Nib Customization Options

Hi All,

I purchased a Pilot Namiki Falcon a couple of weeks ago. I'm a bit disappointed with the way it writes. It has uneven ink flow at times, other times the ink just stops flowing. I don't flex much, but it does railroad a lot when I do. I realize this likely means it needs a simple tune up. I love the way it looks and feels, so I'd like to keep it. I will use it for my cursive writing and look for something different for my day to day print writing and note taking.

I contacted nibs.com because I thought if I'm sending it off for a tune up, why not get the nib done in the cursive italic grind. $50 seems pretty reasonable for that. So, they charge a $30 evaluation fee if you don't buy the pen from them. I can live with that. However, turn time is 6 months unless you want to pay double, then turn time is 2 weeks. Now I'm in the range where I can buy another very decent pen, or return my Falcon and take the $$ from the rush service and buy an extremely nice pen.

What to do? 6 months without my only nice pen is outside of my patience range. Are there other reputable places to get custom nib grinds? Or am I better off shipping this pen back because it's not working right and buy one direct from John with the customization I want?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom.

all the nib grinders I know are going to take at least that amount of time... Letta or leta i forget how to spell it was very quick for worm Andrew98 Andy had done to a pen he had... but I forget where she works. Doug or Andy can help you out with that one. She is the only name I can think of that may have a shorter lineup

Pendelton Brown is another option. Last summer I sent him 3 pens and I swear they were back to me in less then 2 weeks... with sweet nibs! If you try to contact him now, it may take a couple days because I am sure he is at the DC Show.

I have heard great things about the person James is recommending. I haven't sent any pens to her yet, but I do want to.

John Mottishaw's (nibs.com) wait is so long because he is highly regarded in the industry. One solution is to buy the pen you want from him, and have the nib ground at the same time. I bought a Sailor 1911 Realo from him and had him grind a stub. Had the pen in less then a week.

Can other grinders do a similar grind to John's cursive italic or do they all have their own special grinds? I might give someone like Letta or Pendleton Brown a shot if they had a similar grind and an acceptable wait. I have to say I'm leaning towards returning the Falcon I bought and just buying one from John the way I want it.

I bought the black with rhodium trim, which I like a lot. I don't really like gold. The downside is giving up the savings I have on the pen purchased on eBay and paying full retail from John. Life is full of tradeoff's I guess.

Jeff_H said:

Can other grinders do a similar grind to John's cursive italic or do they all have their own special grinds? I might give someone like Letta or Pendleton Brown a shot if they had a similar grind and an acceptable wait. I have to say I'm leaning towards returning the Falcon I bought and just buying one from John the way I want it.

I bought the black with rhodium trim, which I like a lot. I don't really like gold. The downside is giving up the savings I have on the pen purchased on eBay and paying full retail from John. Life is full of tradeoff's I guess.

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If you are worried about savings you could always part with 1 or 2 of your NEWs I'm sure that would help

Letta is at Pendemonium (quick and fast) but I would personally consider returning it if you still have the option. Falcons aren't for everyone and you may want to discuss your needs with nibs.com and find you could be suited to another type of pen/nib entirely.

As an aside on the railroading issue, not all inks have the surface tension needed for that sort of use. Sometimes you need to experiment with different brands.

The one re-grind I had done was by Greg Minuskin. It was a slow time of year for him, and the time between me sending the two pens out (one was a regrind, the other was fixing a sprung nib), and getting them back was actually less than two weeks. He's estimating about two to three weeks at this point. Based on my one experience with him, I would recommend his work. I've only seen good reports on him from others. He's not cheap, but he will give you an estimate before he starts.

I second that recommendation (Minuskin) if you decide to keep it.

Just wondering, which nib size did you purchase with the Falcon?

Dave258 said:

Pendelton Brown is another option. Last summer I sent him 3 pens and I swear they were back to me in less then 2 weeks... with sweet nibs! If you try to contact him now, it may take a couple days because I am sure he is at the DC Show.

I have heard great things about the person James is recommending. I haven't sent any pens to her yet, but I do want to.

John Mottishaw's (nibs.com) wait is so long because he is highly regarded in the industry. One solution is to buy the pen you want from him, and have the nib ground at the same time. I bought a Sailor 1911 Realo from him and had him grind a stub. Had the pen in less then a week.

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I have two Pendleton nibs, both italic. I had them back inside of a week (however he lives about 60 miles from me). I love both of the nibs.

Pendleton Brown turned a Lamy 2000 bold nib into a .8mm custom stub nib in early July. It's a great writer and the turn around was very quick. Well under two weeks including mail time in both directions. The pen hasn't been out of my hands since its first inking. The ink flow is just what I asked for and the pen writes well on every paper I've tried it with.

The falcon sounds out of whack or not for you.

I can only vouch for pendemonium on nib grinds.

Nemo asked a good question on what nib size your falcon is ;-?

