While at the low end of my "grail pen" spectrum, this pen didn't disappoint. The feel of the material is inviting, the flow is absolutely perfect (hasn't skipped or bled out at all) and writes as slick as glass. I find myself looking for reasons to use it, even if I've already done all the writing I need to do! Onward!

This has quickly become my favorite pen! I love the color blue. The converter is fun to use and hold a lot. The pen fits comfortably in my hand and the nib is amazing!

The pen just 'feels' wonderful. Something about the resin they use is fantastic to the touch. The nib is flawless in every way. I find it so good that I will just doodle to use it all the time. It is worth the price, even though it is a bit pricey. I really recommend getting this pen. You're going to enjoy it.

On a Goulet recommendation, I purchased a second Pilot Custom 74. I previously had a 74 with a broad nib and two Pilot E95S with an extra fine and medium nibs. Pilot pens provide the design, quality, and durability I look for in fountain pens. They're even easy to clean. For the price: 'None better'.

I like this pen. In the medium nib it is a fine writer. It has a nice blue hue, too. I like the way it writes--smoothly and surely on the page. It is also comparatively light, so it feels light in the hand.

Very reliable ink flow - I'm using De Atramentis Document black ink for waterproof linework before watercolor washes. Nib has just a bit of flex, but no grabbing or shuddering across the paper.Very pleased with this good-looking pen!

Love it; use it daily.

I own a F Custom 74 which I'm quite fond of. I purchased a M Custom 74 expecting the same experience. I don't know if I got a dud or what. The M is much, much wetter than the F. I put the same ink in a Pilot B nib and my M Custom 74 and I couldn't tell the difference in the lines on paper. It does great with the lighter inks (Apache Sunset, Cayenne) but the more saturated inks will show through my Rhodia. It's a well made pen and I'm a huge Pilot fan so I guess sometimes we just get a stinker.

I was pleasantly surprised by this pen. While I bought the pen with the expectation that it would be good for this price point it writes more smoothly then I had anticipated and has been bullet proof since I have started using it. This in conjunction with Pilot kon-peki is now my go to pen.

The pen itself looks absolutely beautiful. I purchased it with a medium nib. However, the pen seems to put down different amounts of ink which depends on which direction you are moving the nib on the paper. I typically don't write with cursive handwriting. That makes the shading of my favorite inks look exaggerated. However, when I do use cursive handwriting, it looks beautiful. Perhaps Pilot did that on purpose because most people probably do use cursive handwriting with fountain pens. The only time that I do use cursive handwriting is for my signature. I would suggest getting this pen if you intend to write with cursive handwriting, but I would not get it if you do not.

Delighted with this pen. Glad I ordered it. Broad nib is ideal.

Very nice addition to my pen collection. Fine point writes with just a bit of feedback, not unpleasant at all. Unfortunately, the CON - 70 converter that came with it was missing the upper seal so it wouldn't fill and retain any ink in the barrel. Brian K. Did a wonderful job of helping me to check it out, and ended up sending me a replacement. It works as it should. Overall, I do like this pen, just not as much as my 823. I love the service at Goulet. Your team absolutely rocks!! Brian K. - thanks so much for your help and video.

Beautiful writing pen, light but easy to write with . It gets used every day. Inked with Diamines Aurora Borealis on a medium nib. Excellent service and support from Goulet Pens.

Love it! Still gives me writing satisfaction.So glad I made the purchase..

This pen has quickly become my go-to pen. It is so smooth to write with. It is my first gold nib pen, and I now see why this pen is worth the price. It took several days of use for the writing to smooth out, but once it was broken in it worked like a charm. I really like that the cap can be posted on the pen. It has a nice balance in the hand that way, and it is still quite light. Filling the pen takes some practice. I advise watching Brian's YouTube video on the subject, and then practicing with water. A gentle push on the plunger doesn't cut it. I'm using it with Pilot iroshizuku asa-gao ink (morning glory blue). The combination is a winner.

I bought this fountain pen for my son, Nick, for Christmas. He began using it right away Christmas Day while conducting his business. Nick said it was easy to fill and writes very smoothly immediately without a 'break-in' period as some pens require. He likes the feel and balance and he likes the blue color very much. The most impressive touches he commented on were the shipping packaging and the cards enclosed with the pen. One from the Head of the Company and the other from the Shipping Department Associate. This attention to quality details is almost unheard of today and was noted and very much appreciated. Nick is looking forward to years of dependable use of the pen and further association with a company practicing thoughtful customer service, as well as class.

I am really enjoying my first Custom 74. I have never gone wrong with Brian G.'s recommendations, and this one is no exception. In fact, I even went with the blue, his favorite. But instead of his Medium nib, I opted for the Broad, assuming that the Japanese 'Broad' would lay down an ink line more like my preference of a European 'medium.' The Broad is not always the case, but here I chose the correct nib. I have other Pilot pens, but I never owned a Con-70 converter before. The filling steps are definitely different from that of other converters, so I appreciate Brian posting a tutorial video with the Custom 74 info. The generic Pilot fold-out in the box did not even mention the Con-70 or how to fill one. For future videos, I hope Brian slows down the step in which he removes the barrel to get to the converter. I could not unscrew it at the grip area at first and thought maybe the bottom of the barrel near the finial was involved. I studied Brian's video disassembly more closely and saw what he did. I ended up soaking the pen in warm water for a few minutes and used some rubber strips for a better grip. I did not want to damage my new, first-ever 74. It writes like a dream, and I really like the size, weight, grip and color. Broad was right for me. I still need to experiment more with filling the Con-70 converter, though. I am getting some bubbles in the ink. But I will work through that.

