Nibs and Pens

“Chase the nib, not the pen”, the wise pen user says. And the reason is clear—the nib provides most of the writing character of the pen.

But in the pen world we often see how the same nib is implemented in many different models. But, are they so different? Aren’t they the same pen under different costumes?

Last week I spoke of the Pilot Elite family of pens –as shown at an exhibition—and published a picture of pocket Elite pens with inlaid nibs. Today I add another picture of similar nibs as implemented on other pens by the name of Custom.

Three Pilot Custom from 1970s.

The nibs of the Custom pens of the previous picture together with those of some Elite. Any differences?

Same nib, different body styles—different pens?

This is a general policy among pen makers, as we have already seen on these Chronicles (see, for instance, the case of Nakaya/Platinum). Then, is it worth to go for those pens with a higher, even much higher, price tags when the nibs are exactly the same?

The otaku and the user would respond in different ways.

Pilot Custom 74, music nib – Gary’s Red-black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, April 22nd, 2014
etiquetas: Pilot, estilofilia, mercado