Pilot Custom 743 with FA Nib Review
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Today I’m going to be reviewing a very interesting pen from Pilot, the Custom 743. If you read my review of the Custom Heritage 912 from last week you’ll notice a few similarities, especially because this one has the FA nib as well, but it is the larger #15 size.
Engeika 743 product page: www.engeika.com...
There are custom two and three slit ebonite feeds available for the 743 with FA nib now. Tremendous difference in flow.
I replaced the feed in my Custom 823 #15 FA nib with a three-channeled ebonite feed from the Flexible Nib Factory. This completely eliminated the railroading issues. I can't recommend it enough.
Where did you find a Custom 823 with an FA nib???
@@SandyToesStudio you can get one from Tokyo Pen Shop Quill in Japan. Get on the wait list and it takes a couple of months. They have excellent customer service!
@@normananderson8687 Thank you, I am on the list (I think I found it on a reddit post that was also you)! I have a 912 with an FA nib and have this problem of hard starts, railroading, not writing at all. I'll check out the ebonite feeds. Have you ever tried one of their #15 Soft medium nibs, if so, How does it compare to the FA nib?
@@SandyToesStudio Sorry, I've only got the FA.
How do you remove the nib and feed? Just pull it out?
Thanks very much for the review. After a bit of research, I recently bought this pen new from Japan and have been using it for about two weeks. So far, I have not had any problems with railroading or the feed keeping up with the flex nib. I did wash the nib gently with mild soap (Dr. Bronner's liquid soap diluted 50%) to remove any residual oils before using it and am using Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Guri ink in refilled standard Pilot cartridges rather than the converter. When flexing the nib on down-strokes, I write more slowly, which may help. However, I did test the feed just now by pressing moderately to spread the tines about 1 mm and rapidly drawing several straight vertical lines about three inches long to see if it could keep up. No problem, no railroading. Overall, the pen writes beautifully for me.
Mark how is the pen now? Is it good as a daily writer?
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Great review of a really classy pen. But I do think a much more apt comparison of the PC743 is with the PC823 not the the PC74. The 743’s design aesthetics and appearance look pretty much the same as the 823. Both pens share the same large #15 size Pilot 14k nib. Only real difference being this pen being a c/c filler versus the 823’s famed Vac-filling system.
Thanks for the review- very accurate. I'm using it for drawing and it has a lovely character, achieving both thin and thick strokes but with a quirky feel. I'm finding the ink flow very smooth and controlled, important when you may be layering lines close together.
I ordered the 743 with a medium fine nib, the seller accidentally sent me one with an FA nib. Of course I had to ink it up and try it, and of course I’m keeping it, even though I did not want a flex type nib. It’s soft and springy, love the huge #15 nib, and though I agree that the 742 (size 10 nib) is a great pen if you want to spend less, I just like the larger nib. But now, of course, I still need the pen I originally wanted, a 743 with the medium fine nib.
Excellent review. Thanks, Dan! The 743 intrigues me quite a bit. And I've always wanted to try the FA Nibs.
***** I have a Waterman's Ideal #7 with a "Red" nib that I adore. They call that the "semi-flex" nib, but it's got a really nice spread. I've not had the chance to play around much with the wet noodles, but I'd like to.
czcams.com/video/cURIiZr7jvg/video.html
Useful video because I took delivery yesterday of a new Pilot 912 with the #10 FA nib and I needed to quickly find out if the *resistance* my FA nib places on my up-strokes (usually a connector in cursive) is a feature I have to live with. I didn't consider the 743 alternative before my purchase because 1. Reviewers seemed to like the #10 size version better, and, 2. more expensive/no benefit to extra $. Here you hint that with a feed upgrade (not available at the time you made this video) the 743 might have been a better nib for my writing.
The flip side of the resistance I feel is the key *feature* for Asian logograms (I looked up that noun to refer to the full set of Asian writing characters and ideograms.)
I'm going to ask around to see if North American cursive users discover that the nib breaks in a bit to allow easier up-strokes.
Note, I listened carefully to video reviews of this FA nib (on the 912) and so *none* have made the same nasty sound. Yes, I have considered whether microphone type and placement is an issue, but if the sound of downstrokes is clearly heard my upstroke sssskkkkrritchchch would be very loud.
BTW I have tried three blue inks so far. The third is Pilot's own "kon-peki" where I hoped the lubrication would have helped, and it may have helped a bit. Interesting that Noodler's Liberty's Elysium, which in other pens I find very saturated, thick and wet, did not perform well. So the 912 and FA combo takes some experimentation and may require a shift in my handwriting -when I pick it up.
Looks a lot like an 823 Custom, minus the plunger filler. Cool pen!
Your reviews are great. Very informative, and very entertaining. I really enjoy them. Thank you for sharing!
I liked your well considered review and patience with the pen. I have both the 912 PO and 743 EF but not a FA nib. I like the look and feel of the 912 more than the 743 but your comment that the #15 nib is a bit more controllable gives me pause to run out for the 912 FA - so I'll await your side my side comparison...I'm waiting!!
Love the nib, hate the feed. I couldn't get mine to write for anything. I'm glad you got yours to do something for the camera. Nice review.
glad you actually say that this pen is actually made for cursive asian calligraphy and not western.. im thinking of buying it since sailors nagahara nib is just so hard to find.
