Mb 149 Expression Nib - Calligraphy?

[mjchuang9]

 

One 149 calligraphy is not enough for me.One will ink black mainly, the other will ink some more interesting or favorite ones.

 

The no.1 149 was completely new and the no.2 maybe was shown to other customers before I bought. It's interesting the no.2 is softer unexpectedly in the beginning. However the tines of nib could be too tight so get nib creep and have click sound when rotate the pen clockwise or counterclockwise to push pressure to write. Probably send it to fix later.

[ItsMeDave]

 

One 149 calligraphy is not enough for me.One will ink black mainly, the other will ink some more interesting or favorite ones.

 

The no.1 149 was completely new and the no.2 maybe was shown to other customers before I bought. It's interesting the no.2 is softer unexpectedly in the beginning. However the tines of nib could be too tight so get nib creep and have click sound when rotate the pen clockwise or counterclockwise to push pressure to write. Probably send it to fix later.

 

Nice.

[Vlad Soare]

I wonder how it compares to the Omas extra flessible or the aurora flex nib.

 

The Omas is a bit softer (i.e. flexes with less pressure), but it's thicker and wetter to begin with (when not flexed) and takes longer to spring back once the pressure has ceased. This makes it impossible to flex and to get any line variation out of when you want to write a regular size line of text. It's OK for, say, a title that's half an inch high, but not for small text.

The 149, on the other hand, can be flexed even when writing small.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Vlad Soare

[offbase]

Mine is awful: scratchy (as opposed to toothy), dry and skippy. I think for one thing that the times are misaligned, and that they are too close together. Writing is fine with pressure and some flex,but you can't do that on upwards and horizontal strokes.

 

Does anyone know how good/bad and slow/expeditious their warranty service is?

[ItsMeDave]

Mine is awful: scratchy (as opposed to toothy), dry and skippy. I think for one thing that the times are misaligned, and that they are too close together. Writing is fine with pressure and some flex,but you can't do that on upwards and horizontal strokes.

 

Does anyone know how good/bad and slow/expeditious their warranty service is?

I assume you mean Montblanc service.

My experience is that they're timely. I'm located in Vancouver, BC, the local boutique had to ship my 146 to Toronto for repairs, t was back in my hands in under two weeks. The flip side is that after two 'timely' trips to Toronto the problem with my pen wasn't rectified (constant hard-starts). It took the intervention of a nibmeister to get my 146 working perfectly

[offbase]

I assume you mean Montblanc service.

My experience is that they're timely. I'm located in Vancouver, BC, the local boutique had to ship my 146 to Toronto for repairs, t was back in my hands in under two weeks. The flip side is that after two 'timely' trips to Toronto the problem with my pen wasn't rectified (constant hard-starts). It took the intervention of a nibmeister to get my 146 working perfectly

Thanks. Sending it to a nib meister at my expense with a several months' wait is exactly what I am hoping to avoid. The few who are still working on pens they didn't sell have hideous wait times.

[ItsMeDave]

Thanks. Sending it to a nib meister at my expense with a several months' wait is exactly what I am hoping to avoid. The few who are still working on pens they didn't sell have hideous wait times.

 

You might consider gena @ Custom Nib Studio, she used to work for John Mottishaw.

She’s got three of my pens now.

 

https://www.customnibstudio.com/

[Vlad Soare]

My experience with the Montblanc service is generally good, though on one or two occasions it took two iterations to get it right.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Vlad Soare

[Pravda]

I honestly believe you guys that sending a pen for tines tuning or aligning is akin to self-flogging.

 

Get a 10x or 20x loupe and do it yourself. My 149 flex came misaligned and the 146 Gold Leaf was too tight. Nothing a few minutes of adjusting wont fix.

[Amit.]

 

One 149 calligraphy is not enough for me.One will ink black mainly, the other will ink some more interesting or favorite ones.

