Love For The Pilot Fa Nib

January 8, 2020

I've had a Pilot Custom 742 with an FA nib since early 2016, might have been my forth or fifth fountain pen purchase. The pen is the right size for me, but my affinity for the nib has waxed and waned over these many months, with it spending much of it's time un-inked.

I've had railroading issues, I screwed up the nib attempting to flex it, while not knowing the proper technique, which resulted in a trip to a nibmeister. The pen came back writing smooth with a slightly better ink flow, but still it sat unused.

A November purchase of an MB 149 Calligraphy motivated me to ink the 742 for a writing comparison. What has happened to me, the 742 is now one of my favorite pens. I still can't flexy write worth a darn, but for normal writing, it's smooth and bouncy, a pleasure to write with. The 742 and the MB are now two of my favorite pens and have been inked constantly since November.

My new love for the FA nib motivated me to order a Pilot Custom 912 with an FA nib that's gonna get a Spencerian re-grind.

And to think, last summer I tried to sell the 742 because I wasn't using it. (I was trying to downsize my pen collection, with little success, on Craigslist.)

Cheers,

David

January 8, 2020

Pilot Custom 742 with an FA..................I doubt if that nib was ever designed for superflex....or what ever one means with the word 'flexi'. (Some coming over from nails even consider regular flex a flex nib, in after all there is that 'flex' in the term description. )

I would think one to be somewhere near a semi-flex nib.....from my reading.

....don't have one, don't want one, got lots of old vintage German pens semi&maxi-semi-flex pens.

Semi-flex is a flair pen, making a letter a bit wider at the start of a word, a loop like an l or a b, or crossing a T. It is line variation on demand**..........it is not a calligraphy letter drawing nib, on the whole.

**One has to have a light enough Hand, to demand line variation; from one's normal lighter script. It took me some three months to get to that....the first six weeks I was still ham fisted and maxed the nib all the time.

I just scribble away with my semi-flex pens getting natural no think flair, only occasionally making a fancy decender at the end of a paragraph.

Many though only see xxx-FLEX..... so push the nib past it's 3 X a light down stroke border, stressing and or springing the nib, trying to make it write like a superflex nib.

January 8, 2020

Pilot Custom 742 with an FA..................I doubt if that nib was ever designed for superflex....or what ever one means with the word 'flexi'. (Some coming over from nails even consider regular flex a flex nib, in after all there is that 'flex' in the term description. )

I would think one to be somewhere near a semi-flex nib.....from my reading.
....don't have one, don't want one, got lots of old vintage German pens semi&maxi-semi-flex pens.

Semi-flex is a flair pen, making a letter a bit wider at the start of a word, a loop like an l or a b, or crossing a T. It is line variation on demand**..........it is not a calligraphy letter drawing nib, on the whole.

**One has to have a light enough Hand, to demand line variation; from one's normal lighter script. It took me some three months to get to that....the first six weeks I was still ham fisted and maxed the nib all the time.

I just scribble away with my semi-flex pens getting natural no think flair, only occasionally making a fancy decender at the end of a paragraph.

Many though only see xxx-FLEX..... so push the nib past it's 3 X a light down stroke border, stressing and or springing the nib, trying to make it write like a superflex nib.

Seriously, Bobo, do you just cut-and-paste this text every time someone uses the word 'flexy' in a post?

Fine, the nibs are somewhat soft and bouncy, I promise to never use the work 'flexy' again regarding a modern pen.

Really, you missed my point, I'm not much of a flexy writer, and these nibs are simply pleasant everyday writers.

January 8, 2020

@ItsMeDave: my own experience regarding my Custom 743 was very much akin to yours, due to unpredictable ink-flow and tram-lining and I asked about it somewhere here among the FPN pages. Someone (I cannot for the life of me remember just who it was; but I owe him big-time for the advice to persevere) advised me to try other, wetter inks (didn't work) and I kept threatening to sell it. He goaded me more and then I read about Joey Grasty of The Flexible Nib Factory.

I have written about this elsewhere; but buying an ebonite feed from him was the best thing I have done in many years of fountain pen collecting: instant gratification and results! A once-neglected and disappointing pen has become one of my favourites (including all my vintage Pelikans and Watermans)! If and when you buy another, you might have a look at his website: the two-channel feed is more than adequate, while the three-channel one is probably more useful if you intend drawing with your pen.

By the way: I can get line width (variation) of about 1,5mm out of my FA15 nib -- easily and with little pressure. It is <flexible>, Bo Bo! I reckon I enjoy this (the bigger-sized) FA nib almost as much as any of my old German nibs (Pelikan, Osmia, Soennecken).

I have been trying to upload a photo of my writing with this pen and a couple of comparisons; but this blasted site will not allow it for some reason -- it keeps telling me to limit to 100mb; but when I keep scaling it down, <still> it refuses me...!

