Lamy pens are well known for their iconic nibs, which feature flat tops, angular edges and minimalist styling. And more importantly, almost all Lamy nibs are interchangeable. They all have the same basic form factor and can be swapped between Lamy pens quite freely. You can find replacement nibs at many Lamy stockists and changing a Lamy pen’s nib is a very simple process.
Although Lamy pens are generally all compatible with the full range of Lamy nibs, different nibs are designed and styled to suit different pens. This won’t stop you swapping the nibs, but will impact how the pen looks.
The Lamy 2000 is different and uses a custom nib which can’t be used on any other Lamy pen.
Some vintage Lamy pens also don’t accept modern Lamy nibs.
Nib Widths
Lamy nibs come in a range of sizes; this refers to the tip size, and doesn’t limit which pens you can use the nib on. The standard widths are as follows:
EF: Extra Fine, 0.36 mm
F: Fine, 0.46 mm
M: Medium, 0.56 mm
B: Broad, 0.675 mm
Lamy also offers BB or Extra Broad in some nibs, but this size may already be discontinued and can be hard to find.
OM, OB and OBB widths are also available for Lamy’s gold nibs; these are left-oblique versions of the standard widths. Again, OBB may be discontinued.
Inconsistent Widths?
Some users report that Lamy nib widths are inconsistent, with some nibs performing like a wider or narrower nib. Lamy’s own nib guide suggests that nib widths may have a variation of up to +/- 0.06 mm, so the broadest versions of a given nib size will be smaller than the narrowest versions of the next size up – you might see a Fine nib reaching 0.52 mm compared with a Medium nib as small as 0.50 mm.
Nib Options
Lamy nibs are all identified with a Z## code:
Nib Code | Widths | Material | Notes | Model Default |
---|---|---|---|---|
Z50 | EF, F, M, B, BB | Steel | Lamy’s “standard” nib. Comes in stainless or black-coated. | Safari, Vista, Al-Star Pur, CP1, Scala Accent, Studio (steel) |
Z50 | LH | Steel | Similar to M but slightly oblique for left-handed writers. | |
Z50 | A | Steel | “Beginner”. Similar to M width but with a more forgiving tip. | ABC, Nexx, Nexx M |
Z50 | 1.1, 1.5, 1.9 | Steel | Stub/calligraphy nibs with a straight edge tip. | Joy |
Z52 | EF, F, M, B | Steel | Styled for the Lamy Lx. PVD coated, black. | Lx |
Z53 | F, M, B | Steel | Styled for the Aion, with a special curved shape. | Aion, Ideos |
Z55 | EF, F, M, B, OM, OB | Gold | Bicolour, partially platinum. | Accent, Studio (gold) Dialog |
Z56 | EF, F, M, B, OM, OB | Gold | Styled for the Imporium. Bicolour, no breather hole. | Imporium |
Z57 | EF, F, M, B, OM, OB | Gold | Styled for the Imporium. As Z56 but black and gold PVD. | Imporium |
Z58 | F, M, B | Gold | Styled for Dialog CC. As Z56 but with rose gold. | Dialog CC |
Z59 | C | Steel | Known as the Chinese, Cursive, or “Han”/”Hanzi” nib. |
0 Comments