Author Topic: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards  (Read 5945 times)

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Offline -Jerry-

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My wife makes acrylic necklaces and like most hobbies, she also buys things made by other creators. This being the case, I've seen the prices these things go for and it got me thinking, what other hobbies do you consider somewhat parallel to being a keyboard enthusiast?

My case for acrylic jewellery is as follows.

Similarities
Large maker community
Lots of people both make custom and buy custom
Limited runs and group buys are common
Coloured plastic that can cost hundreds of pounds

Dissimilarities
Production runs are typically delivered within weeks, not months
Somewhat easier to make at home

I'd also hold Lego up as another good example. Literally spending hundreds on sets of coloured plastic parts.
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Offline Olumin

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 26 July 2020, 16:41:10 »
I’m also into Pocket knives. There is a huge variety of commercial and custom makes all around world and a huge community to go with it. Prices can range from just a few bucks at your gas-station to literally thousands for custom or limited pieces made from exotic materials and steels.

I find the parallels to the Keyboard hobby quite striking:

- The discussion and debate within the community regarding different locking mechanisms, blade shapes/steels and knife-construction; similar to Key-switches and cases/PCBs in Keyboards.

- A large community based around customization using things like lanyards, handle scales or even making their own parts for the knife; similar to the customization of Keyboards using Keycaps and custom cases.

- A high-end/custom market consisting of either full on high end and commercial makers (such as Chris Reeve Knives, Benchmade, Spyderco...) small-scale production or custom makers, again very similar to Keyboards, from the 10-dollar rubber dome Board to Topre or Full-on custom.

- A community based around vintage and discontinued knives, similar to the collecting of vintage Keyboards.

- Limited and Sprint-runs are very common with higher-end manufacturers

The comparison of Folding knives and fixed blades and their varying sizes and blade lengths is kind of like comparing the Full-sized (or larger) and all the different space-saving layouts.

One could also make the case about the Flashlight and watch hobby, both of which I am also into.

Need I say more?

Offline noisyturtle

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 26 July 2020, 18:11:12 »
Building and working on custom fightsticks draws a lot of parallels. I could see both communities learning a lot from each other.

Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 26 July 2020, 21:24:02 »
Stereo gear. Or maybe some subset of stereo gear such as headphones or speakers.

They are a sub-component of a larger and more complex ecosystem, and you can go as deep or as shallow as you want and still get recognizable sound even out of cheap plastic junk.

 
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Offline jamster

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 26 July 2020, 22:24:40 »
Stereo gear. Or maybe some subset of stereo gear such as headphones or speakers.

They are a sub-component of a larger and more complex ecosystem, and you can go as deep or as shallow as you want and still get recognizable sound even out of cheap plastic junk.

I've noticed what looks like some crossover of attitudes from parts of the online headphone community. More the newer, collector mindset. I noticed this because of identical phrases frequently used about spending- "RIP wallet" and "sorry about your wallet." This attitude strikes me as unfortunate, as I don't think hobbies should mainly be about collecting and spending, but that's just me.

There's also a similarity in their Reddit areas, which are heavy on desktop photography. This could just be a Reddit thing in general.

Keyboards strike me as much more accessible to the DIY-inclined though. There not a huge amount you can do with headphones (speakers are much more DIY friendly). Audio in general has a lot of scope for looking at hard data vs being purely subjective. Of course, not many enthusiasts get into this, bit it's very easy to buy measurment gear and use it at home. Keyboards are almost entirely subjective.

Edit: I'd add that discussions around keyboards see far more civil than those around audio. Much less established and antagonist 'camps' based around competing forums.
« Last Edit: Sun, 26 July 2020, 23:20:00 by jamster »

Offline funkmon

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 26 July 2020, 22:45:46 »
Maybe watches. Okay, there's not a huge build-your-own community, but there's a big community of people who modify them, from replacing the movements, to putting on new hands, etc. The prices go from $30 for collectible watches to tens of thousands, so it's a bit more expensive of a community. I do think it's fairly similar though.

Offline ddrfraser1

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 26 July 2020, 23:02:05 »
Nothing. Blasphemer.

Offline Findecanor

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 27 July 2020, 00:17:08 »
I was in the movie prop replica community before getting into keyboards. I had started by building props for cosplay.
Those are also collectables, bought or made in full or in part. Many props are (made from) real-world items, with the exact types of the real-world item as used for the original prop being highly valued (at the dismay of people who collect them for their own sake :-þ).
Some prop replicas are just something printed on a piece of paper. Other props consist of antique guns and custom-machined parts. At the high end, there are some hobbyists who have built their own Batmobile for instance.
I have learned a little of many different crafts in this hobby: sewing, leatherworking, metalworking, plastics, fibreglass, among others.

But unlike prop replicas, keyboards can actually be used. And you can earn a living using a keyboard.

Offline ddrfraser1

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 27 July 2020, 08:18:43 »
I was in the movie prop replica community before getting into keyboards. I had started by building props for cosplay.
Those are also collectables, bought or made in full or in part. Many props are (made from) real-world items, with the exact types of the real-world item as used for the original prop being highly valued (at the dismay of people who collect them for their own sake :-þ).
Some prop replicas are just something printed on a piece of paper. Other props consist of antique guns and custom-machined parts. At the high end, there are some hobbyists who have built their own Batmobile for instance.
I have learned a little of many different crafts in this hobby: sewing, leatherworking, metalworking, plastics, fibreglass, among others.

But unlike prop replicas, keyboards can actually be used. And you can earn a living using a keyboard.

I actually love doing this. Never made it to a convention but I always go big enough at Halloween that my normal friends look at me weird  ;D

Offline Sinanju

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Re: Hobby Equivalence: What would you consider as a parallel to keyboards
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 07 August 2020, 10:53:12 »
Fountain pens.

Both are writing instruments that are more about a better experience than your standard hardware. I'd consider a ballpoint pen to that of a standard $20 rubber dome keyboard. They both do the same job, but are the bare minimum and can leave people wanting more.

Like switches, fountain pens can come in all different types of nibs (tip of the pen that the ink flows from to paper). From stainless steel to gold that can affect the softness or springiness of the nib. To that of the size (fine, medium, broad, etc) that can affect the size of the line. Additionally there are people out there who will modify (grind) your nib for you to get a better writing experience. I would compare this to people who take apart a keyboard, lube, switch springs, etc.

Material wise they can be made acrylic, wood, stainless steel, brass, etc. There are a lot of different options and seems to be limited to your imagination. People can further customize their pens with various inks. Maybe compare RGB lighting to inks such as Organics Studios Oxygen which sheens in the light

Pricing can get stupid too. Visconti can make $1000 pens, while you can get a $5 starter made by Jinhao on Amazon. There is currently a 100th anniversary pen set by Pilot which I believe is like $30k USD. I'd link it, but my internet is **** on this FOB.

I'm still somewhat new to fountain pens but there are people who make customs as well. Most seem to start with a block of acrylic resin to create a custom barrel and finish the pen with premade components or their own custom work.

I see quite a few users on /r/fountainpens have a mechanical keyboard in the background and started thinking about this, so I was surprised to find an active thread about the topic. Just my thoughts.
« Last Edit: Fri, 07 August 2020, 10:55:35 by Sinanju »