How centered does center need to be?

[Texatdurango]

I just read Lou's thread on replacing a nib and didn't want to side track the discussion so am asking here.

Just how important is getting the nib perfectly centered on the feeder?

Looking at the pen I use everyday, the feeder is more to one side of the blade than the other but the pen seems to write just fine.

Of course, I have nothing to compare to when I say it writes fine, my "fine" could actually be horrible and I may be missing out on what fine really is.

So, to those who know, what purpose is served by a nicely centered feeder as apposed to one that's offset?

 

[ashaw]

Most of the time it is not an issue. You want to be centered to get a good ink flow. But that being said. If a customer looks at the nib and it is not centered to the feed then they my not buy it, because of poor workmanship. I had that experience not to long ago. I took the nib apart and re-centered it and the customer bought it. The customer also had a chance to see how easy it was to take the nib out and put one back.