading for years and years how Visconti nibs are no good.....I just don't know what they do them when they put them on their pens.

 

I'd buy their blue ink, but nothing else.

Unfortunately for some nibs it’s simply true..

 

That is the reason, why we try first the Visconti pens before buying them, if possible.

At the Fountain Pen Hospital in NY we had several pens with different nibs that we try….and we found a 

perfekt one. The same at Akkerman, The Hague.

When we buy online we ensure first that we can return it, if we don’t like the nib……

 

If you are lucky, you get a real Dream Touch 🙂

 

 

 

[sansenri]

I agree, Viscontis are nice pens, and since the nib can sometimes be an issue, it's recommended that you buy from a reputed seller, ask them to test the nib for you, and make sure they will change it if not to your full satisfaction.

Some online seller will agree to this, if they don't, buy elsewhere...

 

[Jido7]

@NickUK were thinking about getting the HS bronze age or the pilot custom 845 urushi. Wondered if you have received your custom urushi? how do you like it? Not sure if you have handled 845 but if the price is the same as the HS, which one would you pick? Thanks!

[NickUK]

2 hours ago, Jido7 said:

Wondered if you have received your custom urushi?

Hey, it’s due to arrive tomorrow, so I’ll let you know then! 

[SpecTP]

My HS bronze age has a palladium nib and it promptly went to Mr Bacas to get adjusted. Works wonderfully now.