PILOT"CUSTOM 743 / Black" (nib : Extra Fine)

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.

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

I have bought yet another Pilot fountain pen, the 743 with FA nib. I recently purchased the 742 FA, which is a similar beast, but softer, and far more easily flexed. As an artist, I value the line variation both pens provide. That said, they are very similar and very different. The 742 (with the smaller version of FA nib) is probably the one pen I would keep if forced to give up all the rest. It is extremely soft and flexible, which I love, but requires more care to make sure it does not flex when one does not want it to flex. If I were able to keep two pens only, this Custom 743 with FA nib would be the second. It is like a smoother, less flexible version of the 742 FA, BUT with serious flexibility if you want it. In other words, it will flex significantly, but requires far more pressure than the smaller (742) version of this nib to do so.I don't understand why anybody would want to fool around with changing the feed; Pilot seems quite capable of making pens that perform as intended. If the feed is inadequate, one might want to use a different tool for the purpose at hand. Horses for courses, I suppose.After buying several gold tipped pens for drawing (all Pilot), I have come to the point where I can expect a particular type of performance from a nib I have never used. For example, prior to this purchase, I already owned a 742 with a soft fine nib, and a 742 with an FA nib. I surmised, prior to purchase, that this pen would fill a niche between the two in terms of performance.I does just that.If you can afford one and want one, get one. Life is short, and this pen is nothing short of spectacular.Update, 10 months later: I hardly use the pen, tending to opt for finer, stiffer nibs such as the 742 EF and 743 PO. Still a keeper, though. I now own 3 Pilot Metal Falcons, and 2 Resin versions of the same pen. Knowing what I know now, after accumulation more than 20 pens, I can say the pen I reviewed here is a BETTER version of its Falcon counterpart. Of the Falcons I own (SF, SE, B), the SF(one metal, one resin) are the easiest to control the most pleasant to draw with. The FA nibs do what they do better for the most part, without the scratchiness of the Falcon SE nibs.