Pilot 912 Minuskin Modified Falcon Nib

February 22, 2016

I wholly understand that work should be paid, and specialized job should be paid accordingly. That's not the point. The point is that if a very similar or perhaps indistinguishable performance can be obtained by the unmodified nib, then there might be no reason to pay for the modification (which also may or may not affect the durability of the nib). I am certainly not saying that anyone should work for free.

February 22, 2016

Yes, I have to say that I was trying to avoid talking about money in my review for reasons that I and other posters in this thread have mentioned and I don't want to sound like a broken record. I did write that I thought it was "worth it" without talking about price while clearly emphasizing that this was inherently a matter of personal opinion, perhaps I should have omitted the issue altogether; mea maxima culpa!

I think Pterodactylus explained the whole monetary value issue in his last post much better than I did. And honestly, I'm done talking about it. Avanti!

Feanaaro, again, you're really making me wish I had one of those unmodified FA nibs now! If you could provide a couple samples of an unmodified #10 FA nib just so we have some kind of frame of reference, I would greatly appreciate it and if it were on the same Rhodia Dot Pad, just for more accurate comparative purposes, that would be even more helpful. I really do appreciate your thoughts on the nib performance of the original, please don't get me wrong, but you'll have to forgive me if I remain skeptical considering there is no evidence provided to support your claims. "Good enough" and "not really different" just doesn't do it for me : ) But considering I don't provide any evidence for comparing the original vs. the modified nib, I certainly can't say that you're wrong.

EoC, I agree completely about this being only one way forward and about the problem with threads like this, which I tried to make evident as clearly as I knew how. I debated whether I should have written anything at all given my inexperience and inability to compare it to the original nib. In the end I did decide to share my experiences for the following reasons. First, there is very little information on this particular modified nib. While I was looking for more information on it I thought, "I wish there were more examples from more people about their experiences with this pen." As a result, I thought a record of my experience might be useful for someone like me, perhaps calling it a "review" was a bit of a stretch : ) Having said that, I did everything except tattoo it on my forehead to emphasize that this is nothing but an opinion from a novice user as a clear caveat because the last thing I want to do is mislead people, though it can happen unintentionally regardless, to be sure. Having more information is usually better indeed and I wish I could have made a comparison with the original nib, not to mention be more adept with calligraphy and flex-nibs.

Honestly, I think all of these posts are the tops and I thank you for taking the time out to share your thoughts. This is exactly what I wanted to have happen; a discussion about a little-known pen, and that's what we've done.

Edited February 22, 2016 by ALeonardoA

February 22, 2016

You've presented it all very nicely. Although EoC still has reservations about how the modification affects the integrity of the nib, this one also really likes how you use yours.

In other words, longevity of the nib aside, you have given EoC something to ponder.

That's a Good Thing!

February 23, 2016

Pondering is good! That's the best compliment you can give someone in my mind, so thank you. And yes, I will definitely keep nib integrity in mind while using it.

Oh and Pterodactylus, no I don't speak German unfortunately, ha! I was raised speaking Italian and English and studied Latin in grade school. German always seemed so daunting. I like the language very much though and would love to visit Germany and Austria being so close to Italy anyways. I spent most of my time growing up in Rome but my grandmother was from near Gorizia in Friuli and she had Austrian relatives so I must make my way there one day! Faszinierend!

February 23, 2016

Sure, I'll do some writing sample once I'm back from dinner. Both my handwriting and especially my photographic skills leave much do be desired though, in particular I'm not sure I can capture a good close-up with my phone, but I'll try.

Edit: here they are. Again sorry for the awful quality, I don't have a proper camera (nor the skill to use it, anyway...)

Re-Edit: uploading the images here seems to have destroyed their quality (as it should, since they went from ~1m to ~40k, so I am even more sorry now. If anyone knows how to obtain a better quality please let me know.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Feanaaro

February 23, 2016

Tried again with a smaller cropped area

February 23, 2016

In my opinion the comments within a review should focus on the subject and not on monetary aspects, which seemed not to be the case in my eyes in the above discussion.

First of all I really doubt that you can get outside Japan this pen for 150$ (US or Europe).

