(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
Back in May, I purchased a Nakaya Long Piccolo in Ama-Iro from my friend Rick Liebson. It came with a luscious BB nib. The Nakaya Long Piccolo is a body shape produced only for Aesthetic Bay, so nabbing one of these isn't easy. Plus, Nakaya stopped producing pens in the Ama-Iro finish in 2019. I was thrilled to add such a unique pen to my Nakaya collection.
The Long Piccolo is significantly longer than the regular Piccolo, measuring 5.9 inches/150mm in length capped as compared to 5.1 inches/130mm for the regular Piccolo. Uncapped, the Long Piccolo is 5.1 inches/130mm in contrast to the regular Piccolo, which is 4.6 inches/116mm. It's not a heavy pen at all, weighing only 19.7 grams inked and unposted (posting Nakayas is not recommended).
On the left is the Nakaya Piccolo Watching the Moon Cat. On the right is the Nakaya Long Piccolo in Ama-Iro.
Otherwise, the Long Piccolo has the same design elements as the regular Piccolo: conical finials, a body that tapers slightly outward in the middle, and a noticeable step-down from the barrel to the grip.
The Ama-Iro finish is gorgeous. It's sky blue, but with a grey cast that keeps it from being too bright.
The nib started as a double broad (BB). Unfortunately, I failed to take a photo of the nib before I had it ground. I did write with it in my journal, and, although it was smooth as silk, it was too broad and mushy for my handwriting.
I sent the pen to Mark Bacas and we discussed possible grinds. Originally, I thought the BB might make a good Predator nib. But Mark advised me to consider a reversible grind: double broad cursive italic with the nib in normal position, and fine with the nib upside down. Just look at this amazing nib now!
The BB cursive italic is smooth and forgiving yet offers a precise writing line with lots of character.
The reverse is also smooth, and the fine line it produces is the perfect width.
You can see the line width difference between the two sides here:
This nib is so much fun to use, and the ability to have a BB cursive italic and fine line with just a flip of the nib makes it versatile.
If you're interested in nib grinds that go beyond the normal options (Cursive Italic, Italic, Oblique, etc.), be sure to check out Mark Bacas's site. I now own two pens with his special nib grinds (a Predator and this Reverse Grind) and I keep both inked all the time.
(I purchased the Nakaya Long Piccolo and got the Reverse CI grind from Mark Bacas with my own funds.)
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