Taccia is actually an American brand, but has strong ties to Japan. Not only do they work a lot with Urushi or Maki-e, a lot of their design is also reminiscent of Japanese writing instruments. And not to forget, their inks are made in Japan.
But there is another strong connection to Japan: the nibs of their fountain pens! These are made for you by Sailor. Therefore Taccia can also offer some special nibs, such as a Zoom or Music nib.
But are these the same nibs as in a Pro Gear fountain pen? No! The nib architecture is different. While the Sailor nibs are more trapezoidal, the Taccia nibs are narrower. The decorative band that goes around the nib relatively the same.
But let's compare two nibs in more detail. First of all, the MF nib. This is very popular in Europe for those who find the Japanese F nibs too fine. It therefore represents a compromise between exactly this nib, which is almost too fine, and the medium nib. Therefore, we compare the Taccia steel nib in MF with the Pro Gear nib in 21 kt gold:
Here you can see very clearly that both nibs are relatively fine. If you take a closer look at the underside of the nibs, you can see the well-crafted grain. And that both hardly differ in line width. Of course, it's a bit like comparing apples with oranges when you compare the workmanship of a steel nib with a high-quality gold nib. But this is essentially about the character of the line width of both nibs.
And now the comparison of the Music nibs, which we also want to look at in the steel version from Taccia and the gold version from Sailor.
The Music nib is comparable to the European stub nibs that are often used in calligraphy. On the Music nib, the writing grain is a little more clearly developed. The edge can also be softer, which is why they write softer overall than conventional stub nibs.
Here too, please take a look at the side view of the nibs:
You can clearly see that Sailor's gold nib is rounder. But the classic rectangular writing grain is also clearly present in Taccia.
In summary, you can be very excited about the steel nibs from Taccia, as they represent a cost-effective alternative to the more expensive gold nibs from Sailor. But anyone who has already had experience with the Sailor nibs will immediately know what nib widths await them at Taccia!
