Pilot Custom 743 - FA nib

[A Smug Dill]

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.

...snip...

 

 

It's okay to just admit when you're mistaken, man.

Then you're missing my point altogether. If someone wants "wet", and thinks "wetter" is better/superior as a wrting experience or outcome in principle without knowing or stating how "wet" and setting a limit (in his/her mind, and in his/her question), that is the bad idea. My answer to them is to give them an experience an overkill solution, so that they either get lucky if they happen to fall into the insatiable lust for ink camp and therefore happy as Larry with the outcome, or come to the conclusion through first-hand unfavourable experience that, "too wet is bad, man; let's not blindly ask for that again."

 

And, nevertheless, I intended the answer to be logically correct to the question asked. My goal isn't to second-guess someone's actual but unstated (or poorly described) requirements and then try to give them the best outcome upfront.

 

When I studied NLP and hypnotherapy (a long time ago), one of the techniques used to change people's minds about poorly formed objectives is to allow them to experience it (without real danger to the client, of course), including but not limited to just "virtual" experience in a hypnotic trance. Here, the only "danger" is the possibility that the price of the FNF ebonite feed end up being considered a waste. US$25 spent in experimentation, and knowledge acquisition about one's requirements and tastes, is nothing much at all in the big picture of the hobby.

 

Notwithstanding that I have extremely poor regard for the Pilot FA nib and cannot think of a single good application or use case for it, I like pens to be supported by the feeds they came with from the factory. If the plastic feeds with which Pilot fits its Custom Heritage 912 and Custom 743 are inadequate for the task(s), for which it designed and intended the FA nibs, surely you'd think that Pilot would know by now and remedied it, or at least made a wetter feed an option? Obviously Pilot does not consider the plastic feeds inadequate, or that it is a design defect not to support its FA nibs with wetter feeds.

Edited December 24, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[Daosus]

....... If the plastic feeds with which Pilot fits its Custom Heritage 912 and Custom 743 are inadequate for the task(s), for which it designed and intended the FA nibs, surely you'd think that Pilot would know by now and remedied it, or at least made a wetter feed an option? Obviously Pilot does not consider the plastic feeds inadequate, or that it is a design defect not to support its FA nibs with wetter feeds.

 

I suspect the FA nibs were made for Japanese writing, which does not require the long sweeping strokes used in Roman calligraphy. For that purpose, the feed is perfectly adequate. But for copperplate or something similar, yes, the replacement feed is great. As I said, I have the 2 slot one, and it's already quite wet and very adequate for regular writing and intermittent flourishes and capitals. I have done fully flexed letters, but it will start railroading after a couple of lines.

 

As to giving people bad advice with the intent that they discover their preference through error...perhaps just offer them both options?

[Honeybadgers]

Then you're missing my point altogether. If someone wants "wet", and thinks "wetter" is better/superior as a wrting experience or outcome in principle without knowing or stating how "wet" and setting a limit (in his/her mind, and in his/her question), that is the bad idea. My answer to them is to give them an experience an overkill solution, so that they either get lucky if they happen to fall into the insatiable lust for ink camp and therefore happy as Larry with the outcome, or come to the conclusion through first-hand unfavourable experience that, "too wet is bad, man; let's not blindly ask for that again."

 

Notwithstanding that I have extremely poor regard for the Pilot FA nib and cannot think of a single good application or use case for it, I like pens to be supported by the feeds they came with from the factory. If the plastic feeds with which Pilot fits its Custom Heritage 912 and Custom 743 are inadequate for the task(s), for which it designed and intended the FA nibs, surely you'd think that Pilot would know by now and remedied it, or at least made a wetter feed an option? Obviously Pilot does not consider the plastic feeds inadequate, or that it is a design defect not to support its FA nibs with wetter feeds.

 

All I see is backpedaling in an attempt to defend your statement that lacked firsthand knowledge with semantics and literalism. It's a common internet argument trope.

