Sailor 21K Broad Nib Question

[calamus]

I received an eagerly-awaited pen just recently, a Sailor 1911 standard body with a 21K broad nib. I’ve been using fountain pens on and off since the 1950’s, but it’s the first gold nibbed-pen I’ve owned.

I inked it with some Diamine Lapis Blue I’d just recently acquired from the Phillippines, and gleefully put pen to paper, expecting hitherto unexperienced writing joys. I’d heard Sailor nibs discussed in hushed, reverent tones; even heard them described as among the world’s finest. So I was exceedingly disappointed when it had noticeable drag, occasionally skipped (okay, I was writing on a notebook balanced on my knee, but still..), and once or twice produced blobs of ink on the page (looked like a bit of paper fiber got momentarily stuck between the tines). I have a Pilot Metropolitan with a stainless steel nib that performs much better. Did I get a dud, or are Sailor nibs vastly over-rated? Or does it merely require advanced nib-handling techniques that I need to learn at the lotus feet of a fountain pen guru? Or perhaps I fail to appreciate the equisiteness of draggy nibs that occasionally skip?

I bought the pen on eBay from Japan from a private party, so I can’t return it for a replacement, as I could have if I’d paid double for it from an authorized dealer. It came new in the package and gives no indication of being a knockoff, and the dealer has a 100% feedback rating. The pen and nib look gorgeous, and I see no obvious problem with the nib through a loupe, although the shape of the tip is different from what I’m accustomed to seeing; instead of being spherical, the bottom of the bellied-out part is elongated a bit.

I’m hoping it could be tuned up by what I’ve heard people refer to as a nib-meister. Can anyone tell me who the go-to nib wizard is, what does a tune-up usually cost, and does this sound like a fixable problem? An ad for thenibsmith.com popped up when I did an online search, but when I went to his website it said he was not taking any new orders until his backlog became manageable.