I picked this pen up after getting myself a Custom 823, more of as a smaller version I can use when I'm not comfortable taking my more expensive Pilot pen. I decided to give the Pilot medium nibs a shot, since I've only ever used their fines. I was amazed by how smoothly this pen wrote out of the box! Without any adjusting, it was like writing on glass. I'm a lefty, so to have a nib that doesn't need tweaking out of the box is nearly unheard of, but this pen writes better than any of my other pens. Very wet line as well inked with Iroshizuku Kon Peki. Another excellent thing about this pen is its converter. The CON70 is seriously awesome. Pulling from Goulet's data, the Lamy 2000, a decent piston filler, can hold 1.35ml of ink. The Custom 74 with the CON70 can hold up to 1.1ml of ink. That's a very small difference between a cartridge converter pen and a piston filler! You also have the advantage of the ease of use of a cartridge pen, and the admittedly very easy method of throwing more cartridges into your bag on a long trip instead of worrying about ink bottles, or a separate travelling container. As a companion piece to the Custom 823, your first gold nibbed fountain pen, or just a fun addition to your collection, I'd say the Custom 74 is excellent and worth the purchase.

I am a bit disappointed with this pen. Many other reviews are favorable so I was surprised that it doesn't write as well as I had hoped. To be fair, I just loaded it with the cartridge supplied with the pen, but it seems a bit scratchy and not as smooth as I was expecting. I will update if other inks make a difference. The pen does seem to be of very high quality. To me, it's very comfortable in my hand. It reminds me of my Platinum 3776, which I love. I would give it a 4.5 if I could.

Loved it. 5 star. Everything Brian said it would be.

I am really enjoying this pen! I got the EF nib, and it writes very smoothly. Love the con-70 converter. I find that this nib writes even finer than my EF in my E95s. That was surprising since they are both gold nibs from Pilot. From other reviews I read, I expected it to weigh less than it does. That is a good thing. I almost considered not getting it, because I prefer my pens to have a little bit of heft. I would say it is just about perfect in weight. I would whole-heartedly recommend this pen to anyone who is looking to get started in gold nibs.

After many pens ranging from Platinums, TWSBIs, Edisons, Diplomats, I think I have found my favorite EDC/workplace pen. While a steel nib provides some feedback and 'traction' against the paper as you write, the 14k fine gold nib on this pen is is incredibly smooth for daily use. Two appreciable features of this pen; the translucent body and the filling mechanism. The clear body allows me to see how much ink I have left after a day's use. The filling mechanism the con-70 converter uses is simple and relatively easy to clean with water and a syringe. The resin finish is (in my opinion) more durable than the offerings found on the Platinum 3776 Century and TWSBI Eco which can scratch easily after light use. That is one of the reasons I wanted to give this pen a try in the first place. I can be picky, but I would like to have a pen with more durable finish and still look relatively intact over a long period of time. I keep this pen in a leather pocket case while at work and it has given me no issues. A great note taking and journaling pen for every day use. I would highly recommend it to professionals or students looking for a next level gold nib pen, or to someone looking for one, solid tool for every day use. I look forward to many years of use with this writing instrument!

This pen is an excellent value. Everything was as expected from a Pilot product. I was a little surprised that the medium nib seems almost broad depending on the paper. This seems less true on higher quality paper though it is still broader than expected. For me this is good because I live a broad nib.

I actually bought this pen twice, because the first one was lost during an emergency evacuation. It writes beautifully, and doesn't show through on most papers. It's truly my favorite work pen for taking notes in meetings and at conferences. Very easy to fill, and beautiful to look at. (I have blue and purple demonstrators.)

I just love this pen -- it fits perfectly in my hand and writes with such ease. I love the transparent blue body, as well. I definitely recommend it!

Really enjoying the pen. A very smooth writer. Especially for a FP. It is still a wet pen, but less so than the MP, which I also own. The ink just flows on to the paper with no needed pressure. Definitely my favorite pen. Thanks Brian and everyone at Goulet Pens!

Having heard a lot about Pilot and the Custom 74 I finally decided to get one with a Fine point. It's a beautiful blue color and the body is long enough that I can write with it unposted. However the important thing for me with any pen is how does it perform. I knew it would write because I asked that it be tested before shipping. There was a note mentioning how one characteristic is a weak upstroke. I loaded it with the supplied blue ink cartridge. It wrote so poorly that I wondered if I'd made a mistake. I removed it, lightly cleaned the pen and using the converter inked it with Iroshizuku Yama-Budo. A perfect match. Page after page it just writes. No weak lines and starts every time I uncap it. I also appreciate the nib. The line width is comparable to my Lamy EF. I tend to write small (5mm grid and dot paper) and all my loop letters actually show the loop. Also because it's such a light pen and made of resin I was not sure how much to tighten the body to the feed. A couple of times I noticed it had backed off at least a quarter of a turn. I've since figured out how much force to use and it now stays tight. I've added a photo of the Custom 74 and my currently inked pens. There is a definite preference to blues and greens!

Brian is right! It's a great pen!