Custom 912 music or stub?

[Inkythoughts]

All,

This pen comes with a variety of nib options. In terms of stub nibs it has a stub or a music option. Which of these two nibs gives greater line variation, the stub or music? I know the music is likely to be wetter with the extra slit in the nib. Thanks.

[Lady Onogaro]

I myself would not find the Music nib a practical one for everyday writing. I would always go with a stub.

If you buy it from John Mottishaw, you could get a customized nib. You could talk to him about what you want from a nib, and he would be able to help you get it.

[dfo]

The stock Pilot stub is more like a broad nib with some line variation with a .7mm down stroke, while the music nib has a 1.0mm downstroke. You wont get much line variation on the stock Pilot stub without getting it modified by a nibmeister like Mottishaw.

Dan

[stub]

All,

This pen comes with a variety of nib options. In terms of stub nibs it has a stub or a music option. Which of these two nibs gives greater line variation, the stub or music? I know the music is likely to be wetter with the extra slit in the nib. Thanks.

Last year I was in Japan and I only really had one pen I was after and that was the Pilot 912 in either Stub or Music nib. I tried a number of pens in a number of different stores and ended up with the SU nib. The music nib was wider, though I didn't find it wetter at all but it just didn't seem like an everyday pen for me so I got the stub which is not so large that you can't use it on 7mm lined paper.

The Pilot SU nib is an odd beast. It is very very very square. With a stub you usually are concerned with how the outer edges are, is it a sharp stub or a soft one but the top to bottom of the stub us usually quite rounded. The Pilot SU nib is a tipped stub (thankfully) but every angle is 90°. The nib tip is literally a rectangle and you (well me) often end up writing on that sharp 90° bottom edge, which can make a crisp line but is odd feeling.

The Pilot 912 is a GREAT pen (imo). The Pilot SU nib would be a GREAT size everyday user stub if you have the patients to break it in and write with it a lot or better yet you bought it from someone who could give the nib a kiss or two on the wheel and make it Sheaffer like. It is a tipped stub so it has that potential, it is just exceedingly boxy like it was made by and for a machine and not a person.

I still love mine. I use it a lot but as someone with several mid-century factory stubs you might feel (as I do) I could use some hand finishing. It is a great stub, it just feels raw. Not horrible, not unusable. It just feels like it needed a 5 min hand finishing stage it never got. No regrets on mine just a heads up.

oh, and hey, you can get the 912 in a bewildering array of colors! Any color you want, so long as its black. heh.

The music nib was just like the stub but wider. A fun nib but my application largely is note taking on lined paper (ironic as I teach music at a conservatory but for that I use pencil, AS GOD HAS INTENDED)

[KrazyIvan]

I own both but in different pens, Custom 742 with the SU nib and Custom 74 with the Music nib. Assuming they are the same nibs, my observation is similar to what's already been mentioned. The SU is smaller with less line variation.

[penwash]

All,

This pen comes with a variety of nib options. In terms of stub nibs it has a stub or a music option. Which of these two nibs gives greater line variation, the stub or music? I know the music is likely to be wetter with the extra slit in the nib. Thanks.

Last year I was in Japan and I only really had one pen I was after and that was the Pilot 912 in either Stub or Music nib. I tried a number of pens in a number of different stores and ended up with the SU nib. The music nib was wider, though I didn't find it wetter at all but it just didn't seem like an everyday pen for me so I got the stub which is not so large that you can't use it on 7mm lined paper.

The Pilot SU nib is an odd beast. It is very very very square. With a stub you usually are concerned with how the outer edges are, is it a sharp stub or a soft one but the top to bottom of the stub us usually quite rounded. The Pilot SU nib is a tipped stub (thankfully) but every angle is 90°. The nib tip is literally a rectangle and you (well me) often end up writing on that sharp 90° bottom edge, which can make a crisp line but is odd feeling.

The Pilot 912 is a GREAT pen (imo). The Pilot SU nib would be a GREAT size everyday user stub if you have the patients to break it in and write with it a lot or better yet you bought it from someone who could give the nib a kiss or two on the wheel and make it Sheaffer like. It is a tipped stub so it has that potential, it is just exceedingly boxy like it was made by and for a machine and not a person.

I still love mine. I use it a lot but as someone with several mid-century factory stubs you might feel (as I do) I could use some hand finishing. It is a great stub, it just feels raw. Not horrible, not unusable. It just feels like it needed a 5 min hand finishing stage it never got. No regrets on mine just a heads up.

oh, and hey, you can get the 912 in a bewildering array of colors! Any color you want, so long as its black. heh.

