Pilot Elite Nib Sizes

[gregglee]

This is just a curiousity question. I bought 4 of these from Speerbob. pilot elite $22

 

All have the green EF stickers. All nibs flex wider under pressure.

 

Under light pressure, two write a line that I would consider EF - maybe narrower. And a bit scratchy The other two write wider lines. One seems at least F. The other is wider still - at least as wide as a Parker 75 M and close to a Namiki VP B. The two wider ones also feel smoother and seem to flex proportionally more - I have to pay attention to not flex them when writing a test line.

 

Under a loupe, the physical sizes of the nib tips look different and correlate to line width.

 

I'm not planning to send anything back. In fact the different sizes are interesting. But I'm curious if I can determine what sizes they are. I haven't found any size markings on the pens, except for the sitckers. Is line width comparison enough to figure it out? Maybe micrometer the nib tips? Or could the nib be marked under the "hood"? But I have read that these pens can be difficult to disassemble and require a special tool for one step, so I don't want to even consider trying if there is nothing there to see.

 

 

[troglokev]

Speerbob sells the Elites that were made in the Thai factory. These had steel nibs, and did not have quite the same quality control as you can expect from those made in Japan. I have several, and they're great for the price. Of course, you could buy another 2 or 3 for the price of the current model Elite from Japan (11,200円).

 

The current model nib is 14k gold, and is a great writing nib. I recommend it. It's up there with the Pilot SF nib in the Custom 74.

[gregglee]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Am I reading this correctly that you think it's all just the manufacturing tolerences of 35 years ago, rather than mislabeled?

And so likely no concealed labeling on the nib?

 

Does current model mean Elite 95S? I have seen them listed only by on-line retailers in Japan, not US based.

[troglokev]

Yes. The Elite 95S is the current model in Japan.

 

The manufacturing tolerances in the Japanese factories were much better than those in other parts of the world, back when the original Elites were being made. The Elites from the time that were made in Japan are noticeably better made, and more consistent in the sizing of the nibs.

 

There is more labelling hidden under the hood, but it's not a simple job to get at the nib.

[ukobke]

Well, I think those of Speerbob are made in Taiwan. I know about Korea also, but I did not know that some of them are made in Thai.

 

I collect Elite for many years, and I can tell that the new 95S is one of the best.

 

The one in the picture of troglokev is one of the most rare Elite. This is the big nib. This nib is fitted in big size Elite, silver ones, etc.

 

 

[gregglee]

 

Well, I think those of Speerbob are made in Taiwan. I know about Korea also, but I did not know that some of them are made in Thai.

 

I collect Elite for many years, and I can tell that the new 95S is one of the best.

 

The one in the picture of troglokev is one of the most rare Elite. This is the big nib. This nib is fitted in big size Elite, silver ones, etc.

 

 

 

I don't see any country of origin markings.

 

Any opinion on trying to look under th hood for nib markings?

 

I thought the troglokev nib picture is of an Elite 95s. Same as this review sixteenth iimage.

 

A separate question. I know the 585 marking on the nib is gold purity. What does the 413 at the bottom mean?

[rutherfordr]

The "413" mark is the code for the month & year that the nib was manufactured.

 

"4" = April, and "13" = 2013.

 

Pilot uses this same date code on almost all of their nibs.

[beboy]

 

Well, I think those of Speerbob are made in Taiwan. I know about Korea also, but I did not know that some of them are made in Thai.

 

I collect Elite for many years, and I can tell that the new 95S is one of the best.

 

The one in the picture of troglokev is one of the most rare Elite. This is the big nib. This nib is fitted in big size Elite, silver ones, etc.

 

 

 

Do you know about this one?

I saw that model once on ebay and haven't seen other Elite like that afterward.

[ukobke]

I have three different models of these. There are two with metal cap and body, and one model with acrylic (?) body.

This one is one of the two. The difference is the nib. Both are white gold. The one of the picture is the small nib. The other model has a big white nib similar to 95s.

The one with acrylic body has the small nib too.

[gregglee]

Do you know about this one?

I saw that model once on ebay and haven't seen other Elite like that afterward.

I don't know if it would affect id, but note that the box and accessories in the picture are not the originals for the pen. Listing is clear on this.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Pilot-Elite-short-barrel-cross-hatched-cap-Medium-nib-converter-N-O-Sin-box-/321324063239?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=NN1%252BqXojDvcwiUYGhu77n9VX7xU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

[soapytwist]

MYU's helpful review of all the metal/silver pocket pens is here:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/67232-pilot-pocket-size-pens/

 

I keep looking at Speerbob's auction and thinking that the converter alone would be around $5-7 by itself in the UK!

