Pilot Custom 743 - FA nib

[Pen2009]

Did anyone here try the Custom 743 with a SU (stub) nib? The SU is a fine medium for sideways and a broad for up-down movements.

[RobC]

Days like this make fountain pen life happy Few days ago, I saw an ad in the Green Board that said:

 

http://www.aiusa.com/loesljrg/misc/pendata.pdf

 

How did you learn to write like this? How can I learn to write like this? Please send me a pn with.

[GClef]

Days like this make fountain pen life happy Few days ago, I saw an ad in the Green Board that said:

 

http://www.aiusa.com...isc/pendata.pdf

 

How did you learn to write like this? How can I learn to write like this? Please send me a pn with.

 

 

Oh man...I remember when I watch my first "Antoniosz Production" video...

It was all I needed to get hooked on flex nib pens. The guy does it to you every time.

Turn back before it's too late!!!!

Edited September 6, 2011 by GClef

[notbob]

As I had already writen in the photo-review above, I write (very) fast (e.g., see here with flex nibs, and contrary to other vintage flex pens, this pen has been missing occasionally a line, particularly along long pressed downstrokes.

 

I've run across this thread recently and have followed it with great interest. While researching all the great info about the Pilot 743 FA nib pen, I ran across this interesting tidbit on Leigh Reyes' blog. Remembering your observation on "missing, I thought you and your readers might be interested in this blog entry by her and comments by her readers:

 

My link

 

I'll continue to follow your and Leigh's material and information on the web, as i admire greatly both your handwriting styles and hope I can one day aspire to such a level.

[antoniosz]

Hi notbob - and thank you for your kind words. So your note made me to pull out the old pen. An excellent writer that does great for minor flexing but with problems with could of noodlers inks - i tried Ottoman Azure and another blue.

So I first tried to switch it into a 823 whose ink volume, I thought, would coax it to perform but in vain. As I did not have any Pilot or Namiki inks, I remembered the famous PR Tanzanite - the last solution before an actual feed surgery. And here is the result!

 

Edited September 28, 2012 by antoniosz

[pictogramax]

Antoniosz,

have you by any chance tried Platinum's Carbon Black ink with FA nib?

I'm debating so long with myself whether to go for FA or not - I love the look and the results I'm seeing from it, but would use it for drawing and utilising Carbon Black is a must for me. If it enhances the railroading problems, than it's a no-go, regardless of how much I like it.

 

Splendid calligraphy, BTW!

[antoniosz]

Sorry - I have not tried it with Platinum Carbon Black... (thank you for your kind words).

[Drone]

The cuts on the side of the FA nib to add flexibility may have been the inspiration for the Pterodactylus "Ease My Flex Mod" for the Noodler's Ahab and Konrad pens. See this thread:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/240492-noodlers-ahab-ease-my-flex-mod/

 

@Stephen-I-am,

 

I think there is only one size to the "FA" nib. See this page for a side-by-side comparison of the Pilot Custom series pens and a table of available nib sizes/types by pen type:

 

http://kmpn.blogspot.ca/2011/06/pilot-custom.html

 

According to the table on the above referenced page, the FA nib is available only on the Pilot Custom 743, 742, and 912 pens.

[antoniosz]

It took seven years to answer your question Stephen!... Sorry.
Yes, FA is a single type nib. See also here:
https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/5080-pilot-namiki-nib-code/?do=findComment&comment=46674

Scroll down for a photo posted by a friend with all Pilot nibs.

PS> I have been using again the 743 with Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki and I love it. No railroading at all and beautiful shading.

[Ryanlim]

Thanks for the tips and info about the FA nib on a 743. I've been mulling about getting one myself, and am inclined to go for it before the end of this year.....fingers crossed it happens...

[Ryanlim]

Dear all,

 

I have been using my 743 FA nib for about a week now, and i'm loving it. Very unique writing experience, and am learning how to write "properly" with a soft nib and with a very light touch...