Recommending engeika and pilot north america in the same sentence is a prize winner.
Your reviews are so precise! Very helpful and enjoyable too. Thank you. Could you do a review of 743 with PO nib? I'm thinking of buying that combination.
Thanks for the review Dan! I want to try out an FA nib one of these days.
Thanks for liking my Swan instagram! I hope to have time to show the qualities of my other vintage flexy pens soon.
At the moment I am contemplating buying a new Pilot flexy and wonder which you would prefer. Am stalling between a Custom 742 with fine falcon nib and a Namiki Falcon SF nib. Your advice please! Howard
Thanks Dan for this very useful and very professional review.
I either got the only one that works or my writing style already accomodated the limits of the nib. I don't see how anyone could write good cursive the way people draw those loops to expose the flaws of the pen. Maybe if you write very large you could find the limit, but I never ran into a problem for normal writing. I would postulate people might overflex these tines and return them misaligned as a possible cause for so many sad owners. Just a theory. I really love mine. Tho I use it with the con-50 and could swap with 823 for larger ink capacity. con-70 has problems in any pen that eats ink tho. I had problems with con70 even for size 10 stub on 912. con70 worked ok with PO nib, but that's a very undemanding nib. My stub nib had hard starts like crazy and I was pretty sad about it till I swapped converters and it worked a lot better.
5:36 made me look at my email XD
XD I almost did
I love railroading! It adds a character to your writing. I can't get Noodler's Konrad to railroad (not without pushing like crazy) and I hope that 823 with FA nib will railroad just a bit.
while your own usage is your choice mate, i would warn very much that forcing a fountain nib (no matter how soft) to railroad hard and often is not great for the nib. however, that being said, i picked up a fa nib in ef and f and found that i can get enough line variation for my own aesthetic needs. yes... railroading included :P you do you mate.
Hey Dan....as usual....good review. And appreciated!
Waiting to see what you think of Mr Brown's three tined nib that he is sending you.
Thanks for the review.
5:09, the hidden world of pens also use "daily driver" like the digital world...
I was wondering is the comparison video between the Custom 743 and custom 912 out yet ?
did you try to change the feed with an ebonite one speciallydesigned for these pens by flexible nib factory, to improve the flow?
Where is it possible to get a description of each of the 14 nibs available?
Here’s a good list even though it’s for the 912. The nibs are the same though. nibsmith.com/product/pilot-custom-912-fountain-pen/
Any plans come back to review fountain pens?
Forgive me, I'm new to fountain pen world...but what does the lettering "FA" stand for? thanks. :)
Falcon; it has a special nib shape designed to allow line variation.
Have your tried the soft fine nib? I wonder how it compares to the Falcon performance with this feed.
A lot less line variation, you need more pressure for the soft fine. It does snap back faster
You can change feed in them. Still...great fpen. 👌✍️
Thank you. Can we improve it with the enlargement of the ink channel on the feed? Love your reviews.
+Nibsmith I understand it. Just a theory. You are right, since it is irreversible, it is risky to do on such a fine pen. I only done it on Jin Hao and other cheap pens. They are so cheap, I am not sad if I ruin a few of them. Next I am going to grind the nib on some of them to fine point since some are just to wide for me, JH nib are really random in sizes / non standard. Thank you for your review. I love them.
I've the Justus and the Falcon. I'm not a huge fan of either but they're fine if you keep reasonable expectations. After your review, I wonder if I should have held off on ordering the 912/FA that's on the way for the 743. Thanks for sharing, Dan.
I'm really enjoying the #10 FA nib on the 912. Revisiting your size comparisons, the 912 is a better fit for my hand though I wonder if the #15 on the 743 offers more line variation or less pressure to achieve similar results. I'd love to see a comparison. I find the #10 FA nib to be exceptional and the best modern flex I've used - far superior to the "Super Flex" nib on the new huge Wahl-Eversharp Decoband and at a mere fraction of the price.
mate its been three years and still no comparison... i think hes probs quit youtube, his last vid was a year ago so...
I think Dan's a pretty busy guy, so finding the time is likely an issue.
You can get custom feeds for these right?
How is the ink flow on 743 Fine? Is the feed different on that one?
Light bulb over my head moment. Japanese characters have shorter broad strokes than Western writing-regarding railroading. Thanks for that
I've had mine for about 3 years and it sucks! I need to take to a nibmeister who charges 100 to 200 dollars, which makes the pen around $400 that's ridiculous. I bought it from engeika.com. He was willing to fix it but its a $50 mailing and no guarantees going across the sea, or pay more for insurance.
Have you tried the flexiblenib feed?
What's the difference between this and a Custom 823? Seems very similar.
Ah, so very similar indeed. So as long as I'm considering the writing experience of the pen exclusively (pen-on-paper; nothing else), this review should also serve me well for the other panes in the Custom Heritage line?
Fine Board Fine Board my dance 🤩
Спасибо. But why heritage?
743 or 912? Thanks
Regards from Chile
I got one from China and it's package is way more better than the one. that yours
Someone should write Hindi or Sanskrit with this pen.
How is 742 different from 742
one of them is both the same
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Looks a lot like an 823 Custom, minus the plunger filler. Cool pen!