Edited January 8, 2020 by Christopher Godfrey

January 8, 2020

@ItsMeDave: my own experience regarding my Custom 743 was very much akin to yours, due to unpredictable ink-flow and tram-lining and I asked about it somewhere here among the FPN pages. Someone (I cannot for the life of me remember just who it was; but I owe him big-time for the advice to persevere) advised me to try other, wetter inks (didn't work) and I kept threatening to sell it. He goaded me more and then I read about Joey Grasty of The Flexible Nib Factory.

I have written about this elsewhere; but buying an ebonite feed from him was the best thing I have done in many years of fountain pen collecting: instant gratification and results! A once-neglected and disappointing pen has become one of my favourites (including all my vintage Pelikans and Watermans)! If and when you buy another, you might have a look at his website: the two-channel feed is more than adequate, while the three-channel one is probably more useful if you intend drawing with your pen.

By the way: I can get line width (variation) of about 1,5mm out of my FA15 nib -- easily and with little pressure. It is <flexible>, Bo Bo! I reckon I enjoy this (the bigger-sized) FA nib almost as much as any of my old German nibs (Pelikan, Osmia, Soennecken)

Christopher, thanks for reminding me about The Flexible Nib, I'd read about it here on FPN in the past, but I let the ball drop.

I'd love to make my 742 that little bit better.

January 8, 2020

Hmmm, is a Pilot Custom 742 the same as a Pilot Custom 743? I've got a 742, but when I google 743 what appears is a pen that looks just like my 742.

flexiblenib.com lists a replacement feed for the 743, but not the 742.

Are they the same pen, merely labelled differently for different markets?

January 8, 2020

@Dave: I have just modified/edited my post (go back and re-read); but I <thoroughly> encourage you to look at Flexible Nib Factory site and go into "shop" to see the feeds for Pilot: I do see 743 and 912 -- I hope your feed is the same as these? The improvement was instantaneous and wonderful!

January 8, 2020

@Dave: you have a PM.

January 8, 2020

742 and 912 both have #10 nibs. 743 has #15

https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html

Edited January 8, 2020 by Karmachanic

January 8, 2020

742 and 912 both have #10 nibs. 743 has #15
https://kmpn.blogspot.com/2011/06/pilot-custom.html

Karmachanic, thanks for that.

January 8, 2020

+1 for those replacement ebonite feeds. I'd just add that you should start with the 2 slit, the 3 slit is extremely wet, so much so that I can't use it with most inks because it just dumps ink onto the page. If you've got the budget I'd just grab both since then you can swap out for different inks in the future, but if its one or the other I would strongly recommend the 2 slit.

January 8, 2020

+1 for those replacement ebonite feeds. I'd just add that you should start with the 2 slit, the 3 slit is extremely wet, so much so that I can't use it with most inks because it just dumps ink onto the page. If you've got the budget I'd just grab both since then you can swap out for different inks in the future, but if its one or the other I would strongly recommend the 2 slit.

Yeah, I was thinking 2-slit.....

January 8, 2020

Pilot Custom 742 with an FA..................I doubt if that nib was ever designed for superflex....or what ever one means with the word 'flexi'. (Some coming over from nails even consider regular flex a flex nib, in after all there is that 'flex' in the term description. )

I would think one to be somewhere near a semi-flex nib.....from my reading.
....don't have one, don't want one, got lots of old vintage German pens semi&maxi-semi-flex pens.

Semi-flex is a flair pen, making a letter a bit wider at the start of a word, a loop like an l or a b, or crossing a T. It is line variation on demand**..........it is not a calligraphy letter drawing nib, on the whole.

**One has to have a light enough Hand, to demand line variation; from one's normal lighter script. It took me some three months to get to that....the first six weeks I was still ham fisted and maxed the nib all the time.

I just scribble away with my semi-flex pens getting natural no think flair, only occasionally making a fancy decender at the end of a paragraph.

Many though only see xxx-FLEX..... so push the nib past it's 3 X a light down stroke border, stressing and or springing the nib, trying to make it write like a superflex nib.

By your terminology, it'd be a full flex,

It's a surprisingly soft and responsive nib.

Don't get the 3 slit feed. I speak from experience, having both, the 3 is unusable in everyday writing, and you have to push hard to tax the 2 slot.

The feed for the 743 also fits the pilot 823, which can be ordered with an FA nib (how I got it) from tokyo pen quill shop for just about the same as the normal price.

March 12, 2021

Just got a 912 with FA nib. It's a lovely nib with a nice flex. It flexes like my Pelikan 400nn but unlike the 400nn, I can write normally and even quickly with it without the occasional, sudden, scratching/hitching of the nib on the paper during an upstroke that tends to occur with the Pelikan. Mine has excellent flow and is currently inked with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai. It's a versatile nib and am very happy I got it.