Waterman Music Nib In A Pelikan M200

[jgrasty]

For the last week or so, I designed and prototyped a feed and collar for a Waterman Canada music nib I acquired recently from a seller on FPN. I fit the nib into a Pelikan M200 and it writes nicely.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/music-nib-m200.jpg

 

I was fortunate that the nib could rest without compression or expansion onto a Pelikan M200 feed (0.215" diameter). This is important for vintage nibs, as they are prone to fracture if the feed diameter is not correct. However, the nib shape was such that an off the shelf Pelikan feed and collar would not fit properly, so I designed and milled a feed and collar from Nikko ebonite on my Roland 4-axis vertical mill.

 

The nib itself is very impressive, but it needs a slight adjustment that I don't feel competent to perform. The center tine is just a tiny bit higher than the side tines, and thus it writes side to side with a bit of scratchiness. The nib flexibility is extraordinary; it is my most flexible nib, a true "wet noodle". As a rule, I don't really like wet noodle nibs, I can't control them as well as I can a nib that is slightly stiffer. This nib has a very slight left foot oblique that is almost invisible, but it does affect how you have to hold the nib when you write.

 

Because of the extreme flexibility of this nib, I had to put a flat tip on the feed instead of the more usual round profile of the other feeds I've designed. This allows the three tines to line up properly and reduces the tendency of the center tine to be slightly higher than the side tines. It took four prototypes to get the tip curvature correct for the nib.

 

The second complication is the quite visible taper of the nib. This feature of the nib required that the collar be internally tapered so that assembling the nib unit would not put excessive pressure on the nib and cause it to crack. This is accomplished by tapering in internal hole from 0.221" at the base (threaded section) of the collar to 0.240" at the notched end. I used a 0.002" interference fit, which is sufficient for hand assembled nib units, but probably not adequate if making these in production. The thread is 9/32"-36, as on all M200/M400/M600 nib units.

 

The ink slot is adapted from the classic Waterman feeds of the early 20th century. I've only modified that classic design to make it easy to mill. Waterman probably would have used a thin saw blade to make the ink slot.

 

The nib itself is 1.2" long, which is longer than a typical M200 nib (1.025"). If it had been any longer, I would have had to limit use of the nib to an M600, which allows longer nib lengths than a M200.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/music-nib-feed-collar.jpg

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/music-nib-assy.jpg

 

Here is a writing sample. The nib is quite wet, and thus shading is pretty dramatic.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/music-nib-in-pelikan-m200.jpg

[dneal]

Color me impressed. Well done!

[Mauricio]

Joey,

 

You are a very talented man. Great job on your very advanced customization. It is not easy to achieve ideal ink flow with vintage music nibs as they are truly "ink guzzlers".

 

The reason the middle tine stays higher in those vintage music nibs is because the three tines are not geometrically identical in terms of size. To further aggravate this, the side tines have less structural support from the base of the nib. When those nibs are flexed significantly, which a lot of them are capable of, the sides tines end up at a slightly different place than the middle tine. If you use vintage music nibs and flex them quite a bit, it becomes normal to have to do slight adjustments to the two side tines to keep them straight and enhance ink flow. That's been my experience using those vintage music nibs over the years.

 

My hats of to you for a well done job!

[luhkey]

a signature nib if i ever saw one.

[OCArt]

Very, very nice, thank you for sharing.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Roland 4-axis vertical mill ......wonderful....of course if I had one, I'd just watch it rust....one needs the training to go along with one's tools.

[jgrasty]

Joey,

 

You are a very talented man. Great job on your very advanced customization. It is not easy to achieve ideal ink flow with vintage music nibs as they are truly "ink guzzlers".

 

The reason the middle tine stays higher in those vintage music nibs is because the three tines are not geometrically identical in terms of size. To further aggravate this, the side tines have less structural support from the base of the nib. When those nibs are flexed significantly, which a lot of them are capable of, the sides tines end up at a slightly different place than the middle tine. If you use vintage music nibs and flex them quite a bit, it becomes normal to have to do slight adjustments to the two side tines to keep them straight and enhance ink flow. That's been my experience using those vintage music nibs over the years.

