PILOT"CUSTOM 743 / Black" (nib : Medium)

For me, the Pilot Custom 743 just may be the perfect pen. Substantially the same design and the same 14K nib of the much-vaunted Custom 823, but with a converter instead of the vacuum fill. For the 743, that makes it easier to clean (with a pen syringe) and the best ink capacity of any converter out there. Not as much capacity as the vacuum fill, but to paraphrase a 16th Century Italian playwright, 'One should do with lovers exactly as one does with ink colours*: Have many, enjoy them one at a time, and change often.' I already had the 743 in Verdigris with the M nib, which writes fantastically. Still, I heard so many good things about the ~15 different nib options you can get with the 743 (but only in Black), that it left me wondering what might still be there to discover. After doing a bunch of research on the qualities of each nib variant I settled on the SFM, or soft fine-medium. From its description, the SFM has a finer line than the medium (but not as thin as 'fine', which depending on the paper can feel scratchy to me), and a bit of 'bounce' as the nib flows across the page. I was a bit hesitant to order it from Amazon Japan, but I needn't have worried. It arrived in about two weeks and was more than worth the wait. The pen itself is light in the hand, which makes long writing sessions a pleasure and no fatigue. It also takes a lighter touch to fully appreciate what the soft nib has to offer in terms of bounce across the page, but once you make the adjustment it barely feels like you're pressing at all, and the words simply flow. I originally shied away from Black as a bit boring compared to the Verdigris, but it has also grown on me, looking understated yet refined. And the 14K SFM nib is worth the price of admission all on its own. If you can only own one fountain pen, this is it. *the original quote says 'clothes' here. But it holds true for fountain pens (and ink), so Guarini will forgive me.

One of my favs. Prefer the soft fine for regular use but this soft medium is beautiful, too. It’s a Pilot, it’s a wonderful pen if it’s in your price range

It's always a bit nerve wracking to order something as delicate and personal as a pen as an Amazon 2nd Chance item. This exceeded expectations. Original packaging had clearly been carefully opened but was undamaged. Pen was not inked prior, and the nib and section are absolutley Pilot Factory perfect. Pilot size 743 Custom has a much nicer, more flexible gold nib than my current well traveled Pilot 742 Custom. Just fits my large hand perfectly, and is a smoother writer even with fine medium nib than my Pelikan M1000. Push botton Converter works flawlessly, and holds enough ink for several weeks of journaling. What a pleasure! Great clear, fine line, not a bit hesitant or scratchy - just a wonderful, pleasant writing experience.

This is a high quality pen that feels good in the hand. It's classic black and gold. The cap screws off and posts nicely, and the pen feels balanced when you do post or even if you don't. The star of this show is the Falcon nib, which is soft to write with normally and flexes beautifully - though not a lot. It goes from extra-fine to approximately medium-broad when you flex it, and that's enough for normal sized writing. Because it starts off as extra-fine, there's some slight feedback when writing normally. If you like a glassy-smooth writing experience, you may want to try before you buy. I've gotten used to the feedback and appreciate how small I can write (which is my tendency) without the lower case Os or Ds filling in. In retrospect, since this pen can be had with such a wide variety of nibs, I might have gotten this with a soft medium-fine instead of Falcon and might have gotten the Falcon on another pen, but I guess that means I'll have to buy another one at some point. Oh well! LOL

Super well built. Nib dances across your page. Perfectly calibrated ink flow. Won’t puke ink everywhere. It’s just too heavy for me to use as a drawing tool. Returned mine but will work great for someone liking heavier pens and semi-flex nib.

Great pen, great nib with flex. Worth the price Easy to use and has a decent ink storage capacity.

Very good quality pen. A bit pricey but I guess that is what we have to pay to get the quality of it. Both myself and my daughter love it.

I have the 743 with an FA nib, as I like a lot of bounce out of my Nibs. In reality, the nib has a fair amount of flex, on par with some vintage semi-flex Nibs (think Pelikan 100). However, the feed can not keep up with flexed writing for calligraphy. If that is your intent, you'll want to get an aftermarket ebonite feed for it. For what I wanted, though, is something that is soft enough to show natural pressure variation when writing due to a lot of bounce. It fills that role perfectly. This pen reminds me a lot of my Mont Blanc 146 with Calligraphy nib, but the Pilot is honestly a tad smoother. Sure, the Mont Blanc looks and feels a lot nicer, but the pilot is 1/4th the price and honestly writes as good (if not better). It's perfect for what I wanted, and could not be happier. I may end up getting a second with an aftermarket feed for sketching. The larger nib in the 743 I find superior to the 912 nib. They use different alloys, and the 743 as a more reseliant gold alloy and is a little harder to spring. But due to the size, the flex isn't really compromised. In my opinion, the 743 is a far superior option than the 912 in looks, pen size, and nib size.