 

The no.1 149 was completely new and the no.2 maybe was shown to other customers before I bought. It's interesting the no.2 is softer unexpectedly in the beginning. However the tines of nib could be too tight so get nib creep and have click sound when rotate the pen clockwise or counterclockwise to push pressure to write. Probably send it to fix later.

 

Congratulations !! One more is never enough !!

[arcfide]

I strongly recommend you put down "flex" idea for at least two weeks. When you come back later, I bet you will have different vision about this "flex" thing. Flex nib has been phased out for at least 30 years. It was out for a good reason and this reason is still valid today.

 

Here are some samples you requested. Keep in mind, flex 149 nib is very rough on most paper, as rough as scratching paper with a pin

 

I'm very curious why you think that flex has been phased out for 30 years and for good reason?

[arcfide]

I thought I would post an update on my experiences. I've been using my 149 Expression with MB Permanent Black as a more or less daily writer for this whole time since my earlier posts, and I've found it holding up well. It continues to perform excellently.

 

I generally favor using it on Rhodia standard weight paper pads, which I find provide a very nice, clean writing surface that glides well with the pen while still providing some feedback for control.

 

I find that I need to release my down pressure strokes a little faster than I would with a dip pen in order to achieve the same effect due to the differences in springback. However, the same effect is more or less possible, though the Expression Nib will be less precise than, say, a Zebra G point.

 

I love the combination of the Permanent Black with this nib.

 

Cleaning and maintenance has been a breeze. I generally flush at each fill, which is usually once every day to a week.

 

The nib is holding up well to constant Spencerian use.

[offbase]

 

You might consider gena @ Custom Nib Studio, she used to work for John Mottishaw.

Shes got three of my pens now.

 

https://www.customnibstudio.com/

Sent. Thanks for the tip!

[ItsMeDave]

Sent. Thanks for the tip!

 

Nice.

My pens are on their way home from Gena now.

[mjchuang9]

After using the No2 149 flex a few days I decided to send back to ask for a new one because of the click sound and nib creep.

They occur due to the tines being too tight. I found the fraction defective is too high in 149 flex. I came to boutique later again to check all four they have and found three of four have click sound. It's annoying.

 

I recommend to press the nib to test before you buy.

Edited December 17, 2019 by mjchuang9

[ljz]

After using the No2 149 flex a few days I decided to send back to ask for a new one because of the click sound and nib creep.

They occur due to the tines being too tight. I found the fraction defective is too high in 149 flex. I came to boutique later again to check all four they have and found three of four have click sound. It's annoying.

 

I recommend to press the nib to test before you buy.

 

German workmanship.

( I’m living in Germany. )

Edited December 17, 2019 by ljz

[tunney]

I got a MB 149 Calligraphy a few weeks ago. I'm having a few problems however I do not know if it is me, the pen, or my expectations of the pen.

19 times out of 20 when I start to write all is fine. The 20th time it will not start straight away - maybe 5-6mm of nothing until it starts to write. Sometimes it will seem to skip - rarely and only for a few mm again. Typically when using little to no pressure there is a problem. If I make sure that contact is made with almost a little "tap" then I usually have no issues.

A separate(?) issue is the odd time as well I will have to do a little sideways movement with the pen/nib to get things flowing again.

I have flushed the pen a few times, tried different inks and all the same.

Thoughts? Is it me or the pen?

[alfredop]

I tried the new nib in a tester pen in the local boutique, and I liked it very much, the Montblanc agent has to let me know if I can have this new nib exchanged in a 149 I already have (having 4 of them, I would like to avoid buying another). If yes and if the cost is not too close to buying a new pen, I will follow this route.

 

Alfredo

Edited December 28, 2019 by alfredop

[arcfide]

After using the No2 149 flex a few days I decided to send back to ask for a new one because of the click sound and nib creep.

They occur due to the tines being too tight. I found the fraction defective is too high in 149 flex. I came to boutique later again to check all four they have and found three of four have click sound. It's annoying.

 

I recommend to press the nib to test before you buy.

