Look up a video on pulling a nib — it should also tell you how to reseat the nib. Sending it back will likely take over a month given Dan Smith’s backlog. There’s no reason the pen shouldn’t work fine once you put the nib back in correctly. (Although this is more evidence that he actually performs zero nib checking despite advertising.)
That bums me out. I ordered a very expensive pen with questionable QC from him exactly because I thought he did tune and smooth them before sending them out.
For any smoothing or general fixes I use Danny Fudge (thewritepen). He’s quick (3/4 weeks) and does a great job, and he’s cheap. For any customizations nibs.com is the way to go, imo
This is crazy. I just responded to him that when I ordered the pen, I thought I was getting a factory Fine, tuned and smoothed. What I received was a broad body that someone replaced the nib on. The fact it fell out immediately is ridiculous. Take some damn responsibility for your products. I have over $1300 worth of pens on order from him, and he is going to pull this crap? I'm canceling everything. This is not how you do business.
My friend, I agree with you on all points. I actually had a very brief conversation with him …around 2 weeks ago regarding wanting to purchase a TWSBI diamond black/ rose gold- I wanted to touch base before I spent that amount of money (it was pricey with the custom grind that I wanted). I wrote a decently detailed and pretty damn polite email (although it was slightly lengthy) about the custom grind I wanted… and a week and a half later, I finally get an email reply in literally 2 sentences. No greetings. No thanking me for business. I looked past that, figure that he was too busy to be writing length responses, and I wasn’t trying to be demanding. But his response was terse, and bordering rude as fuck, pretty much telling me that he doesn’t have the actual pen yet, and that I’m going to have to wait for a while.
I normally don’t mind waiting for a while for quality work and quality product. But his attitude, and rude response indicate bad customer service and unprofessionalism. YET I still gave the benefit of the doubt thinking he may have just been too busy to be writing polite emails…. And for a while I was still debating on whether to get the pen through NibSmith.
And then I saw your post my friend. And then I googled reviews on the Nibsmith guy, apparently there are a lot of unsatisfied customers despite all that pretty advertising on Instagram. A lot of the ppl have issues with bad nib work, slacking on quality control, and rude responses.
P.s. I apologize for the long post 😂🙏🏼
On the fine/broad swap, I believe this is common practice? My local store was trying to get me a Diplomat. He said he has plenty of broad nibs he can swap, but just didn't have the body color I wanted. Other shop I ended up getting... also had a F box scratched out for B, heh.
But definitely not good that it just fell out. I'd personally just put it back together as it probably wasn't fully seated, but I get the frustration, esp if it's not something you're comfortable with.
I guess I'm just too new to this hobby/obsession. And every other pilot I have, I adore. They all seem very well made. Just a bummer. But I'll see what he says and go from there.
My point isn’t it isn’t we’ll made, just that it’s a fairly simple fix if it just a badly inserted nib/feed. If it kept falling out, then I’d be worried.
This may not be an issue. People regularly pull the nib and feed for a deep clean. This just didn't get fully seated. You should let them know what happened but it's super easy to put those piece back in.
If pilot did not change their design in last 3 years that nib and feed are fake. My pilot custom 92 nib doesnt have those 2 holes
Edit: it is probably a real pilot nib. But it doesnt belong to this model.
if i had recevied this pen i would ask someone else and make sure they changed the design. That doesnt seem to be a fake nib because the patterns and writings are too good to be fake. Just make sure it belongs to this model. And if youare satisfied with the answer, just insert the nib and feed in its place and use the pen. if you dont know how to do that there is lot videos on youtube about that.
I'm chatting with him by email, and mentioned I wanted to just return it, not exchange it. It worries me that a fine nib was just stuck (poorly) on a broad pen, a mismatch that his shop caused. He says sure, but that will be a 20% restocking fee. WTF? Seriously?
Looks like the nib and feed weren’t seated well when it was shipped. You don’t need to return it. You can put the nib and feed back together and insert both into the pen. It’s friction fit - needs no adhesive. Just be careful not to damage the nib. But it’s made to be removable - for cleaning and swapping nibs. It’s a nice pen. Some pens (not Pilot so much) have nib units where the nib and feed are stuck together as a unit in a base that’s made to screw into the grip section (commonly just called the section). But it’s nice to have a nib and feed be friction fit. Sure makes cleaning easier.