Sorry, my Falcon has the Soft Fine nib. Used in normal writing I only have the flow starting and stopping issues, which I assume is just an adjustment that may need done. The railroading has occurred with every ink I've tried, including Diamine, Monte Blanc, Sailor, J. Harbin and several colors of Iroshizuku. I'm fairly sure I've tried good enough ink. If I have to spend more than these inks cost just to get a pen to write, I'm getting out of the hobby now.


My normal daily style of writing is print, not cursive. I use medium to firm pressure and for this purpose the Falcon is the complete wrong tool. My sentences look like they were written by a Parkinson's patient. However, since I've discovered fountain pens, I've recommitted to resurrecting my cursive. The quick brown fox is jumping dogs quite well. For this purpose, I like the Falcon, save for the randomly not writing problem. So, I thought some work by John on the flow, combined with the cursive italic, would be just about perfect. I'll find something else for my daily printing that takes my pressure better.


I have already contacted my eBay store seller about a return. The function of the pen in its current condition is not sufficient for a $150 pen. I have some cheap Schaeffer pens with italic nibs that write much, much better, with better flow. So, if I get the return handled, then I will get John to recommend which size nib to start with for his grind, although I must say the line width of this pen is just what I was hoping it would be. My favorite "common" pen is the $8 5 pack of TUL Rollerball .7 in blue. Love the line, the color of the blue, everything. Works for print or cursive equally well. In the past year I've run 2 packs of them out of ink. This type of line is what I want in a more elegant writing instrument.

I can vouch for Pendleton Brown, too. I was disappointed he was not at the DC pen show.

I'm not sure what the benefit (or likelihood) of having a SF nib ground to an italic is. There's not much tipping material to work with there. I don't have flow issues with my Falcon, regardless of the ink I put in it, so I would return the one you have. Unless you're willing to change your writing style to use variable pressure (light on up and side strokes, firmer on down strokes), the Falcon nib won't be your cup of tea. It sounds like you need a firm fine or medium Japanese nib.

-Andy

andrew98 said:

I'm not sure what the benefit (or likelihood) of having a SF nib ground to an italic is. There's not much tipping material to work with there. I don't have flow issues with my Falcon, regardless of the ink I put in it, so I would return the one you have. Unless you're willing to change your writing style to use variable pressure (light on up and side strokes, firmer on down strokes), the Falcon nib won't be your cup of tea. It sounds like you need a firm fine or medium Japanese nib.

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Andy nailed it -- SF is a small nib, too small from which to grind a decent italic.

I'm also a member at FPN. Another well regarded nib meister is Linda Kennedy at Indy-Pen Dance. She was trained by Richard Binder. I'm a satisfied customer. Turn-around time was 3 months, but you should check.

http://www.indy-pen-dance.com/nib-work.html

Another is Mike Masuyama. I've also used him and been completely satisfied. His wait time may be longer though. Good luck.

http://www.mikeitwork.com/

jim

I got to meet Mike and his lovely wife at DC, he took my SF FA nib to a needlepoint for me on my 912 not to mention fix a bent nib for me... but i think his mail in service is very backed up at the moment

Well, I've arranged to return my Falcon. It really should have worked better out of the box, for the price. I really do like the way it feels and writes (cursive), when it was working properly. I like the idea of being able to vary my writing pressure to get different line widths, since I'm relearning cursive and looking into other writing styles as well. I'm talking to one of the guys at nibs.com to see if a Falcon with a larger nib is a good place to start for a cursive italic grind, or if they would recommend something else. We'll see where this leads. I don't want to spend much more on a pen, and the Falcon had almost everything I was looking for.

Thank you all for your recommendations and advice. I'll likely be back with questions when I've been recommended some other pens to start with.

You could have a broad Falcon nib ground to a stub. A semi-flex stub would be amazing. It's only my opinion, but I think a semi-flex cursive italic would be difficult to use. Either way, you'd still have a fine horizontal line and a broad to very broad vertical line.

-Andy

I've talked to nibs.com and they recommend the Pilot Falcon still, based on my wants, starting with a medium nib and a stub grind, narrowed to 45mm. As a second choice, the same pen with the cursive italic nib. They said the Pilot medium/cursive italic pen is a lovely writing pen. The SF nib the Falcon comes with is .35mm. The medium is .55 stock.

They told me the cursive italic mod leaves the stock nib width untouched, so it is possible and has been done on the SF nib. But, the line variation is not as drastic, and that's part of the appeal of the mod. Also, if I get the stub grind and don't like it, it can be ground further to a cursive italic. However, the cursive italic cannot be reground into a stub. So, if I go cursive italic it is that or nothing. Now, they will work with me on an exchange if I really dislike it, but I will be out the cost of the nib grind. Honestly, that is better service than even I would expect. nibs.com has already earned my business, before my first order. Fantastic.

The smart money is on the medium nib, ground to a stub at .45mm. If I don't like it, regrind to cursive italic. Based on Andrew's comment that a flex stub would be amazing plus that video, how can I go wrong? But my heart tugs for the cursive italic. It's a sharper nib with more tactile feedback. The stub will be smooth. I think what I should do is sleep on it, decide what my heart wants and decide what feels right. Then order the exact opposite nib. That's how much I trust my gut on this purchase.