 

I do experience occasional railroading issues.....with Yama-budo & Kon-Peki, and less issues with Namiki black (cartridge). Love the writing experience when it flows and glides on the paper....

 

Maybe if i get more experience with the way I write with this pen (super fine sweet spot, i found out, before flexing beautifully), and the nib/feed will get better over time (the optimist in me)....:-)

 

Any more tips to reduce railroading?

[Daosus]

I don't have a 743 but I put an ebonite feed from flexiblenib.com into my PCH912 FA and that solved the railroading issues for that pen.

[A Smug Dill]

Any more tips to reduce railroading?

 

 

Flexible Nib Factory produces and sells replacement nibs feeds fashioned from ebonite for the Pilot Custom 743. These are designed to better support flex writing with the FA nib. If you get the 3-slit version, I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing any railroading.

Edited December 22, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[Honeybadgers]

 

 

Flexible Nib Factory produces and sells replacement nibs fashioned from ebonite for the Pilot Custom 743. These are designed to better support flex writing with the FA nib. If you get the 3-slit version, I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing any railroading.

 

The 3 slit version is NOT just for "wetter" flow. It's very, very specifically for people who plan on exclusively using the pen either with ultra dry inks like registrars or 4001, or doing excessive amounts of ornamental writing.

 

the 2 slit is more than adequate for 95% of "high flow" requirements, and the 3 slit can make the pen unusably wet in everyday situations.

 

I have both and have experimented with them a lot in the 823. There's a reason there's a warning on the 3 slit version's store page.

[A Smug Dill]

... the 3 slit can make the pen unusably wet in everyday situations.

 

 

Nevertheless, it will reduce, and in fact prevent, railroading in just about any application to which the user cares to put a Pilot Custom 743 fitted with an #15 FA nib, and that was the specific ask I was attempting to answer.

[kazoolaw]

Flexible Nib Factory produces and sells replacement nibs fashioned from ebonite....

Perhaps "feeds?"

[A Smug Dill]

Perhaps "feeds?"

 

 

Yes, thank you for pointing out my earlier mistake!

[Daosus]

I have the 2 slot one, and it's quite wet and eliminates 95% of railroading.

[Honeybadgers]

 

 

Nevertheless, it will reduce, and in fact prevent, railroading in just about any application to which the user cares to put a Pilot Custom 743 fitted with an #15 FA nib, and that was the specific ask I was attempting to answer.

 

So will throwing the pen away altogether and just dipping your finger in the ink and writing that way. Or just pouring the ink on the page and writing with a Popsicle stick But those are also a bad idea.

 

the 3 slot feed is unusable for the majority of inks unless you got the pen very specifically for ornamental penmanship (which is also a bad idea because it's just not really flexible or responsive enough to do that regularly.) Therefore, it's a bad option to reduce railroading, because it takes it way too far in the other direction. I know this because I own both and have put them through their paces. The three slot is beyond firehose for most inks, and merely a firehose for the very driest. On anything less than tomoe river, it'd give similar performance to writing on toilet paper.

 

It's okay to just admit when you're mistaken, man. You don't always need to dig in your heels and twist a statement to re-validate what you said. I'm wrong all the time. I just own it and stand corrected when someone who knows more about a subject chimes in.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[pictogramax]

It's interesting what you say, Honeybadgers, as my experience with two versions of ebonite feeds from FNF have been different.

 

I installed the 2 slits version first and it was so wet that I didn't even bother to try the 3 slits version, imagining it would be really too much. I filmed my initial impressions and wrote a mini-review for my blog:

 

https://pictogramax.rs/2019/08/16/pilot-ch912-fa-nib-custom-2-slits-feed-from-flexible-nib-factory/

 

But some comments on my video on YT, how it actually flows less and behaves better than 2, made me try the 3 slits version after all. And indeed (n my case using Rohrer&Klingner Dokumentus Brown), it is a bit more controlled than 2 slits. Still fairly wet, but not as much of a hose as the other. I checked to see if maybe by accident the feeds were switched while packaging, but no. It's intriguing.