First time i sent a pen for nib tuning to a nibmeister. Awesome work, pen works flawlessly, cant believe it made such a big difference.
Also just to note the big difference is shops, i bought a pilot custom 74, it came with very bad nib, it was scratchy as hell and wouldnt write with its own weight, needed too much pressure to write. The clowns at the shop i bought it in greece told me that these pilot pens are a special case or something, so it writes as it should, and also that they have a demo on their shop that writes like that. Now after the work is done the pen writes normally, really smoothly and with minimal pressure.
This is the second time I’ve sent in a fountain pen to get some work done on a nib, and I’m not disappointed with the result!
The fountain pen in question was a Visconti Homo Sapiens Dark Age with the old palladium nib, coated in ruthenium. The ruthenium plating started to come off the nib, and Visconti themselves did not want to help me with the situation. Also, the nib was bent out of shape and apparently, some of the plating got into the feed and blocked parts of it.
I was contacted that because the work needed was much more extensive than anticipated, I would need to pay a little on top, but everything was very transparent and I was happy to pay. I was offered a replating of the nib, but I decided against that, requesting instead that the rest of the plating be removed and the natural palladium be polished. All requests were taken care of, turnaround was very quick and the pen, when it reached me, was back in shape. Very happy for a second time!
Another excellent custom ground nib from Appelboom
Review Add on: 22-12-2025
Average Rating:
(5)
I have a number of pens with nibs custom-ground by Annabelle Hiller, and I have always been happy with her work. I did have some anxiety when she left Appelboom to pursue new adventures, but I recently had a second custom-ground cursive italic nib done by Appelboom's new nib technician, and I am very pleased with his work. Having this service available when I purchase a pen is a major factor (but not the only one) in choosing Appelboom as my pen merchant.
I would trust no other company with my fountain pens. Appelboom obviously cares about the product they sell. This is the second nib customization that I had done, with the same great result where others had failed before.
As i mentioned in my review of the Pelikan M800 I got this custom nib because I wanted a high quality OBB nib. The Pelikan BB ground to left foot oblique is perfect. I was a little concerned due to the distance between us but it does not disappoint. If I needed another custom nib I would not hesitate to order, especially since I received it within 2 weeks of order.
I recently bought a used Montegrappa Ducale here from this store and even though I trusted it to be a good pen I ordered it with the nib customization. And Apelboom did a great job on all of it. The pen is beautiful and looks like brand new, and the nib writes like a dream, smooth and with hardly any feedback of the nib, what I hoped for. Will gladly order again.
I received my customized broad nib Pelikan M800 in cursive Italian and could not be happier. Just what I wanted to add variations in stroke thickness while writing in cursive. Thanks.
Anabelle ground my Montblanc Le Classique 145 extra fine that was writing more like a fine+/medium- to a true extra fine. She’s done superlative work. The ink flow is measured, the pen writes smoothly, and it produces what I consider a perfect extra fine line. Thanks to Anabelle’s handiwork, I can write with the pen on all of my favorite brands of paper with all of my favorite inks. (And perhaps most important, I can use the pen at work!)
My tip if you’re considering getting an expensive pen ground: send a writing sample done with a pen that produces the exact kind of line you want along with a sample of the pen you are sending. That’s what I did and I got exactly what I ordered.
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