My journey with mechanical keyboards started about 4 years ago, when I picked up a chicony kb-5181 equipped with monterey blues. What a cool place to start. Build quality was terrible, caps had decomposing pad printing, and it was heavily yellowed, but I used it off and on for a year or so. I didnt know how special it was, just that it felt good. I switched to some terrible dell rubberdome board when I "upgraded" my computer, as my "new" board had no ps2 ports. I recieved 2 cherry g80-1800s (vtg blacks, winkeyless, doubleshots) from a family friend when clearing out his "junk room" at his place of work. One had a cracked pcb, and a cracked top casing and was generally in really terrible condition, while the other one was in ok condition but had a bad switch. I fixed and used the 1800 for awhile, until I got tired of how mx blacks felt. Back to the domes it was. Just by chance I happened to find Chyros' youtube channel about a year ago, and found my new hobby. I lurked on here for a few months, trying to learn what I could until I finally decided to join in february. In february I also picked up a model M, (1391401 to be exact) on ebay, bolt modded it and used it for a month or so. I loved it. The model M was the best feeling keyboard I had ever used, and I thought nothing could top it. How wrong I was! Later the same week I found a white alps AEKII clone and a orange alps M0116 at a local thrift store. I was hooked! Even tough I couldnt use either of the boards, I developed a fondness for alps, that wouldnt be fully realized until later. I recieved a model F XT in a lot of vintage computers I bought, and was absolutely amazed. Finally something to top my buckling springs. Unfortunately, I decided to open it up to clean it. When I got it open, all the foam was rotten, and I managed to break an ear off of one of the hammers. damn. It sat in a box for a few months before finally being revived. The model M stayed on my desk for awhile, until a visit to a local thrift store procured a sharp typewriter equipped with alps SKCL greens. This was where and when my unconditional love for alps began. Later that week, I had already ordered a forcus 2001, avant prime omnikey, and an unassembled alps64 kit. Playing around with the white alps in the 2001, I noticed that they were in TERRIBLE condition, and were pretty much unusable. So I pulled the SKCL greens from the typewriter, pulled the SKCM whites from the focus, and created my first alps frankenswitch, the click modded green. I assembled my alps64 with the clicky greens and finally found a board to displace the model M off my desk! After playing with my alps64 for a bit, I finally decided to fix up my model F XT. I used it for a few weeks, and loved it, but the layout is a bit impractical for everyday use. But while lurking on ebay, I found something vary interesting. A NeXT non adb board. I thought, wht the hell. its cheap, and if I dont like it, no big loss. What arrived to me shocked me. The smoothest tactile switches with the snappiest tactility I ever used. It amazed me. Unfortuantely, I never built a controller for it, and ended up just scrapping it for the keycaps and switches. A month and a half ago, I bought an omnikey 101. This is the first time I had been able to use white alps, and I enjoyed it very much, until I remembered my true love, SKCM creams. I preforemed a switch swap, bough some blank keycaps, painted the case, and installed a usb controller. This board may be the closest to endgame I ever get. Its such a joy to type on. Currently I use a rotation of boards which I change weekly, or whenever I feel like. I have my alps64 with clicky greens, my modded omnikey, and my model F XT currently in the rotation, but I recently picked up a "pingmaster" (alps SKCC green japanese IBM) and I am very impressed with it. it may become a part of the rotation in the near future. Soon I will be trying zealiostotles, which are gateron rgb switches with an aristotle (taiwanese cherry clone) slider. If these meet my expectations, there may be room for a mx board in my rotation, but Im not sure. I am verry happy with the boards I currently own, but I have no idea what the future holds. I have still yet to try topre for real, only shortly at a meetup. There is still much more to explore in the magical world of alps, so that will most likelt keep me occupied.
