Hello folks
I am having a mixed experience with this pen.
It arrived in good condition, and I love these pumpkin colours. The general quality and finish seem very good. I am not overly fond of the cap, but the pen fits nicely in my hand with a good balance when uncapped.
After a quick washing it worked immediately well out of the box. The M nib is very smooth but extremely wet, to the point of making my Iroshizuku Tuskushi ink (a reddish chestnut brown) almost black, and showing none of its usual nice shading.
I checked the positioning of the nib on the feed, and the gap between the tines but everything seemed alright.
As the pen was barely usable for me this way, I swapped nibs with a #6 Bock I had. I could only swap the nibs, not the feeds, but it fit smugly.
Then it went a little better, but the pen was still very wet, if not so dark.
Then I tried a dryer ink (Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown) and it improved a little, I can get some shading at last. But the wetness remains, it feels more like a B or BB nib.
One interesting detail is that I put the original M Laban nib into a Jinhao 750, which also transformed itself in a real gusher of a pen, and also "blackened" my Tsukushi.
So the problem seems to be the nib, which spoils a bit an otherwise pleasant pen.
Any way of getting a replacement nib, maybe in F to be on the safe side ?
I can post some pictures of my writing tests should it interest someone :-)
DrSchollSuper-late reply, but this guy's channel is great in general, but specifically this video might help you (note, though, how he says to start on a cheap pen, so you might want to practice on something else, first):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vv0eSGR5Jw
dubaucheryThanks for your advice, I knew Sbrebrown reviews and this one is helpful.
However in my case the nib was well set and aligned, and not the problem.
Here's why : after trying 3 different nibs there was no real improvement, I complained to Massdrop (at the time) that the pen was not usable for me this way, and as they did not store spare parts they agreed to a refund. Well done and appreciated !
And later, as the pen lied unused, I had the idea of swapping feeds : the Bock did not fit but the Jinhao 750's did, and bingo ! this mostly solved the problem, the flow went back to a normal wet. So the feed was the faulty part here. In the end I kept the Jinhao feed and put back the Laban M nib which feels and writes very much like a Bock. Too bad for the poor dismantled Jinhao, although I suppose I could maybe get a feed at Bobby's store...
Have a nice, if confined, day ;-)