 

I don't know what people expect in regards to this sort of click, but this is extremely common in many flex dip nibs. The clicking sound is sort of distinctive in many of those. It also only happens when you press the pen off of its appropriate angle. In other words, if you press down on the pen with the nib incorrectly aligned against the paper, it will click, and I expect it to, I suspect it helps keep the line neat, but if you press properly down, there will be no click of the nib. If you are getting constant clicking, that's a sign to me that the pen is being flexed at a bad angle.

[arcfide]

 

I got a MB 149 Calligraphy a few weeks ago. I'm having a few problems however I do not know if it is me, the pen, or my expectations of the pen.

19 times out of 20 when I start to write all is fine. The 20th time it will not start straight away - maybe 5-6mm of nothing until it starts to write. Sometimes it will seem to skip - rarely and only for a few mm again. Typically when using little to no pressure there is a problem. If I make sure that contact is made with almost a little "tap" then I usually have no issues.

A separate(?) issue is the odd time as well I will have to do a little sideways movement with the pen/nib to get things flowing again.

I have flushed the pen a few times, tried different inks and all the same.

Thoughts? Is it me or the pen?

 

 

It sounds like the nib is fine, but you might still be getting used to the proper angle of the pen to use it. The flex nib on my 149 is clearly designed to heavily restrict ink flow when not flexed, to avoid gushing the line. It is also designed to have a very smooth feel. The requirement for a very fine but relatively smooth line means that this nib is going to be more sensitive to your writing angle than some extra needle point nibs. For instance, in a steel flex nib in a dip pen, the point is so sharp and fine that any contact will get you to the ink on the pen. The trade-off for this is that these pens tend to write with much more feedback and scratch on most papers compared to what people are used to with rounded tips. It also makes them much more sensitive to incorrect draw strokes that might splay the tines or dull the tips.

 

The Calligraphy nib is more resistant to this because of the way they designed the nib, and it results in a smoother feel. However, nothing comes free, and that means you can "roll" the nib every so slightly in the wrong orientation and it will no longer have access to the ink. This will be especially true when you are starting or lightly drawing a very fine line, because those are the times of least ink collection on the nib.

 

What you are probably doing when you give the nib a little tap or move the nib sideways is spreading the tines a little bit, triggering an increase in ink flow that will coat the tip and compensate for any small deviations in angle.

 

I can replicate the behavior you see very easily in my pen. If I hold my wrist steady and fingers steady, and then try to draw a straight line across the paper rotating from my forearm fulcrum, using absolutely bare pressure on the nib, it will write fine for about the first 2 inches or so, and then a tiny 1/10" skip will occur, and then start writing fine again. This is repeatable, because it is right at that point where the nib in my hand rotates just enough to lose contact with the inkflow. If I instead concentrate on maintaining proper nib orientation, then the ink flows fine throughout the whole stroke.

 

The short answer to this and many of the other behaviors I see reported here I think can be largely attributed, at least in very significant part, to not understanding just how important and sensitive a nib like this can be to the angle at which you hold the pen to the paper in terms of rotation along the axis of the body of the pen. While the nib can write in all sorts of angles of rotation, the one dimension that you don't want to alter is the rotation of the nib along the axis of the body. If the surface of the paper represents the flat and you lay the pen flat on the paper, and think of rolling the body of the pen around on the paper, imagine a line drawn perpendicularly through the main feed hole in the middle of the nib where the tine cut starts (I don't have the right terminology here) rolling the nib will roll that line all around, and you get different angles of rotation along the axis of the pen body. In order for this nib to write correctly and well, especially when flexing, you really need that the nib to be at a 90 degree rotation relative to the paper. In other words, the nib must be totally square to the paper.

 

Many round nib fountain pens today are much more forgiving in terms of how you can rotate the nib relative to the paper and still get a good line out of it. They are designed to be more forgiving in this way. The Calligraphy nib is not so forgiving, and I think a lot of people don't realize just how much they rotate their nibs when writing.