Pilot Music (Ms) Vs Stub (Su) Nib Comparison

June 10, 2011

I have had a Pilot Custom 742 with the 'Sutab' (SU) nib for a while, and recently acquired a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the music (MS) nib. Both nibs are 14kt and the same size (#10). Here are writing samples with the two nibs (using the CON-70 converters in the two pens, filled with Waterman Florida Blue), compared against the piston-filler demonstrator Pilot Custom Heritage 92 with a B nib (however, that is the smaller #5 size):

A closer look at just the SU and MS nibs:

When I first used the MS nib, I thought it was very similar to the SU, but that was because I hadn't used the SU for a few months at that time. The side-by-side comparison clearly reveals that the MS nib is considerably broader than the SU. It appears to be a good deal wetter too, but that may be due to sample variation -- I've always felt the SU feed was a little drier than it should be.

Close-ups of the two nibs:

First the #10 SU:

Then the #10 MS:

For comparison, here's a close-up of the #5 B nib:

Given the greater line-width variation possible with the MS nib, it feels more like a (very) broad cursive italic compared to the SU, which is a stub.

June 10, 2011

Thanks for posting this Parkerbeta. The comparison is very useful, interesting to note that the SU has a fatter down stroke than the B.

Best

Hari

July 26, 2011

Hey, I wanted to ask where you found an Music Nib? I'm really intrsted in one! thanks~

July 26, 2011

I believe I bought mine from Rakuten. Go to http://global.rakuten.com/en/ and click on the flag of your country to access the store that will ship to you. However, Rakuten is only a portal site and just puts you, the customer, in touch with the actual store (usually small, mom-and-pop) in Japan that will ship the product to you. So all email communications from that store to you will be in Japanese. Fortunately, Google translate can come to the rescue and anyway all you want is confirmation of your order and the tracking information for your package.