With the sheer number of high-end boards being produced now, imo the only reason you'd go for an OTD is you either have money to waste, or you really love the OTD name. I can't think of a single thing they offer that new boards don't (other than e-peen).
For me, it's mostly sentimental value and nostalgia. The OTD series, along with a few other specific boards like the LZ SE, were the first custom boards I saw all those years ago that really caught my eye. I loved, and still do love, everything about the OTD aesthetic; simple shapes paired with simple (yet effective) logos, but with a clear design methodology and a lot of attention to detail for the time. They implanted themselves in my mind back then and they never really left.
I fully understand that I'm biased towards them out of nostalgia and appreciation for the history. There are plenty of boards out there that look nearly identical, and are probably of higher quality, and yet the facts remain: I don't want any of them. I still want a 356CL though, and I won't ever stop wanting one.
Same thing goes for Cherry keysets/keyboards. Imsto's replica dyesub sets were the first keysets I saw which I really liked the look of. Then I found out about the original keycaps (and the keyboards they came from) and fell in love with the aesthetic; everything from the profile to the variable edge fillets to the font. Just like the OTD boards, I've never been able to stop looking at them romantically. Replicas are getting closer and closer to the real thing and yet I won't ever stop using the originals.
I feel this too. Ultimately, I do care about the overall quality of the keyboard and newer iterations of custom keyboards will keep pushing the envelope on quality and features of a keyboard, but OTD keyboards are iconic and will always hold its place in keyboard history. Sounds cheesy the way I put it, but it's just like something akin to a vintage sports car. They're not the fastest or shiniest out there anymore, but they are still highly sought after because they will always be iconic. I see a lot of the older keyboard items in the same light.
well put, it's 99% sentimental. i fully realise that the law of diminishing returns is in full effect here and i'm not going around touting OTD as objectively better than any modern custom (arguably they're actually worse if you consider programmability
). i personally really enjoy the history/backstory of things, and the CL's impact on the keyboard world is not to be underrepresented, it's historically the most important enthusiast keyboard bar none. there was no precedent back then for angled cases or brass weights, let alone both in the same package. until this keyboard all the custom world consisted of were rectangles with conical feet (not to say that the three or so kits that preceded this one weren't important; they obviously were).
it's sort of a window into how things were done back then - OTD is really interesting, and absolutely nothing like any western forum has ever been. not to idolise them too much, but it was very pure and you can really feel the genuine appreciation for keyboards over there, from chop jobs to vintage to even the random prebuilt stuff from the early 2000s. it was so close-knit that people would regularly post pictures of their kids, just out of pride. this CL for me is a bit of a time capsule, and it represents something in a hobby that i care about. whether that's pretentious or not, i'm totally fine either way.
sure, i could buy a kbd8x mkii or whatever and put some gmk and retooled blacks in it and have essentially the same thing for far less money, and it's great that we're at a point where you can do that. but i really think the car analogy is perfect, you buy one because it has meaning and originality, though you could easily go faster for cheaper if you wanted.
