here's a video of a comfy thumb row based on my hand. have you tried somethinglike this?
Hi! Thanks for sharing that video. The thumb position when using Manibus is actually very similar to yours. I've started from a layout like yours but then I figured that if I wanted a high profile case that would go nicely with Manibus, I wouldn't be able to tray mount it without having a gap where the plate is visible between the thumb keys which I really don't like. It ruins the clean look for me. The solution was to put the keys upright, bring them close to each other and have these 1.25u and 2.25u keys that actually perform, I would say, just as well.
I could have gone with something similar to your layout, but then I would have had to change the mounting system from tray mount to a top/bottom mount which would have made the case 2 part. A 2 part case would imply higher manufacturing costs. Split alu keyboards are more expensive to machine already and adding an extra layer of complexity with a sandwich design would have only made things pricier.
That's the reason why I've designed the layout this way. It's still very comfortable, I love the desing (but that's subjective I guess) and it stays true to what I set out to do: a high quality split aluminum keyboard with a reasonable price.
Here's also a short video demonstrating the thumb position on Manibus:
Not convinced yet? Download the plate files from here:
https://github.com/SamuraiKek/manibus-switch-plates and try it out yourself