In Europe it is really hard to get, there are only these dubious Japan direct imports which do not take the customs and taxes into account. As a private citizen you might get away with such a import without paying customs fees and taxes especially when the seller declare it as a gift or with a lower value. But as a business man you don´t have this option.
So Mr. Minuskin charges about 100$ more than this for his modified pen. When I go to a car garage, they charge me here in central Europe about 50- 70 € for 1 hour labor, if you request paint work even up to 90€ a hour (I´ve choosen this example because car garage labor is something common, everybody knows it).

Why should a Nib-Meister not be allowed to charge a reasonable amount for his very special work?

"In my opinion the comments within a review should focus on the subject and not on monetary aspects, which seemed not to be the case in my eyes in the above discussion."

Cost is as important as anything when it comes to discussing a product. Value is not grounded in aesthetics alone. I can certainly afford any charges someone like a Nib Meister may levy, but I didn't get to the point where I can afford things by letting people take advantage of me. I still pay close attention to cost vs. value.

"First of all I really doubt that you can get outside Japan this pen for 150$ (US or Europe)."

I buy all my Japanese pens either direct from Japan or through Singapore, and in all cases the prices are significantly lower than the price outside of Japan. Currently, $150 for a CH912 is very realizable. In addition, in my experience the reseller has honored and supported the manufacturer's warranty - so there's nothing "shady" going on as far as my experience is concerned. If you would like to discuss specifics about the resellers I use, you may PM me.

"In Europe it is really hard to get, there are only these dubious Japan direct imports which do not take the customs and taxes into account. As a private citizen you might get away with such a import without paying customs fees and taxes especially when the seller declare it as a gift or with a lower value. But as a business man you don´t have this option."

Nobody here (especially me) has yet to suggest actively avoiding import duties or taxes. In my case, I have not incurred additional U.S. costs importing direct from Japan, and that is the choice of the U.S. Government (collecting tax and duty on small items is probably not cost effective for them). I have incurred import costs when importing from Japan to countries outside the U.S. (I live in multiple countries). Even if a business were to import Japanese pens direct into the U.S. and pay tax and duty, the amount paid would be a small part of the additional amount currently charged for the pens by resellers in the U.S. The key word here is direct import. Many Japanese pen manufacturer's use a Distributor as an unnecessary and expensive additional layer in the U.S. or other countries, and then force resellers to purchase through these Distributors. This is likely where most of the large mark-up is coming from in countries like the U.S.

"So Mr. Minuskin charges about 100$ more than this for his modified pen. When I go to a car garage, they charge me here in central Europe about 50- 70 € for 1 hour labor, if you request paint work even up to 90€ a hour (I´ve choosen this example because car garage labor is something common, everybody knows it).

Why should a Nib-Meister not be allowed to charge a reasonable amount for his very special work?"

Mr. Minuskin can charge whatever he likes for his services. It is up to the buyer to decide if the cost represents value. It is a free market in this respect (as far as the U.S. goes anyway). In my post, I make no value judgements; I simply state the facts and leave it to the reader to decide.

February 23, 2016

Sure, I'll do some writing sample once I'm back from dinner. Both my handwriting and especially my photographic skills leave much do be desired though, in particular I'm not sure I can capture a good close-up with my phone, but I'll try.

Edit: here they are. Again sorry for the awful quality, I don't have a proper camera (nor the skill to use it, anyway...)

Re-Edit: uploading the images here seems to have destroyed their quality (as it should, since they went from ~1m to ~40k, so I am even more sorry now. If anyone knows how to obtain a better quality please let me know.

2016-02-22 22.40.05.jpg

2016-02-22 22.40.50.jpg

Fabulous hand there too! EoC is super envious of it - of anyone's really, but this example is lovely.

February 23, 2016

....
Feanaaro, again, you're really making me wish I had one of those unmodified FA nibs now!
....

(Pelikan Ibis 130 - EF ..... Pelikan 4001 Blau-Schwarz)

I just also wanted to mention that I really enjoyed your review, it was very well done.

Much better than many others, so you did a good job, no need to worry about it.

You all are only speculating about effects of a well done flex mod on the durability, but you have no proof, not even a indication that it will shorten the life span.

People also said this about my EMF mod, but till now I never observed any indication that this ever will happen on such a modified nib (they behave like on the first day till now).

Of course changing the nib geometry can have such an effect, but especially when such a mod is done by a Nib Meister my assumption is, that he knows what he is doing. I even think an well done flex mod can help not only to increase the observed max. flexibility or improve other flex parameters, It might even help the nib to withstand the forces during flexing by improving the geometry to canalize the bending forces better within the material.