The music nib was just like the stub but wider. A fun nib but my application largely is note taking on lined paper (ironic as I teach music at a conservatory but for that I use pencil, AS GOD HAS INTENDED)

Can we see a writing sample from this unique nib? Please :)

[Inkythoughts]

Thank you all very much for the thoughtful responses - this was my first post on a pen forum. I sketch/draw as well as write with my fountain pens and I am used to moving my hand position to get line variation (zoom nibs, togi, fude etc.). I think I am going to go with the music nib - I only use blank paper and the notes I take at work are only for myself to read anyway, plus I am used to positioning a nib to get the writing effect I want. Thanks again everyone.

Tim

[ethernautrix]

I bought a 912 with the PO nib about a year ago, and it quickly became a daily favorite.

So, even though I don't want another 912 (unless it were available in a few colors, to differentiate my PO with another nib), I've been bouncing back and forth between wanting the SU or the FA. SU or FA? SU or FA? Argh.

This thread has helped me realize that the SU probably would write more broadly than I prefer (I'd like to find a .3 or .4mm stub) (yeah, I know) -- (and I don't want to pay a nibmeister to make this nib for me, because then I would still have to decide between the SU and the FA). Pens are hard.

Anyway, the 912 model itself is a great pen -- good size, good weight, good looks.

[dfo]

I bought a 912 with the PO nib about a year ago, and it quickly became a daily favorite.

So, even though I don't want another 912 (unless it were available in a few colors, to differentiate my PO with another nib), I've been bouncing back and forth between wanting the SU or the FA. SU or FA? SU or FA? Argh.

This thread has helped me realize that the SU probably would write more broadly than I prefer (I'd like to find a .3 or .4mm stub) (yeah, I know) -- (and I don't want to pay a nibmeister to make this nib for me, because then I would still have to decide between the SU and the FA). Pens are hard.

Anyway, the 912 model itself is a great pen -- good size, good weight, good looks.

I have been in the same boat, owning a 912 PO and wanting other nibs. I love the PO nib and it is in my daily rotation, but I plan to get an FA or SU nib. The problem is that John Mottishaw is the only place to purchase nib units that I am aware of and the costs are exorbitant—more than what I paid for the pen new.

[stub]

(I'd like to find a .3 or .4mm stub)

A regular .3 or .4 nib and a stub of that size would be indistinguishable to the naked eye. In fact a stub that small would be exceedingly difficult to make because if the vertical stroke is .3 and and the horizontal stroke has to thinner (by very definition) then you are what? Grinding that down to needlepoint or beyond? Just write with an exacto knife dipped in ink. Stubs below .6 or .5 don't look like stubs and don't make much sense. Just get a needlepoint. I have 2 .5ish stubs and the effect is very subtle indeed. Can't imagine smaller than that even making any impact at all.

[ethernautrix]

(I'd like to find a .3 or .4mm stub)

A regular .3 or .4 nib and a stub of that size would be indistinguishable to the naked eye.

All I want is a thin line with a hint of variation. Which the PO nib gives me, which is why it has been inked and used daily (or almost daily) since it arrived. Sometimes, I'd like a slightly broader line (which would still be thin) with that hint of variation. Anyway, the point was that Pilot's SU nib is too broad for what I want, so I might as well opt for the FA, which will address other line variation fun.

Other points implied but easily missed: I don't want a bunch of Pilot CH912s. I'd prefer to have the one (PO), but I wouldn't mind having a second (SU or FA). I prefer the 912 for the shape (flatter ends), thus I'm not considering the 742 or 743. Since I want a tiny SU out of the box, this thread has made me realize the folly of that desire; ergo, FA for the win.

Unless these Uni-ball Signo rollerballs and Pentel EnerGels that have somehow seized my attention take over and I start to question the purpose of buying another fountain pen at all. ("Buying another," not "getting rid of all my fountain pens and using roller/gel pens exclusively," cos while that might seem reasonable to some, it is a silly idea to me.)

[Inkythoughts]

If out of the box line variation requiring either pressure or changing the pens position interests you try sailor's zoom or naginata togi nibs. The togi nibs can be had in fine and I think are more difficult to use effectively than a falcon (you are not.going to get copperplate with a togi nib) they are tons of fun and if you draw or sketch togi/zoom nibs can be very useful.