The Pilot 78G in broad stub

**Saintpaulia** · November 25th, 2012, 03:26 PM

The subject of this thread developed under a different thread entire and it was suggested that it have its own. Basically what we were discussing was my recently acquired Pilot 78G in a broad stub. Upon receipt of this pen I found I was unable to get it to write except in the most forlorn manner, in other words, it was as dry as an old bone.

My friend Sailor and I then had a back and forth discussion along with a few others regarding why this pen might be doing what it does (or doesn't). I tried everything I know how to do to make a pen wetter: 1) cleaning 2) checking nib to see if tines too tight 3) inspecting the feed and running a brass shim gently over its groove 4) trying a different ink. Nothing worked.

I finally wrote the seller and asked him if he had actually written with this pen. He wrote back to say that he would be glad to exchange it as it is not supposed to write this poorly. So that's where things stand now. I am going to mail the pen back to him tomorrow (November 26th).

Breck

**writingrav** · November 26th, 2012, 10:08 AM

Now that the thread is "official "

let me just add that I've never managed to get my. 78g to write.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

**Saintpaulia** · November 26th, 2012, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by writingrav

Now that the thread is "official "

let me just add that I've never managed to get my. 78g to write.

LOL!!!

Except, Hey! that's not funny... I don't want to hear that. Hmmm.... Well I sent mine back to the seller today. Let's see what he sends me back. I did get my medium to write ok esp. for a Japanese medium (i.e. read "fine"). But I had to take the feed and nib out. Take off the nib and do some serious tweaking of the feed. Not as radical as pelahale but purty near.

**Sailor Kenshin** · November 27th, 2012, 07:04 AM

Mine does write, but it's dry, as I said. I had bought a couple of packs of Pilot carts, and it's a hard starter with the ink made by the company. I have not used Noodler's, but I did try an Iroshizuku ink, Fuyu-Syogan.

But it should write. Mine has no modifications, and it'll go once it starts up.

It is not impossible you got a 'lemon,' as I did with my first Safari (of which I am now an avid user/collector).

**MrClockWork** · November 27th, 2012, 08:56 AM

I have a 78G in fine and mine is a dream now. I had some issues with uneven flow when I forst started using it but after about 2 pages of notes it flows beautifully. I did end up spreading the tines a bit and now I would even say that it is a wet writer (imagine that, a wet, fine asian pen). I currently have Noodler's Green in mine. Keep at it. My 78G goes with me everywhere now.

**writingrav** · November 28th, 2012, 02:59 PM

After reading so much about it I decided that maybe I didn't give my 78g a fair run and took it out and inked it with Diamine Apple Green. It is so far running fine. It is a Broad nib, a wee bit scratchy but not seriously. I can't say I don't love my metropolitan more. I do. But I'll give this a few days and evaluate.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

jor412 · December 2nd, 2012, 06:39 PM

I'm getting a 78G with an M nib this Saturday. Hope it works this time. Prior to that I tried an F nib and a broad stub and both were dry and scratchy.

**Saintpaulia** · December 2nd, 2012, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by jor412

I'm getting a 78G with an M nib this Saturday. Hope it works this time. Prior to that I tried an F nib and a broad stub and both were dry and scratchy.

Your faith is impressive. After a scratchy fine and broad I believe I would have lost faith! not ordered a medium!! I am still awaiting the replacement broad for my previous one. The seller, as you may recall from my earlier post, said that my pen should not have been writing like that. So I've gone the extra mile with the seller on this one. But if this one is dry from flow problems, I am getting a refund and moving on.

**Saintpaulia** · December 2nd, 2012, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by writingrav

After reading so much about it I decided that maybe I didn't give my 78g a fair run and took it out and inked it with Diamine Apple Green. It is so far running fine. It is a Broad nib, a wee bit scratchy but not seriously. I can't say I don't love my metropolitan more. I do. But I'll give this a few days and evaluate.

Ah yes the Metro. That pen is going to make history. I imagine it is on the "to buy" lists of many folks, except for the snobs, and who knows, even they might have to get one just to be in on the significance of the event. Goulet is still having problems keeping a full stock of all 9 types in. That will improve and then I think I'll get a silver with the zig-zag.

jor412 · December 2nd, 2012, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by Saintpaulia

Your faith is impressive. After a scratchy fine and broad I believe I would have lost faith! not ordered a medium!! I am still awaiting the replacement broad for my previous one. The seller, as you may recall from my earlier post, said that my pen should not have been writing like that. So I've gone the extra mile with the seller on this one. But if this one is dry from flow problems, I am getting a refund and moving on.

Haha. It's for a special purpose. I haven't bought a pen since September (or August?) but I want a cheap, easy to clean and disassemble pen for Baystate Blue. Love the color, hate the hassle. I think the broad stub didn't work for me because of the sharp edges which I didn't bother to smoothen out. The F nib likewise needed tweaking. I figure maybe an M will do it. I may have to separate the tines a bit and/or hack the feed.