But this is only my opinion, I have also no proof for it

Even if it would decrease the life span, who cares if a nib will last instead of 150 or 200 years of heavy usage only 100 years?

We all will be long buried in our graves when our pens will still working like a charm (for other users).

For me the durability of FP´s is a faszinating thing and sometimes I think about what stories such a pen could tell us about its previous owners ... if it could speak ..... when using one of my up to 100 years old pens ...... which still working like on the first day and give me wonderful flex experiences......

But be careful not to overdo it, especially with an unmodified falcon nib.

otherwise something like this might happen also to you:

https://www.instagram.com/p/2VZJ2OKJNV/

The max flex width within a sample writing do not tell much about the flexing qualities of a nib.

You can always torture a nib and queeze it towards the paper with brutal force until it begs for mercy and make e.g. a semi-flex nib look like a full flex.

(might be additional combined with fully saturating the feed in advance to prevent the pen to railroad during the short sample writing).

February 23, 2016

Thanks again Pterodactylus, for your positive feedback and for the time to share your thoughts (and your penmanship!). As usual you bring up some very good points. I think everybody's contributions here have made this a good review in general (a first for me). Many questions and considerations have been brought up here even if they haven't all been answered or resolved. I think it might help those who are looking to know more. I'm definitely a cautious fellow when it comes to the things I value, doubly so with this nib! I most assuredly appreciate your advice.

Feanaaro: Grazie mille per l'immagini! Davvero utili. Thank you for taking the time out so that people can have at the very least some kind of sample from both modified and unmodified nibs, which I haven't been able to find anywhere else "side-by-side" so far. Great penmanship too! It might be useful for others to see some of the differences or degree of difference they can expect, for what it's worth, even if it's from a limited or general visual standpoint. If not for anything else it's interesting to a geek like me to have these samples, so thank you again.

As far as I'm concerned and in my humble opinion, from these Images I can see a difference well enough between thin and thick line widths and how the ink has been laid down. However, we are only talking about what can be compared from images and samples from two different users who both concede to not being experts; hardly a scientific and definitive comparison. Do these differences pop out of these pictures and slap me in the face? Not really, but they are evident to me. Do I understand that for some people these visual differences may not be worth the extra money spent? I do indeed and if I'm not mistaken that's the point you were trying to make (I know, I'm a bit long-winded : ) Having said that, Pterodactylus makes a very good point that there's really only so much that can be conveyed through images anyways. When it comes to other important considerations of a tactile and physical nature, like degree and ease of flexibility, ink flow, responsiveness, etc. our pictures are going to tell us very little. In any case, I asked and you delivered; you're aces in my book!

I think I'm going to stop typing for now and get back to "real" writing

Edited February 23, 2016 by ALeonardoA

February 25, 2016

Having a Custom 912 with an FA nib and having a lot of experience with flex nibs (modern, dip, vintage, etc.), I would venture to say that there is a significant difference between the modified and unmodified versions of these pens. My 912 was horrible, frankly, out of the box. Massive baby bum on the nib, ink flow was very poor, lots of skipping, and very scratchy even with tines perfectly aligned. It wasn't user error, either. I actually spend quite a bit of time making flex pens write better!

Also mine wrote/ writes normally more like a Western medium. Grinding it down to a XF or finer would make a HUGE improvement. I have done some personal modifying to get the pen to write wetter and smoother, but I will probably eventually get a finer grind on the nib. My FA does not need any flex added. It is very soft as it is. My conclusion about these FA nibs (not 100% sure about it) is that they have some significant variation in their quality. Some finer, some firmer, some softer, some wetter, etc.

February 25, 2016

Hello,

This is an example of variation in line by the Falcon nib modified by Minuskin. Not having pen unmodified, I can say nothing about the performance of the line variation. However the multiple reviews that I have seen, show nothing similar has what I have with the modified nib.

Paper Clairefontaine rules Séyes, spaces between the lines 2 mm, height of lowercase letters between 2 and 6 mm approximately. Ink Noodler's Ellis Island.

February 25, 2016

dannystr78: Thank you! Very interesting about the possibility of quality variation with the FA nibs. I hope I can get my hands on one of your vintage flex pens soon!

jean: Thank you for your sample and I am very much in agreement with you.