 

My hats of to you for a well done job!

 

Mauricio, thanks for your excellent advice on the music nib.

 

I'm sending it to Mike Masuyama for adjustment; my nib adjusting skill is not advanced enough for a music nib.

[Christopher Godfrey]

<...not easy to achieve ideal ink flow with vintage music nibs as they are truly "ink guzzlers">

 

I have, up the street from me, a couple who <each> drives...a Hummer! Yes, his and hers! So stop congratulating Joey: like my near-neighbours, he is obviously not "green"!

 

In truth, Joey, you <are> to be congratulated! Brave man, too -- what an undertaking. Reading between the lines, though, isn't Mauricio inferring that the alignment will <never> be perfect? Well, that is how I read his words; but he'll correct me, likely as not...

 

I have never really <understood> music nibs, writing myself only with very flexible vintage Pelikans, Watermans, Mabie Todds (fine and medium) -- that sort of thing -- is it not possible to write in similar manner with an old flexible, very <broad> nib? Or is that quite a different sensation? Do please explain more for me.

 

Congratulations! (I do mean it, in truth)

Edited December 3, 2015 by Christopher Godfrey

[Mauricio]

Joey,

 

Great call. Mike Masuyama does wonderful nib work.

 

<...not easy to achieve ideal ink flow with vintage music nibs as they are truly "ink guzzlers">

 

I have, up the street from me, a couple who <each> drives...a Hummer! Yes, his and hers! So stop congratulating Joey: like my near-neighbours, he is obviously not "green"!

 

In truth, Joey, you <are> to be congratulated! Brave man, too -- what an undertaking. Reading between the lines, though, isn't Mauricio inferring that the alignment will <never> be perfect? Well, that is how I read his words; but he'll correct me, likely as not...

 

I have never really <understood> music nibs, writing myself only with very flexible vintage Pelikans, Watermans, Mabie Todds (fine and medium) -- that sort of thing -- is it not possible to write in similar manner with an old flexible, very <broad> nib? Or is that quite a different sensation? Do please explain more for me.

 

Congratulations! (I do mean it, in truth)

 

My previous reply was perhaps a little ambiguous. Sorry for confusing you Christopher!

 

Let me rephrase it: Unlike two-tine nibs which are supposed to have symmetrical tines, three-tine vintage music nibs have a middle tine which is normally wider and stronger (due to better structural support from the base of the nib) than the two side tines (which have lesser support from the base of the nib). This is why the side tines tend to get slightly misaligned more easily than when using a two-tine flexible nib. Even after all three tines are nicely realigned back into perfection, subsequent flex use may cause the lateral tines to become slightly misaligned again. Once I got used to gently realigning the tines into proper position every once in a while I really started enjoying the unique attributes those vintage music nibs have to offer.

 

The main difference between a "flexible broad" and a "vintage music flexible" nib is that the music nib is usually an edged nib with a somehow rectangular tipping profile. As such, they will generally write like a B stub, BB stub, and even as a BBB stub when nib is not flexed. Once you flex it, you can get what I call astronomical line variation. I have seen lines as wide as 4mm with those most flexible BBB versions ... You can easily go up your neighbors and paint the road for them with one of those nibs, if you have enough ink to keep up with the massive ink demands one of those nibs can put onto the pen body and all of its inner components. What Joey accomplished is not novice work!

 

Vintage music nibs are not certainly your every day flex writing nib. Generally, you need to write very big letters so the writing is legible and not overlapping in its own lines, similar to switching from an XF to a B nib. They also require good paper so all that ink that will be laid on paper will not bleed through. Perhaps a good analogy might be that "writing with a music vintage nib is like writing with a stub nib on flex steroids". And the feel of using a stub line with such flexibility and extra line variation provides for quite a unique writing experience!

[bobje]

Extremely impressive! This is exactly the kind of project and experience that we come to FPN to learn about. Thank you for documenting this work and sharing it with us.

[Biber]

Oooo, just think of the potential - bravo!

[Christopher Godfrey]

I agree with Mr. Page, above -- and thanks to Mauricio for the very full explanation!