I confess that I quite specifically got the Pilot Plumix Medium Flat Italic (comparable to a 1.1mm) fountain pen ($7.25) to cannibalize the nib for the Pilot Metropolitan ($14.50) pen I have. I had the chance to try out the Plumix thanks to a local pen geek (Thanks, Geoff!) and immediately went home and ordered one. While the shape and overall outside aesthetics leave me wanting, the nib was silky smooth. I had heard other folks mention what a great nib it is for the price point and after trying it, I was sold. It is really as good as everyone says it is. Silky, silky smooth.
My first order of business was to disassemble both pens in order to swap out the nibs. While I think the medium nib on the Metropolitan is a fine nib, it doesn’t make my heart sing so I was ready to swap it out. I like the metal body of the Metropolitan line over the plastic of the Plumix and its weird, stumpy, wingnut cap even if my Metropolitan is a bit blingy in metallic gold.
I couldn’t be bothered to clean the pens before disassembly so I used a shop rag to grasped the nib and feed and gentle shimmy it out. Its basically help in the grip section by friction so it didn’t take much force or effort to remove it.
There is a notch inside the grip section that keeps the nib and feed in a specific spot but otherwise it was just a matter of shimmying it back into the other pen body to make the swap. I’d have diagrammed it more if there was anything else to it but really its: grasp, pull and then grasp and push. Also, we are talking about a combined retail value of $22 so I wasn’t too concerned about potential damage if I didn’t do it correctly.
Voila! The completed and fully customized Pilot Metropolitan italic! Total cost: $22. This same surgery can be done if you want an extra fine nib on a Metropolitan by purchasing the Pilot Penmanship pen ($8.25).
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Jet Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
(Tested on Rhodia Pad No. 18 Uni-Blank)
That is good to know! I’ve wanted a Metropolitan but didn’t like the M nib. I have a Penmanship and now I can get the Metropolitan and switch the nibs! Thank you!
Thank you so much for posting this! I have been wanting to see if anyone had swapped nibs on the metropolitan yet and hadn’t seen anything. I am definitely going to give this a try.
Every time I ordered a Pilot Metropolitan for myself I have included a Plumix for the nib. Like you, there is nothing wrong with the Medium nib but it is a bit…meh. I swapped mine out about 2 years ago after watching a YouTube from Stephen (SBRE) Brown where he shows the process. The 1.1 mm is quite nice.
Yes, I did the same thing to get a fine – 78g was the donor.
I’m glad to see that the enabling goes both ways!
I did the Plumix/Metropolitan hack several months ago, and it works like a dream. As I once mentioned, if you have an old 78g with a broad or fine nib lying around, the hack works just as well, and saves the cost of buying a Plumix or Penmanship. My only reservation here is that if you need to buy a Plumix/ Penmanship and, then, add a decent Pilot converter (the original is a nightmare) the price of your modified Metropolitan nearly doubles to around $30, which, I think, pushes it up a notch as a entry-level pen. Still, a hacked Metropolitan will probably serve you better than one priced in the $30 range.
I picked up a Pilot Prera with a Calligrpahy Medium nib on Amazon and the nib is much sweeter than the Plumix. To get a good price you will have to wait 3 weeks for it to arrive from Japan. It’s worth the wait.
That’s same great idea too. I do love the Prera. Thanks!
Did a similar thing to a Pilot Prera which I dislike the scratchiness of the F nib. Hacked it with the F nib of a Kakuno. Although both beeing the same nib size, the Kakuno was performing much better.
I have a gorgeous green Prera with an overly ambitious EF nib that I’ve been debating what to do with it. You are a genius! Thanks for the idea!
I’ve done this swap with a Plumix, a Penmanship, and a Kakuno. All worked nicely in the Metropolitan body!
Pen Noob here, can you use a converter on a plumix? not really a fan of cartridges.
Yes! Either the Con-50 or the Con-80 converter from Pilot will fit. I prefer the higher priced, plunger filler to the rubber, squeeze filler but both will fit.
Correction: it’s the con-20 (squeeze filler) or con-50 (plunger).
This is so cool. I had previously taken an Arkansas wet stone to my plumix nib because it was to wide. Now I’ve swapped that nib into my Prera so I have a med/fine italic!