It is also true that the attitude towards pens is very different for these two groups. The collector aims at having that perfect pen, untouched from the moment it went out of the production line. They glorify new old stock (NOS) pens, and keep them uninked. The user, on the other hand, wants to ink and to write, and a poorly performing pen, that the collector would never test, is always a source of frustrations.
Then, how far can a user go to make an efficient writer out of any pen?
The chimeric Twsbi with the Pilot nib (a 14 K gold number 5 in M).
The secondary chimera: a Plot Custom 74 with the Bock steel nib made for Twsbi.Recently, I became the owner of a couple of modern pens: a Twsbi Diamond 530 and a Pilot Custom 74 Demonstrator. Playing around with them—well, you always learn something new from nibmeister Yamada—I saw that both nibs could easily be exchanged. So… why not?
Both chimeras, side by side.Now I am using the piston filler Twsbi with the 14 K gold Pilot nib. And that makes a great combination. The feeds, though, cannot be swapped as their diameters are different. But this causes no troubles in the nib performance.
The real Pilot Custom Heritage 92 with a FM nib (courtesy of Kinno-san). At the end, I am having a “de facto” Pilot Custom Heritage 92 —the Pilot piston-filler demonstrator equipped with a 14 K gold nib in size 5— out of an inexpensive and reliable Twsbi Diamond.
Some people –a friend of mine among them— might not like my experiment... But my chimera rocks! After all, I am not damaging any historical artifact and I only improved the performance of my pen.
Yeah, today I am a user.
My thanks to Mr. Yamada.
(Sailor Black Pocket Pen 21 – Sailor Black)Bruno Taut
(Madrid, February 19th, 2011)
[labels: Twsbi, Pilot, estilofilia]
9 comments:
Shout-out to the TWSBI! I use all my fountain pens, I don't just collect them. I wouldn't be able to justify buying them otherwise.
Hmm! Good to know that a Pilot #5 nib fits the TWSBI too. A more pleasant alternative to a current Pelikan nib I would think...
Thanks for your comments.
I do like the Pilot nib on this pen--an excellent writer.
I have also tried a (steel) Pelikan nib, and the results are not so satisfactory as with the size 5 Pilot nibs.
Thanks for passing by.
Cheers,
BT
Bruno! I've been thinking of doing exactly what you did: putting a Pilot nib onto a TWBSI. The Pilot is friction fit, though, isn't it? No issue at the section?
Julie,
thanks for your comment. As I mentioned in the post, you can extract both nibs (Twsbi´s and Pilot´s) by pulling them from the section. You cannot use the Pilot´s feed on the Twsbi, but that from this pen works well with the Pilot´s nib. It is not high on ink demand, after all.
That is all the trick--no trick at all. Now, the very modular twsbi allows you to remove the nib-feed-sheath unit from the section, but that is of no use in the business of exchanging nibs between the Twsbi and other pens--Pilot, Sailor, Pelikan,... The bottom line is to keep the Twsbi feed with whatever the alien nib you wanted to use.
Your last blog entry on blue inks is great. I wanted to comment on it, but I need to register in Wordpress, and I could not be bothered at the time...
Cheers,
BT
Can't wait to try it. Although I have to wait for everything to arrive. :)
Thanks for the kind comments. Hey, I'll fix that registration thing. Shouldn't have to do that!
Cheers,
j
Thank you very much for this post! Like Julie, I just recently found out about this, thanks to a post on FPN. I immediately tried this with a TWSBI Diamond 540 ROC and a Pilot #5 EF nib from a Custom Heritage 91. It is a perfect combination!
I will be uploading images into the aforementioned post shortly. Thanks again, Bruno!
Thank YOU, Thomas R. Hall, for passing by. I look forward to seeing your results.
BT
I also did the same with my Custom Heritage 91 SM it worked great (transplant was on a TWSBI mini with the 580 nib collar and feed so it's a number 5 nib) however since I was going to use the Custom Heritage 91 as well I had to get the nib out and put it back to where it belongs which gave me quite a strugle until I was advised to use hot water to get the nib out and it worked!
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