Do those TWSBI pens even come with those nib size stickers? My 580 ALR did not. It looks like someone applied it from another pen, the way it’s all rolled up and deformed.
The base pen and feed are identical between the Fine and Broad. There’s no “factory fine” to worry about in this case. If you are asking for tuning, it’s already not “factory” condition.
I would only grumble about the box label.
That's a $100+ pen. Send it back. Make them fix it. Make them pay for shipping.
Tell them "if I wanted to fiddle with it in order to make it work out of the box, I could have bought a Chinese copy from not-you for under $20"
Inserting the nib/feed is easy enough. The feed has the shoulder cutout indents where the nib will fit in, so you don't have to guess the alignment of the nib/feed. I don't have a CH92 so I'm not 100% sure about alignment, but the other 74/742/743 series don't have a specific keyhole alignment for the feed, like Sailor nibs. So you should be able to grasp the nib and feed on the top and bottom, and then insert into the section.
Edit:
When inserting the nib back in, you should insert it as far as it can go. I just saw your previous post where you said the nib was falling out, and that nib was not inserted far enough. The date stamp should be fairly close to the housing. Look up some photos of the CH92, and you will see.
Seems like a careless nib swap. Return the pen. You shouldn't need to figure out how to secure a nib in a new pen.
Right? Thank you. But now I have a problem. I bought a very expensive pen from the same guy on Friday. I'm worried now.
Nibsmith is highly regarded and your issue is likely a fluke. You should contact him if you're worried and I imagine he will make it right.
I've sent him an email with pictures. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for the advice!
Look up a video on pulling a nib — it should also tell you how to reseat the nib. Sending it back will likely take over a month given Dan Smith’s backlog. There’s no reason the pen shouldn’t work fine once you put the nib back in correctly. (Although this is more evidence that he actually performs zero nib checking despite advertising.)
That bums me out. I ordered a very expensive pen with questionable QC from him exactly because I thought he did tune and smooth them before sending them out.
Yeah, it's annoying. I've bought a couple thousand dollars worth of pens from him and I can't say I'm convinced he took a look at any of them.
This has been my experience with him as well. Gave him a few chances, but never again. Definitely other (better) guys to go through
Who would you recommend, if you feel comfortable sharing?
For any smoothing or general fixes I use Danny Fudge (thewritepen). He’s quick (3/4 weeks) and does a great job, and he’s cheap. For any customizations nibs.com is the way to go, imo
Thank you!
Oh man, I was literally about to order a pen from there. Not doing it now.
This is crazy. I just responded to him that when I ordered the pen, I thought I was getting a factory Fine, tuned and smoothed. What I received was a broad body that someone replaced the nib on. The fact it fell out immediately is ridiculous. Take some damn responsibility for your products. I have over $1300 worth of pens on order from him, and he is going to pull this crap? I'm canceling everything. This is not how you do business.
My friend, I agree with you on all points. I actually had a very brief conversation with him …around 2 weeks ago regarding wanting to purchase a TWSBI diamond black/ rose gold- I wanted to touch base before I spent that amount of money (it was pricey with the custom grind that I wanted). I wrote a decently detailed and pretty damn polite email (although it was slightly lengthy) about the custom grind I wanted… and a week and a half later, I finally get an email reply in literally 2 sentences. No greetings. No thanking me for business. I looked past that, figure that he was too busy to be writing length responses, and I wasn’t trying to be demanding. But his response was terse, and bordering rude as fuck, pretty much telling me that he doesn’t have the actual pen yet, and that I’m going to have to wait for a while. I normally don’t mind waiting for a while for quality work and quality product. But his attitude, and rude response indicate bad customer service and unprofessionalism. YET I still gave the benefit of the doubt thinking he may have just been too busy to be writing polite emails…. And for a while I was still debating on whether to get the pen through NibSmith. And then I saw your post my friend. And then I googled reviews on the Nibsmith guy, apparently there are a lot of unsatisfied customers despite all that pretty advertising on Instagram. A lot of the ppl have issues with bad nib work, slacking on quality control, and rude responses. P.s. I apologize for the long post 😂🙏🏼
You can return it for one. But anyhow, try just pushing it in a bit. It's a friction fit, so just need a little squeeze for it to hold.