 

The plastic feed on the FA is perfectly adequate for short strokes of kanji and the nib is not sold as "flexible", from what I understand, the marketing is described as "paintbrush" rather than for western calligraphy. It does that job well. I don't know their market data, but people writing ornamental cursive so much that it railroads (it's not like it runs dry writing normally) are pretty few and far between, seeing as it's a specialty nib to start with. So no incentive. Though it admittedly would be pretty darn cool if they partnered with joey at FNF to order and provide ebonite feeds as an option. I love the way Joey's ebonite feed looks on my 823. The fit and feel are factory perfect, and it just fits the vibe of the pen really nicely, like aurora's ebonite feeds do. It'll obviously never happen, but it'd be cool.

 

I am honesly surprised it's one of the nibs you hate so much, knowing your tastes, it's honestly a pen I'd recommend pretty highly to you if you didn't already have (and destroy) one. Are you sure that maybe you didn't just get a dud? What in particular about it made you so upset? You've never actually told us (though none of us ever asked either)

 

I've had more often than not nibs from visconti that made me want to stab my own eyes out with forks. But when you get a good one, good lord is it good. I'd probably hate my FA if it had baby's bottom at all, but knowing pilot, that's a rare exception.

Edited December 25, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[A Smug Dill]

As to giving people bad advice with the intent that they discover their preference through error...perhaps just offer them both options?

I don't consider advice and/or answers to be "bad", if they are technically correct — and without abetting unlawful activity or encouraging physical harm to others — in satisfying the stated scope, criteria and/or requirements. In this case, "reducing railroading" occasioned when writing with a Pilot Custom 743 pen fitted with an FA nib.

 

If there are N>1 technically correct solutions, then suggesting any single one of those solutions is still a proper answer — and hence not "bad advice" — even if it is surmised, through guesswork and "mind-reading", that it wouldn't be the "best" solution of the lot in satisfying other unstated objectives, such as minimising consumer expense. Offering and (especially) comparing multiple solutions to help someone decide what is "best" among them, if they're only going to action on a single one, is analysis and that is always something I prefer to leave to others to do for themselves, because it's educational even if they "err" and end up making (what they retrospectively see as) sub-optimal decisions; people get better at analysis by performing analysis. It's not my obligation to "protect" strangers or look after all of their (stated or unstated) interests holistically, but I of course take responsibility for technical correctness and validity for the answers I give to questions.

 

In case it hasn't been clear through thousands of posts I've made on online forums, even just here on FPN, I personally am deeply against "crowdsourcing" analysis, or delegating it to some sort of app or information service that users can benefit from better outcomes without spending requisite hours or days researching and studying a mass of information out there on a subject first, reviewing it, checking for validity and filtering out what is questionable or unsuitable. That's why I'd never want any single product review to answer all the questions someone may have, much less authoritatively. Each contribution from a reviewer, or correspondent replying to a question, is just another data point, another piece of information for the answer-seeker to consider in his/her analysis (which may be flawed or inadequate, depending on one's skill level and commitment of time and effort). Even when I tell someone of mistakes I made in my "journey" or pursuit of the hobby, or relate poor experiences with particular retailers, brands, types of nibs, etc. they're still just data points; what didn't work out for me may or may not give them better results, if they aren't swayed and turned away from trying those things for themselves.

[A Smug Dill]

I am honesly surprised it's one of the nibs you hate so much, knowing your tastes, it's honestly a pen I'd recommend pretty highly to you if you didn't already have (and destroy) one. Are you sure that maybe you didn't just get a dud? What in particular about it made you so upset? You've never actually told us (though none of us ever asked either)

 

 

I found it's ability to spring back rapidly to a fine line, which I know it (or mine) could do, to be very poor. As I hinted at in my recent post on my experience with the Pilot Justus 95, the ability to produce tí, wān, piě, nà and gōu strokes in Chinese kǎishū ending with crisp, sharp points that make the proper aesthetic is critically important. Given the purpose for which it was supposedly designed, I found its performance appalling. I also didn't like how it make my English cursive script look one little bit. Spreading wide and without requiring 200g of pressure applied on the nib is all good, but not if does not "recover" from maximum swell within the course of a pen stroke to produce tapering tails down to a sharp point. I just could not work with that nib, no matter how I moderate the pressure I applied on it.