“This is my first gold nib pen, and I’m very pleased. The Fine is really quite fine (apparently the Medium is a big step up) but it writes very smoothly, aided by the little bit of spring in the nib, compared with steel nibs. The tip shape on the Custom 74 is oval, not round, so the sideways strokes are a little broader than the ups and downs. Even with the fine nib this gives a nice variety of line within letters which I like very much.
My nib did need opening up — it wrote very dry out of the box, which I’m told is normal — its up-stroke was almost non-existent. YouTube will show you how to open up the tines to write wetter. The tip was very nicely finished though and didn’t need any smoothing. I’m sticking with the wettish Iroshizuku inks and now having no flow issues whatsoever.
I’ve seen mixed reviews of the push-button converter shipped with these pens, but mine works fine and it holds plenty of ink. The pen’s case is plastic but seems very tough and hasn’t developed any little scratches at all — I imagine this pen will last a long time and it really does write beautifully.”
