MX Vintage Black Switches

[Icte]

So.. Besides classifieds, where do you find these??

k thx bai 

[SpAmRaY]

It some old boards.

[BlueBär]

Pre 1991 boards should have them. No exact date is known, and you can also find them on older boards, sometimes mixed with the newer ones.

[Icte]

It some old boards.

Pre 1991 boards should have them. No exact date is known, and you can also find them on older boards, sometimes mixed with the newer ones.

Suggestions on which boards?? Brands, models etc.?

[CPTBadAss]

They'll be on old Cherry boards. G80-XXXX I think. But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds

[yasuo]

check WTS DangWang in DT his sell old board vintage black

[BlueBär]

Any that use Cherry MX Black switches, Cherry or Wyse boards are quite popular and should be easy to get in the US.

But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds.

He has some old ones, but no more those with the big logo. IDK if they are as smooth as the "real" vintage ones. Heres his classifieds thread.

[SpAmRaY]

They'll be on old Cherry boards. G80-XXXX I think. But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds

I believe he is sold out of the 'vintage' but still has some 'old' black switches

[Icte]

Any that use Cherry MX Black switches, Cherry or Wyse boards are quite popular and should be easy to get in the US.

But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds.

He has some old ones, but no more those with the big logo. IDK if they are as smooth as the "real" vintage ones. Heres his classifieds thread.

And if you're located in Europe?

They'll be on old Cherry boards. G80-XXXX I think. But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds

I believe he is sold out of the 'vintage' but still has some 'old' black switches

Yeah I'm strictly looking for the vintage ones, with big logo, for "minimal" chance of getting a "non-smooth".

[yasuo]

and What difference old and vintage black?

[Icte]

and What difference old and vintage black?

"Vintage" are the name of the older types of MX Switches that Cherry made and are, in the case of MX Blacks, "smoother" than the ones found in new boards. "Old" are the names of the switches that come after the "vintage" ones (they have for instance a smaller logo on the stems) and are more of a gamble - you either get "smooth" or you get "rough" ones. New ones are more "rough". At least that's how I see it! Depends from person to person

[BlueBär]

And if you're located in Europe?

Get somebody from the US to buy you an old Wyse or search ebay for an old Cherry G80 board or make a thread in the classifieds

[Icte]

And if you're located in Europe?

Get somebody from the US to buy you an old Wyse or search ebay for an old Cherry G80 board or make a thread in the classifieds

I shall definitly do so!

And hey, grats on your 300th post!

[BlueBär]

I shall definitly do so!

And hey, grats on your 300th post!

Woot, didn't even notice! Thx.

[nubbinator]

Where's moose with his vintage placebo comments.

[CPTBadAss]

But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds.

He has some old ones, but no more those with the big logo. IDK if they are as smooth as the "real" vintage ones. Heres his classifieds thread.

He literally pulled them from the same WYSE boards and he even says its the same stem and spring with a slightly different logo. Should be fine.

[esoomenona]

Is this a new thread? We already have a million threads open right now discussing the "vintage" effect...

[SpAmRaY]

Is this a new thread? We already have a million threads open right now discussing the "vintage" effect...

I hear once you get 5000 posts your considered vintage

[whiskytango]

But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds.

He has some old ones, but no more those with the big logo. IDK if they are as smooth as the "real" vintage ones. Heres his classifieds thread.

He literally pulled them from the same WYSE boards and he even says its the same stem and spring with a slightly different logo. Should be fine.

OP: To answer your question, I have found them on old WYSE terminal boards. There are a few different models I have had experience with finding vintage blacks on:
PCE - p/n 840358-01
WY-50 - p/n 840059-01
WY-60 - p/n 840338-01
WY-85 - p/n 840366-01
AT Standard? this one - Don't remember the part number

Just to clarify, I didn't make the rules on identifying vintage switches. The only switches I have called "vintage" are the ones with the larger logos that others have previously documented as vintage by other people. To be honest, the other "old" switches I have feel about the same to me, but then again, I don't use linear switches. Blues and ghetto greens baby! Anyway, I call them "old" because they don't have the large logo, but they are also clearly different from current production switches.

There's no clear way that I know of to tell what kind of switches a keyboard will have before you take the caps off and look. Sometimes, the ones that look really old and used will have very few "vintage", and sometimes the ones that look newer will be choc full of them. This leads me to believe that there is no clear cut-off date, but that there was a gradual phasing out of one generation of switch housing being replaced with another so that you find them mostly side by side on the same boards.

Edit: I also agree with what Ivan posted before on this subject, that they probably made switches out of whatever parts were available. So you might have older stems mixed with newer switch housings and vice versa. It's not like they shut down the Cherry factory for an overhaul and came back online with all new switches or anything like that. So CPT, you could be exactly right with what you said, everything could be the same about the switches except for the top half of the switch housing.

I think part of the draw of these is the novelty having a switch with the older style of logo on it.