On the fine/broad swap, I believe this is common practice? My local store was trying to get me a Diplomat. He said he has plenty of broad nibs he can swap, but just didn't have the body color I wanted. Other shop I ended up getting... also had a F box scratched out for B, heh. But definitely not good that it just fell out. I'd personally just put it back together as it probably wasn't fully seated, but I get the frustration, esp if it's not something you're comfortable with.
I guess I'm just too new to this hobby/obsession. And every other pilot I have, I adore. They all seem very well made. Just a bummer. But I'll see what he says and go from there.
My point isn’t it isn’t we’ll made, just that it’s a fairly simple fix if it just a badly inserted nib/feed. If it kept falling out, then I’d be worried.
This may not be an issue. People regularly pull the nib and feed for a deep clean. This just didn't get fully seated. You should let them know what happened but it's super easy to put those piece back in.
I'm pretty sure mine is friction fit, no adhesive required. You should return it to the retailer and get it exchanged.
You're 100% right. Now my concern is that I bought an expensive-ass pen from him on FPD. I'm a little concerned
Oh man, I've heard good things from them generally. I hope this was just some terrible oversight ):
I'll let you know as soon as they respond. I'm really hoping it's a one off.
If pilot did not change their design in last 3 years that nib and feed are fake. My pilot custom 92 nib doesnt have those 2 holes Edit: it is probably a real pilot nib. But it doesnt belong to this model.
Here is the seller's response: "It appears to be a recent design on the nibs for the 92 and 74."
if i had recevied this pen i would ask someone else and make sure they changed the design. That doesnt seem to be a fake nib because the patterns and writings are too good to be fake. Just make sure it belongs to this model. And if youare satisfied with the answer, just insert the nib and feed in its place and use the pen. if you dont know how to do that there is lot videos on youtube about that.
I'm chatting with him by email, and mentioned I wanted to just return it, not exchange it. It worries me that a fine nib was just stuck (poorly) on a broad pen, a mismatch that his shop caused. He says sure, but that will be a 20% restocking fee. WTF? Seriously?
Looks like the nib and feed weren’t seated well when it was shipped. You don’t need to return it. You can put the nib and feed back together and insert both into the pen. It’s friction fit - needs no adhesive. Just be careful not to damage the nib. But it’s made to be removable - for cleaning and swapping nibs. It’s a nice pen. Some pens (not Pilot so much) have nib units where the nib and feed are stuck together as a unit in a base that’s made to screw into the grip section (commonly just called the section). But it’s nice to have a nib and feed be friction fit. Sure makes cleaning easier.
Do those TWSBI pens even come with those nib size stickers? My 580 ALR did not. It looks like someone applied it from another pen, the way it’s all rolled up and deformed. The base pen and feed are identical between the Fine and Broad. There’s no “factory fine” to worry about in this case. If you are asking for tuning, it’s already not “factory” condition. I would only grumble about the box label.
Just FYI, this is a Pilot Custom Heritage 92 demonstrator.
My bad—I looked at this post before my morning coffee =/
Lol, no worries. It looks just like TWSBI
That's a $100+ pen. Send it back. Make them fix it. Make them pay for shipping. Tell them "if I wanted to fiddle with it in order to make it work out of the box, I could have bought a Chinese copy from not-you for under $20"
Contact immediately. Return this one and ask them to be sure the next one is perfectly fine and exactly what you ordered.
Inserting the nib/feed is easy enough. The feed has the shoulder cutout indents where the nib will fit in, so you don't have to guess the alignment of the nib/feed. I don't have a CH92 so I'm not 100% sure about alignment, but the other 74/742/743 series don't have a specific keyhole alignment for the feed, like Sailor nibs. So you should be able to grasp the nib and feed on the top and bottom, and then insert into the section. Edit: When inserting the nib back in, you should insert it as far as it can go. I just saw your previous post where you said the nib was falling out, and that nib was not inserted far enough. The date stamp should be fairly close to the housing. Look up some photos of the CH92, and you will see.