So I've finally acquired one of my last dream boards, and this one really is a gem. Not only is it very seldomly seen, but I have never seen one in this mint of a condition. Not on Sandy's website, and not in the instances I've seen these on Deskthority and Geekhack (one with Mandolin, the other with Nuum, and before that, fossala). All of those except the ones on Sandy's site also had black cables and what I'd call more simplified FCC stickers and such. Also, some of those examples lacked the Caps Lock/Ctrl swapping swtch (weird quirk, I know) and rubberized flip out feet.
So this one is flawless, and the only Alps board I've gotten to date that needs no sort of restoration whatsoever. No rust, no scratches, and no yellowing and a the cable's coil are in perfect condition. Of course, now I don't want to type on it because of this. Lol. I retired my FAME because of its Hebrew caps, and now I don't want to use this because it's too clean. Sooo both of my metal backed boards are retired.
That said, I also picked up a Leading Edge DC-3014 which needed some TLC on the plastics, though its plate was fine, and I don't mind using it! So it's definitely my daily driver in the vintage world now. Blue Alps, NKRO, made in Korea, and using my Dell AT101's PBT caps. Feels nice, man.
BEFORE
AFTER
Use parts from the DC-2014 to fix things up--the cable and the logo mainly, since the logo on the DC-3014 started to fade after retrobrighting.
Yep! I hear that retrobrighting only lasts for around half a decade before the yellowing returns--I'm hoping not to see this in the boards I've restored, but it's one reason I don't mind using them either. Since the FK-555 has never been yellowed, I don't want to expose it. Plus, the case is amazingly texture. I don't want my palms rubbing up against it and shining it up.
Finally, a group shot of all my like-cased keyboards. All big-foot reminiscent. All but the AT101 have blue Alps.
Clockwise, starting from the bottom.
Alps Electric Dell AT101
Tai Hao FAME TH-5539
Focus FK-555
Monterey K101
The AT101's cable is phenomenal. Just ridiculously long, even in the coils alone.