[CPTBadAss]

Thanks WhiskyTango for the knowledge

[MTManiac]

Hmm I never really understood the vintage black switches,
it's hard to really know what they did from a business standpoint w/o a little insider info if they didn't document their change.

[esoomenona]

Hmm I never really understood the vintage black switches,
it's hard to really know what they did from a business standpoint w/o a little insider info if they didn't document their change.

But it IS easy to laugh at the suckers who go out of their way to find them and actually THINK there is something different.

[MTManiac]

Hmm I never really understood the vintage black switches,
it's hard to really know what they did from a business standpoint w/o a little insider info if they didn't document their change.

But it IS easy to laugh at the suckers who go out of their way to find them and actually THINK there is something different.

but, but every switch is different, every switch is great, if a switch get's misused, god get's quite irate! 

[JPG]

Hmm I never really understood the vintage black switches,
it's hard to really know what they did from a business standpoint w/o a little insider info if they didn't document their change.

But it IS easy to laugh at the suckers who go out of their way to find them and actually THINK there is something different.

Yea, but then how do you call someone that got them because they were cheaper than new ones and had a possibility of being even better or at worst equal?

I have yet to try them still 

[MTManiac]

Hmm I never really understood the vintage black switches,
it's hard to really know what they did from a business standpoint w/o a little insider info if they didn't document their change.

But it IS easy to laugh at the suckers who go out of their way to find them and actually THINK there is something different.

Yea, but then how do you call someone that got them because they were cheaper than new ones and had a possibility of being even better or at worst equal?

I have yet to try them still 

lucky? 

[davkol]

I think this was covered in a thread at Deskthority—Cherry swtched to different (as in cheaper) materials at some point.

All my keyboards have newer Cherry logos, including the old chiconys w/ blues and a G80-1000HAD that was assembled in 1988. However, each of my Cherry keyboards w/ blacks feels very different, i.e. one of the two made around 2005 is much lighter than the other one, and the G80-1000 appears to be much smoother, but also extremely pingy.

[whiskytango]

davkol, I would be very interested to see a closeup pic of one of the switches from your 1988 g80 if you have one?

[Icte]

But WhiskyTango should have some for sale still in the Classifieds.

He has some old ones, but no more those with the big logo. IDK if they are as smooth as the "real" vintage ones. Heres his classifieds thread.

He literally pulled them from the same WYSE boards and he even says its the same stem and spring with a slightly different logo. Should be fine.

OP: To answer your question, I have found them on old WYSE terminal boards. There are a few different models I have had experience with finding vintage blacks on:
PCE - p/n 840358-01
WY-50 - p/n 840059-01
WY-60 - p/n 840338-01
WY-85 - p/n 840366-01
AT Standard? this one - Don't remember the part number

Just to clarify, I didn't make the rules on identifying vintage switches. The only switches I have called "vintage" are the ones with the larger logos that others have previously documented as vintage by other people. To be honest, the other "old" switches I have feel about the same to me, but then again, I don't use linear switches. Blues and ghetto greens baby! Anyway, I call them "old" because they don't have the large logo, but they are also clearly different from current production switches.

There's no clear way that I know of to tell what kind of switches a keyboard will have before you take the caps off and look. Sometimes, the ones that look really old and used will have very few "vintage", and sometimes the ones that look newer will be choc full of them. This leads me to believe that there is no clear cut-off date, but that there was a gradual phasing out of one generation of switch housing being replaced with another so that you find them mostly side by side on the same boards.

Edit: I also agree with what Ivan posted before on this subject, that they probably made switches out of whatever parts were available. So you might have older stems mixed with newer switch housings and vice versa. It's not like they shut down the Cherry factory for an overhaul and came back online with all new switches or anything like that. So CPT, you could be exactly right with what you said, everything could be the same about the switches except for the top half of the switch housing.

I think part of the draw of these is the novelty having a switch with the older style of logo on it.

Now THIS is what I needed! Many thanks o great whiskey!

[CPTBadAss]

I think this was covered in a thread at Deskthority—Cherry swtched to different (as in cheaper) materials at some point.

Can you link me to this?

[davkol]

I think this was covered in a thread at Deskthority—Cherry swtched to different (as in cheaper) materials at some point.

Can you link me to this?

Not at the moment. The thread with pictures of vintage blues ought to be rather easy to find though.

[SpAmRaY]

I think this was covered in a thread at Deskthority—Cherry swtched to different (as in cheaper) materials at some point.

Can you link me to this?

Not at the moment. The thread with pictures of vintage blues ought to be rather easy to find though.

This one?

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8/cherry-mx-old-vs-new-t139.html

The material change has been confirmed officially, btw. Though it should not take much to clearly feel the difference. You can even hear it black switches.

[davkol]

I guess so.

It's interesting that my KB-5191CTs probably passed QC in late 1992, but the switches look identical to the new ones (or at least the one I got in the WASD Sampler Kit) IIRC, although Cherry Corp. changed the switch design few years later according to that thread @ DT.

I'll try to take some pictures later, because it's dark here and I should be coding anyway.