Pilot Custom 74 under the scope
Pilot Custom 74 is known for it's smooth writing, but this week we put one under the microscope to learn why this nib is reliably better than nearly every other pen we check.
Manufactured under the presitgious 'Custom' brand, Pilot pay obvious attention to detail, but it still left the question of why this particular nib often feels as good or better than some of the more expensive pens in the Custom range. This is what we found:
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Sleek body design: The conservative design, with a long sleek body, gives you a problem free grip, with no step down.
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Lightweight: Again, easy to hold, means the orientation of the nib to the page is more likely to be correct.
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Size #5 nib: A short nib, with a snug friction fit, that in the real world may be less prone to misalignment. In brands of this quality, if any nib inconsistency is noted, it is usually the misalgnment of the feed to the nib. The nibs themselves are consistent, but if inserted slightly off-centre to the feed, the feed pushes unequally on the two tines. If you straighten the feed, the tines come back into alignment. Shorter tines seem less susceptible to this 'crooked feed' effect. Also, when a nib is friction fit, you as the user are less likely to remove the nib for cleaning or tinkering, which also helps keep the tines aligned.
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Nib tipping: Pilot nibs are known for quality, but a feature of the Custom 74 is the extra 'padding' seen at the writing surface. If the tipping was a perfect half sphere, the edge of the slit can catch on quick movements or with downward pressure. The extra padding places the slit a touch further away from the page. It's more like "Saggy Bottom" than the undesirable "Baby's Bottom" where the edges of the slit are over polished and the gap to the page is too great for ink to flow.
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Nib widths: Custom 74 has a wide range of nib options, including round nibs from EF to BB, soft nibs, Music and Coarse. The full range of options is not available on all body colours, but it tells you about the level of confidence Pilot has with this nib.
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Filling mechanism: Custom 74 is compatible with Pilot's larger converter, which gives you the best of both worlds. Push-button filling and the ability to take the converter out for cleaning. The converter holds 1.1mL of ink, nearly double the volume of the smaller Converter 40 and approaching that of a small piston-filler (Custom Heritage 92 holds 1.2mL). Larger piston-fillers and eyedropper pens hold around 2mL, but that can also be at the expense of ink burps onto your page as the ink runs low.