**Saintpaulia** · December 2nd, 2012, 11:45 PM

Originally Posted by jor412

Haha. It's for a special purpose. I haven't bought a pen since September (or August?) but I want a cheap, easy to clean and disassemble pen for Baystate Blue. Love the color, hate the hassle. I think the broad stub didn't work for me because of the sharp edges which I didn't bother to smoothen out. The F nib likewise needed tweaking. I figure maybe an M will do it. I may have to separate the tines a bit and/or hack the feed.

Let me ask you about that. When you say "hack the feed" what does that mean to you? What do you actually do to the feed? Can you describe?

jor412 · December 2nd, 2012, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by Saintpaulia

Let me ask you about that. When you say "hack the feed" what does that mean to you? What do you actually do to the feed? Can you describe?

There's a youtube video by watch_art where he demonstrates how to hack a feed to increase ink flow. I think if you google "hack a feed", it'll pop up. Very instructive and brief. Basically, it entails taking a razor to the middle channel and deepening the channel w/o going all the way to the end of the feed. The end in this case is the "end" that's near the tine end of the nib. In the demo, he exaggerates how it's done just so it's clear but he says so straight away that we should hack conservatively: slowly and gently. In other words, hack, test flow, hack again, test flow, etc.

I followed the video to get better flow on my 78Gs but I still didn't take to either the broad or the fine.

Anyway, hope this helps.

**Saintpaulia** · December 3rd, 2012, 08:42 AM

It is helpful thanks. I just don't understand what you mean by this last: "I followed the video to get better flow on my 78Gs but I still didn't take to either the broad or the fine." I guess it's the word "take". Could you put this sentence in another way?

jor412 · December 3rd, 2012, 09:15 AM

What I meant was I still didn't quite get along with 78G in either broad or fine. Hopefully, the M will work for my "special purpose"

**Saintpaulia** · December 3rd, 2012, 05:39 PM

OK I received my 78G in a broad stub nib today from Todd Nussbaum. This being the second one, which indeed writes much wetter than the first. I'd like to explain my problem by quoting in its entireity the mail I just sent to Todd:

Hi Todd,

I received my replacement 78G with broad-stub nib today. Many thanks for your willingness to help me with the first one. And indeed, this one does write much "wetter" than the first. I would say, in fact, that it is probably writing as well as it should (although I have little experience by which to judge this).

And it is to this lack of experience that I must now, I think, focus. There is still much that I do not know about fountain pens beyond the most familiar aspects. And I believe in the case of this 78G broad that I have perhaps stumbled into unknown territory.

I hope you can help me to sort out my knowledge here, if you'll bear with a somewhat long email? I'd like to go back to the day that I first saw this broad nibbed pen for sale on your website.

At that time I had had my 78G in medium nib for some months, and after getting it to flow better I found it to be a kind of "go-to" pen for me for everyday writing. With this successful purchase in mind, I decided to buy the 78G in a broad nib. My medium 78G while working okay now, is still one of those Asian mediums that in any other world, esp. the West, would be considered a fine.

What I hoped to get with this 78G broad was basically a honest-to-goodness medium! Just a wetter, broader lined version of my medium. What I got instead is this pen which I received today. Maybe the "problem" in my understanding resides in the word "stub". That did not mean much to me. I focused upon the "broad" part of the description and not the "stub".

What I seem to have here is what I would call, from my ignorance, an italic nib. That is, it does not write like a regular pen; you know in all directions the same? Instead it writes very broad vertically but very narrow horizontally. That's not what I was looking for!

So was I just off-base in the first place? I was hoping for what I would have thought a broad nibbed 78G was, i.e. like a medium only...well...broader! And there are broads, are there not, which are not stubs? That is, they have a rounded point but are still broader than a medium rounded point?

Maybe by now you understand what ignorance I have been laboring under?

Breck
________________________

Can any of you pick up here and try to straighten me out? I figure that between Todd (who will I am sure answer) and y'all I might become enlightened? Thanks!

**KrazyIvan** · December 3rd, 2012, 06:40 PM

What you recieved is exactly what everyone has and is why the broad is so sought after. It is not a full italic as the edges would be sharper.

**Saintpaulia** · December 3rd, 2012, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by KrazyIvan

What you recieved is exactly what everyone has and is why the broad is so sought after. It is not a full italic as the edges would be sharper.

Well yes Ivan, but it does not write the same line in all directions. That was what I wanted. Basically a nib just like my medium only broader. But this thing is very different. Only writes broad vertically.

**Sailor Kenshin** · December 3rd, 2012, 08:02 PM

I get it now. What you wanted was a tipped nib. The 78g in B has no tipping, which is why it's known as a stub.

**Saintpaulia** · December 3rd, 2012, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin

I get it now. What you wanted was a tipped nib. The 78g in B has no tipping, which is why it's known as a stub.

Yep. I didn't "grok" what a stub meant! I am still learning about this hobby's terms. I need tipping!

**KrazyIvan** · December 3rd, 2012, 11:25 PM

Once you learn the way to use that tip, the line variation you get from it is great.

Thread: The Pilot 78G in broad stub

Thread Tools

Display

The Pilot 78G in broad stub

Laboring under a misconception?

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions