Show and discuss your Pilot Deluxe series pens!

[awa54]

The few Deluxe models I own are all fairly firm, but not nails.

Many Custom Grandee nibs are borderline soft, with a few that are fully soft (and I've seen a <SF> marked one for sale, though don't own one).

[PithyProlix]

On 11/7/2024 at 9:22 PM, Janeite said:

I'm assuming it's just a color-difference and not anything more than that, or is it?

 

Yeah, almost definitely just a color difference. 

 

On 11/7/2024 at 9:22 PM, Janeite said:

Since these Pilots have a different writing feel than others, do you still think it has the smoothness that Pilot is known for?  Or does it provide more feedback in writing?

 

Hard for me to answer that because I don't think Pilots are particularly smooth and I am a bit puzzled why folks think they are. My standard for really smooth are Sheaffer Imperials & Targas (with the embedded nibs) and some Montblancs and Pelikans from around the 1960s. I am also not convinced that feedback and smoothness are on the same dimension - I see scratchiness and smoothness as being on the same dimension. And, except for italics/stubs, I stick with narrow width nibs, so my impressions are limited.

 

All that said, I'd say the Deluxe F tends to be smoother than other Pilot nibs of that width. But it's also not 'feedbacky' - middle of the road, I guess. 

 

 

[PithyProlix]

8 hours ago, awa54 said:

Many Custom Grandee nibs are borderline soft, with a few that are fully soft (and I've seen a <SF> marked one for sale, though don't own one).

 

That's good to know. I don't buy Custom Grandees (gotta have some limits, you know!), though I found one with a Music nib that couldn't be resisted and I think it is softer than my Deluxe nibs. 

[awa54]

I agree that Sheaffer nibs tend to be very smooth, and the 50s - 80s inlay nibs almost universally had round tipping profiles, which feel very smooth. Vintage Waterman nibs can also be exceptionally smooth, as are most quality pens (and even some cheapies) from the era when fountain pens were mainstream writing instruments.

 

As to Pilot smoothness, I'd rate Pilot as above average smoothness in the modern era (late 50s and on).

Many factors play into perceived smoothness, some mechanical properties of the nib (material, tipping size/shape, level of polish), while others are determined by how the user writes with the nib (angle, pressure, directional control).

 

The nibs many people think of as having "feedback" fall into two categories AFAICT, some have somewhat squared off edges on the tipping (and/or very fine points), while others have either poor polish of the tipping, or porosity in the tipping (gas bubbles or impurities trapped in the metal that give a texture to it). Tine misalignment can also cause a similar sensation, when the sharp inside edges of the tipping catch on the paper, but this is unintended and correctable, not by design. 

 

Pilot nibs tend to have well rounded geometry, with the exception of the finest grinds like EF and Posting, they also have very smooth finishing on the tipping. The Pilot nibs I've used that have some small sense of feedback are the most rigid fine points (like the inlay Customs, esp. white gold ones), as well as most of the postwar steel "shiro" open nibs I've owned or used.

 

Modern Sailor nibs with feedback, in my experience have, either a rough texture on the tipping, porosity in the tipping, or both. I don't consider it an advantage. In my somewhat limited experience, this "feature" is most prevalent in 14k open nibs from the last 20 years or so, with the steel and 21k nibs being much smoother. Vintage Sailors are also much smoother (and similar to Pilot, Plat, etc.), with only EF nibs showing that sort of character (a good few of those being so fine that they cross over into scratchy territory, like you'd expect of a vintage accounting nib).

 

As far as Platinum nibs go, I don't get why people think they have feedback, the only ones I own that get close are some of the 70s and 80s nibs with very square-edged tip geometry, these also tend to have poor performance as cursive writers, since ink flow is only good when the tipping contacts the paper over its full surface, this mostly manifests in medium and broad nibs, with the same model/age fine nibs writing much better for me. I also suspect that the SEF nib width may suffer from the same issues as other extra fine points and be perceived as having feedback, when in reality it just wants less textured paper and a lighter touch to write smoothly, like it's broader equivalents do.