Conid News - Update

[Karmachanic]

8 minutes ago, davyk said:

all pens will be equipped with a new Teflon coated "surface tension breaker needle", now mounted in the top top of the piston rod.

 

So no option to use my three existing nib units on new pens.

[davyk]

10 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

So no option to use my three existing nib units on new pens.

Can the needle be detached from the nib unit? With the needle mounted on top of the piston rod, it should be possible to use other non-modified bock nib units. 

[Karmachanic]

40 minutes ago, davyk said:

Can the needle be detached from the nib unit?

 

Possibly.  But then they would not function in existing pens.  Progress.

[dms525]

 Will a Bock nib without the metal needle just not work in an older Conid pen?

 

I like my Conid custom ground cursive italic nibs well enough that I haven't been tempted to experiment with this myself.

 

Thanks.

 

David

[Karmachanic]

2 minutes ago, dms525 said:

Will a Bock nib without the metal needle just not work in an older Conid pen?

 

I tried this once, but flow was sub-optimal to non-existent.  Minimalistica.  I have three CI nibs for it. 0.45, 0.6 and 0.7 and they will continue to live in their respective housings.

 

[dms525]

 

20 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

I tried this once, but flow was sub-optimal to non-existent.  Minimalistica.  I have three CI nibs for it. 0.45, 0.6 and 0.7 and they will continue to live in their respective housings.

 

 

Thanks. That's pretty much what I expected.

 

I have seen quite a few posts about Conid pens made to take other nibs, e.g., MontBlanc 149. I assume these have been fitted to Conid

Bock carriers with the breather tube.

 

I have three Conid nibs too - one each in gold, steel and titanium - but all 0.8mm CI. I like the gold and steel a lot. The titanium less so. When Conid is accepting orders again, I may just order another nib (or two).

 

David

[Karmachanic]

2 hours ago, dms525 said:

I have seen quite a few posts about Conid pens made to take other nibs, e.g., MontBlanc 149. I assume these have been fitted to Conid Bock carriers with the breather tube.

 

MB 149 nib and feed (no nipple) in a FNF Bock 380 housing. 

[NotSoSupernova]

I've been quietly lurking here while waiting for Conid to start taking orders again. I'm after the flat top Kingsize Ti demonstrator. I fear two things though. Missing the boat and them closing orders before I get mine in, and the wait time. Does anyone fancy a best guess at if they're waiting to clear their backlog before taking new orders or if they're just letting us join the back of the queue? 

[Harold]

1 hour ago, NotSoSupernova said:

I've been quietly lurking here while waiting for Conid to start taking orders again. I'm after the flat top Kingsize Ti demonstrator. I fear two things though. Missing the boat and them closing orders before I get mine in, and the wait time. Does anyone fancy a best guess at if they're waiting to clear their backlog before taking new orders or if they're just letting us join the back of the queue? 

The queue was cleared a while ago while Conid was closed for new orders as far as I know, so you should only be "competing" with everyone else jumping at the bit to get an order in.

[NotSoSupernova]

1 hour ago, Harold said:

The queue was cleared a while ago while Conid was closed for new orders as far as I know, so you should only be "competing" with everyone else jumping at the bit to get an order in.

I'm hoping that the "everyone else" part of that will be relatively small, but I doubt that'll help with the mad panic I'll feel the moment I hear the website is back up and running again!

 

While I'm here, does anyone have any experience with how Conid's nibs come and/or how thorough their QC is? I'm a big fan of Pablo at FPNibs.com and would normally order a pen like this without the nib, unless they fall into the Visconti bracket and similar where they work on the nibs in-house before they send them out. 

[oldrifleman]

Before they stopped taking orders they had an inhouse Nibsmith. I have always had great success with the nibs I received from them. 

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, NotSoSupernova said:

does anyone have any experience with how Conid's nibs come and/or how thorough their QC is?

 

Gold, Steel or Titanium?  Standard sizes or Custom Ground?

[mauckcg]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Gold, Steel or Titanium?  Standard sizes or Custom Ground?

Whatever you wanted.  They have the standard sizes but they grind the stubs etc.  Johann is fantastic.  

[NotSoSupernova]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Gold, Steel or Titanium?  Standard sizes or Custom Ground?

Sorry if that was a poorly framed question. That's a fair point. I'm a simple man though and tend not to go for custom grinds. Looking at the pen aesthetics I think I'd go for a medium Steel nib.

 

I appreciate that as a pen maker they'll always put more work into the pen body , but it'd be nice to think that someone (Johann maybe?) could cast their professional eye over the nib before they send it out. If they're good at that part all the better, hence the question. 

[Karmachanic]

32 minutes ago, NotSoSupernova said:

Sorry if that was a poorly framed question. That's a fair point. I'm a simple man though and tend not to go for custom grinds. Looking at the pen aesthetics I think I'd go for a medium Steel nib.

 

I appreciate that as a pen maker they'll always put more work into the pen body , but it'd be nice to think that someone (Johann maybe?) could cast their professional eye over the nib before they send it out. If they're good at that part all the better, hence the question. 

 

I have two steel and three Ti Conid nibs all ground by Johan, and I've been happy with the performance of those nibs, but aesthetically horrified.  They all look like they were ground by one of the street knife sharpeners that I remember from 70s Toronto. Small rotary stone in a wooden frame with a foot pedal.  Whilst Pedo's, of FPNibs, are as pleasing to behold as they are to write with.

 

It may very well be my imagination, but I find Conid Ti nibs to be softer than standard Bocks, and I enjoy them very much.  I used the steel for a month or so, then turned to Ti, and haven't used them since.  I'm sure Johan would be happy to test you choice if you ask him to do so.  I have found him to be very accomodating.

 

https://www.clumsypenman.com/titanium-steel-bock-nibs/

[peroride]

7 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

I've been happy with the performance of those nibs, but aesthetically horrified.

😜 Ditto, there's some unpolished markings on the Bock 380 gold CI as if they were hurrying to close shop, but I cannot see with my poor eyes unless with a loupe. It ran dry if not used with wetter inks but Mike Masayama retuned and it got rehomed on a new elsewhere pen. Bock 380 Ti stub was spot on and permanently installed on the Kingsize. Kudos Johan!

 

If I had to do it over, I would skip the grinds to reduce delay but I wanted to go full in on the fixings since it was a big purchase of a build to order pen.

 

Looking back, now with all the rising inflationary prices, Conid seems like a bargain; i shoulda bought two!

[eciton]

Hey @fountainbel, are things still looking good for late September? It's been quiet in this thread (and the one on on the other forum) for a month...

[fountainbel]

I was assured Conid will restart early October......

[Frank C]

2 hours ago, fountainbel said:

I was assured Conid will restart early October......

Thanks for keeping us informed. I'm guessing that there is some pent-up demand and there will be lots of orders when they first reopen. I'm sure they know this and are preparing for it. Most of us like our Conid pens. I dropped my Minimalistica nib first—of course— while cleaning it a while back. I just received it back from Mike Masayama. The titanium nib looks and writes like new. 

 

I looking forward to getting a Kingsize, or a Giraffe, or a Fontoplumo special edition—so many choices. 

[es9]

Any word on when the Maximalistica might be available, @fountainbel?