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View Full Version : Vintage Music Nib Flex (GRAIL PEN ALERT!)



tandaina
October 17th, 2013, 07:27 PM
I want to run around like a teenage girl shouting "OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!"

So FPGeek Azizah has been posting pictures on Instagram of her vintage wet noodle music nib. It has been down right taunting. I've been looking for one of my own. But as I discovered at the Dallas pen show, they are rare as hen's teeth. I asked every vintage vendor: "do you have any music nibs?" And every one of them responded: "I wish I did!" A couple had ONE at home in their personal collection. I was told if they had one it would be very, very expensive to buy. This from folks who thought $300 pens were reasonable. Eep. I went home without my music nib.

And the next day (seriously) I searched eBay just for the heck of it... And there was an unbranded, music nib marked Warranted 14k. (no body, no feed, just the nib.) I watched it, and watched it... And won it for roughly $50 plus shipping. Those last seconds of that auction were utter torture. It arrived safely and I sent it to Mauricio Augilar (vintagepen.net) because he seemed to be THE flex expert, and the best bet of finding a body for this puppy. We emailed back and forth with options. The nib is large, #4 Waterman size, so finding it a body wasn't easy. But Maruicio not only found a Waterman 94 body that fit the nib (user grade, but I don't care, I just want to write with it!), he fitted it so well you'd never know this nib and pen body didn't roll out of the Waterman factory together in the 20s.

Here's that nib....

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/10337571755_0c9dbe4c7c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84377112@N05/10337571755/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84377112@N05/10337571755/) by JoAndRoses (http://www.flickr.com/people/84377112@N05/), on Flickr

And my very first scribbles. The nib is very flexible. Having three tines instead of two makes using it different than a standard flex pen, those tines are very long and very fine. But wow, what an expressive, responsive nib. You can if you keep flexing to the max for too long, outrun the feed, which isn't surprising. This nib, flexed is a fire hose. It definitely requires very, very high quality paper.

I'll update the review as I get more experience with the pen, but had to share that it is HERE!

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5481/10337747943_c4740bcdb0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84377112@N05/10337747943/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/84377112@N05/10337747943/) by JoAndRoses (http://www.flickr.com/people/84377112@N05/), on Flickr

trhall
October 17th, 2013, 07:45 PM
Great find! Mauricio is always good at helping fit nibs and finding pens to match. So wonderful how well the nib works in that pen! Congrats.

kaisnowbird
October 18th, 2013, 06:37 AM
Wow, that's crazy cool!
I think I need a music nib too, perhaps start with a modern pen first...

GourmetPens
October 18th, 2013, 03:45 PM
WOOOO! Congrats!! Mauricio is the man for flex, yep yep. Looks like we have the same pen body too :D I think it's quite attractive and boy that nib produces writing that's easy on the eyes... *drool*

tandaina
October 18th, 2013, 03:52 PM
Thanks! And thanks for the inspiration, it is truly amazing to write with, I need a lot of practice with it, but so much fun. :)

tandaina
October 18th, 2013, 08:44 PM
Heads up for those interested. There are at least 2 gold music nibs for sale on eBay right now.

earthdawn
October 18th, 2013, 09:43 PM
WOW that is simply awesome!

Congrats.. what a writer.

KrazyIvan
October 20th, 2013, 02:17 PM
I saw those two nibs and planned to bid on them, then forgot. :(

Jack
October 31st, 2013, 04:06 PM
What a find!

Mori45
November 8th, 2013, 09:10 PM
Congrats Tandaina! I just got a couple from John Mottishaw, a Warranted and a Welty, at what I thought were pretty reasonable prices, but $50 is a steal. If anyone else is looking for vintage music nibs, I'd suggest giving John a call as I think he had a couple of Weltys available.