First, let’s debunk the great myth that a 3-tined nib is a music nib. It’s true that a majority of music nibs have 3 tines, yet it isn’t a prerequisite as many italic cut dip nibs come with 3 tines. A music nib has 2 main characteristics:

1) It is a semi-italic cut nib, which means it is cut flat across the tipping material.

2) It is flexible.

Most modern-day “music” nibs lack the latter characteristic. Flex is needed to produce slurs, ties, staccatissimos, and other diacritical markings. An italic-cut nib alone does a sufficient job at producing the necessary line variation for these markings, however it doesn’t get near the expressive quality and clarity a flex nib provides in accentuating handwritten music notation.

This book recommends using a Sheaffer No-nonsense, or an Osmiroid Italic medium point. While I don’t have a Sheaffer, I do have a period Osmiroid with the exact nib they specify. Here is that pen. I got it a while back and it came as a calligraphy set with these interchangeable nibs. The one we are most interested in is the Italic medium point. It is approximately 1mm in width which is perfect for our needs for hand engraving music. We notice the line it produces occupies ½ a staff space, again making it possible to draw rests, beams, and noteheads. That said, there is no flex in this nib, although again, this is probably due to the evolving engraving standards.

This is a No. 5 size music nib which I fitted to my Waterman’s 55. Obviously it has 2 slits cut down the middle which encourages heavier ink flow. We also see the relatively flat tipping material which helps aid in drawing thin stems and thick beams. In practice, the difference isn’t as apparent as we’ll see in some of the writing samples.

Waterman’s offered a handful of specialty nibs tailored for specific tasks. Here is a page from the Waterman’s catalog of 1925. Apart from the music nib, I have owned one of these Account nibs in the past. I say ‘owned’ because I thankfully no longer have it. It wrote very dry and didn’t flex whatsoever. Yet that was the intention of these nibs as they were apparently designed for carbon copies. And in that case, they probably worked well as intended. Over to the music nib, as we can see there are a couple of differences between the featured music nib in this catalog, and the one I currently own. Looking near the bottom, we can see Waterman’s only offered it in a No. 4 size.

Even in this later catalog, where we see Waterman’s advertising the No.5 and No.7, they make a special mention of the music nib along with a sample of the writing. Again, no breather holes present, however that might not mean much. These music nibs were bespoke handcrafted items, and not mass produced like the main lineup of Ideal nibs. A factory worker would remove a nib before the hole or slit was made, then would hand cut the breather hole and slits, along with grinding the tip. As you can imagine, this was a laborious process which took a great deal of skill to accomplish. In turn, these nibs would be considerably more expensive for the customer. We can see evidence of the handiwork by looking closely at the breather hole placement, and notice how one of them is slightly lower than the other.

Writing Samples

I have copied out a passage from the Beethoven C#m string quartet, Op. 131 using 6 different nibs.

The above example is with a standard Waterman’s 52 with an Ideal No. 2 nib. Notice the consistency in the line width overall. We do see some slightly thicker beams and a mild tapering of slurs and ties. Take a look at the ends of the beams and how rounded off they are.

Compare that with the Waterman’s music nib. This should be a stark contrast. The beams are noticeably heavier and slurs and ties have a more evident contour. Notes are easier to read and there’s more expressiveness in the look of the music.

This example was written with a Mitchell 0268 music dip nib which I fitted into a vintage Paramount lever filler. I think this shows the extreme capability of a music nib. It is incredibly soft as we can see. The beams are very thick and the slurs and ties are quite evident. So far, this is my vote for looking the most ‘expressive.’

Up next is this vintage Staff Writer music nib. There is no flex in this nib, as should be apparent in the writing sample. Slurs and beams are squared off and notes and ledger lines are of equal size. As I have mentioned earlier, this nib is too broad for this staff paper. It works wonderfully as a wet Italic writer, however until I get large enough staff paper, it is not suitable for notation.

Onto the Osmiroid Italic Medium. While not a music nib, as you remember earlier, this is the nib which was used by professional engravers. I did a version using my normal ‘composer’ hand. It’s apparent why this nib was used - - the chiseled beams and sharp lines make it ideal for music engraving. Though as a composition tool, which needs to respond rapidly for the scribbling mind of a composer, I'll need to pass on this one.

Our final sample is that of a Noodler’s Neponset, and I hate to admit that it doesn’t look as bad as I had thought. The beams are well-defined, the slurs are passable and the notation is legible. The writing experience however, was awful. The tines would constantly grind into each other, the pen would hard start, and the amount of pressure needed to produce the beams and slurs was at least double from any of the other pens tested. Needless to say, I cannot recommend the Noodler’s as a notation tool and should not be advertised as such.

Let’s wrap things up with the Waterman’s music nib. Overall, I find it is a happy middle ground nib. While the lines it produces aren’t the sharpest compared to the Mitchell 0268, it is able to produce great looking music with the speed of a normal nib. I am very happy to finally own one, and I’ll continue to use it in my compositions.

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Images taken from catalogs are provided by https://pencollectorsofamerica.org/reference-library/waterman/