[beboy]

I don't know if it would affect id, but note that the box and accessories in the picture are not the originals for the pen. Listing is clear on this.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Pilot-Elite-short-barrel-cross-hatched-cap-Medium-nib-converter-N-O-Sin-box-/321324063239?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=NN1%252BqXojDvcwiUYGhu77n9VX7xU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

personally I wouldn't mind as I don't care much about the packaging. That's more the shape of the hood on the nib that I found interesting and it doesn't seem as frequent as the 95s shape.

[beboy]

I have three different models of these. There are two with metal cap and body, and one model with acrylic (?) body.

This one is one of the two. The difference is the nib. Both are white gold. The one of the picture is the small nib. The other model has a big white nib similar to 95s.

The one with acrylic body has the small nib too.

Interesting. This one seems to be the acrylic (or other sort of plastic) body.

[speerbob]

Hi, The Elite pens I sell were made in the Korea factory. The cap is metal and the section and body acrylic. Pilot never made fountain pens in Thailand and probibly not in Taiwan. The places in Asia I know for sure they once made fountain pens besides Japan are Korea, Burma and India. Burma pens are super scarce, I have seen 2 ever. India Pilot pens are not that uncommon in Asia, espacially India, and seem to mostly be eyedroppers. The Korea ones are fairly common in Asia. The Korea factory made mostly the lower-end pens and I'm told they were not sold in Japan. This Elite pen I sell did come from the Pilot warehouse in Thailand. I bought 1500 of them. This was the cheaper version of the Elite made with the small gold plated nib. The ones with the larger intergrated nib were made in Japan. They are a good quality pen and use many of the same parts as the Japanese one. By making them in Korea and not using a gold nib they were cheaper for the less-developed counties where a gold nib pen was to expensive for most consumers. 90% of them have a EF nib. I did get some with a fine nib and a very small number with a medium nib. The medium and fine nib pens are long sold out. I have found the EF nibs to run between a needlepoint and Fine. I actually think it has more to do with ink flow than tip size. A little extra flow on a EF can write like a fine. They are typical Pilot high quality so I don't think it's an issue of sloppy nib making. I have sold probibly 800 of these pens and had maybe 12-15 bad ones. I ship a lot of them to Japan. I assume because they are not available there.

 

The Pilot agent for Thailand has been the same company for over 30 years and the owner is Korean.

 

Another interesting Pilot note is many of the low-end Pilot pens are now made in China. I sell the 78G. The ones I have were made in Japan. I bought 1500 of them before they moved production to China. I don't know if the China ones are any different in quality, but once production moved to China, Chinese sellers started to offer them very cheap.

 

There seems to be a very good market for Pre-China production pens. NOS and older used Made in USA Cross pens, Made in Japan Pilot pens, Made in USA or UK Parker, Made in USA Sheaffer seem to be very in demand. Cheers, BOB

[ukobke]

@ speerbob

So, assume those BB 78G are made in Japan? I have bought 6 from you!

 

I had written above that the pens are probably from Korea, and you confirmed that. Ialso have noticed that the Korean Elite have a GREEN sticker but the Japanese pens have either the round sticker as shown in the pen above or an almost square but not sticker. Basic colors for both are black letters on gold .

The Korean Elite have the shape and are exactly like the first Elite model, but there is a difference. The cap is thinner and of course there is the GREEN sticker and no gold nib.

 

The Elite from Taiwan which I am sure they are made there, are not like the first model, but like some produced later and the cap is the same size as the Japanese. No gold nib of course. Now the sticker., for which I am sure you have seen, is a sticker similar to the Japanese, gold sticker like the one above, and the difference is this. Instead of the price, at the same place there is a red line like ribbon with three diamond shape on the gold ribbon.

[speerbob]

Hi, Yes, all my 78G pens are the ones made in Japan. You know a lot more about Elite stickers than I do. I have seen many different types but never really paid attention to which ones are made where. Thanks for the info. Cheers, BOB

[gregglee]

I hadn't realized the cap was metal. They sure did a good job of matching the cap paint to the resin barrel and section. .

 

In my original post, I mentioned that one wrote a line that seemed finer than ef and was scratchy. On closaer examination, It turned to have nib tips significantly misaligned. It would barely put out any ink on a leftward stroke. (It arrived still in the factory sealed bag, so it surely left the factor that way.) After aligning, it is much smoother, and writes what I could call ef. But as I said two others are notceably wider. I also get the impression that flow is a big part of it, obvious on more absorbant paper. But the nib tips do look different from pen to pen.