You're in luck, because linears are very hot right now. You can get many custom linears at a price to performance ratio that didn't exist a couple of years ago.
You'll have to get a custom keyboard so that you can use the custom switches, or be willing to desolder / resolder a factory keboard. You can also buy a Varmilo custom, if it offers the relevant switches. Or just get a hotswap keyboard so that you can plug in the switches yourself.
Regardless of how you do it, there are many great linears today. JWK / Durock in China is probably the hottest right now. They have a bunch of coloured switches that are nearly the same, just slight variations of each other. The Alpaca/Mauve and H1 are the most notable right now, and there is also the similar C3 Tangerine linear. You just missed a drop for Tangerines at the Key Dot Company, and you just missed recent sales of H1s as well, so that's a shame.
Tangerines are weighted at 62 and 67 G, Alpacas are 62, Mauves are 65, and H1s are 78 G. The H1s are meant to evoke vintage Blacks, and so are coloured and weighted accordingly. Although they don't feel exactly like vint. blacks. Any of these switches are an excellent platform to build from. The JWK / Durock linears need lubing and filming to reach their full potential, otherwise they are only slightly better than cheap Gateron switches. I'm thinking of a TKL build with lubed Alpacas using 65 gr TX springs, which I have tested.
Anyway, you can generally only buy these switches as soon as they go on sale, and they are quickly sold out. So you can get on the mailing lists of the retailers who stock them, and then you can be present when they are sold.
These aren't the only linears that are big right now. The Gateron Ink switches are a step above the Gaterons you've been using before. The favoured one is the Black Ink, and you can change spring weight manually if you don't like the stock weight. People aren't as fond of the Yellow Ink, so you might want to skip that. In general, the Gateron Ink switches are better in stock form than the JWK/Durock linears. It's just that the Durocks are cheaper and can be substantially improved. So these Gateron Inks have to be taken very seriously.
Then there are the Novelkeys Cream switches. They got hyped a lot as a result of Youtube. And they have their strong points. Although enthusiasts seem to use the Durock and Gateron Ink switches more than Novelkeys Cream. Creams can be modded according to user preference as well.
Then there are the Zealio linears, like Tealios. They should be the best out-of-box linears. For some people, they are so good that they don't bother lubing them. But lubed these can be top tier, it's just that they are expensive.
So your options are enormous now, this is a golden age of MX linears. Recently, Novelkeys began offering its own line of JWK / Durock linears, the Silk and Dry series:
https://novelkeys.xyz/collections/switches?page=2They are the JWK switches, but either factory-lubed or completely dry [so that you can lube them]. They have a range of weights that may already suit your preferences. So it's 100% worth building a custom linear keyboard right now. You can make something really endgame while using mid-range parts, like kits from KBDFans. Getting ahold of some of these linears will be a problem, but it's worth it. You can get something noticeably better than what existed before.
