id like to take this oppotunity to tell you guys a little of the other side of the story, and give the perspective of someone who has worked with jtk, rather than someone giving their opinion on the internet based on simply seeing a couple of pictures
id like to focus on both the experience working with jtk as a manufacturer, but more importantly on his standards and quality control which is being brought to attention
when it comes to working with jtk ive never come across a more diligent manufacturer, he is on hand to speak to at all times, and doesnt just respond, but will actively communicate with you even when you havent asked, he packages the sets for transit for me better than any other keycap manufacturer i have ever worked with, from the incredibly thick baggies used for the sets and an additional one around them to ensure no breaks, to incredibly well padded double thick boxes
he also includes for me additional sets, to cover issues ranging from any keys that were missed in quality control (he checks and sorts each and every key on his own) to missing shipments, damage or missing keys
when it comes to dealing with issues that arrive, again my experience with him is second to none, for example with this gb 2 issues have arrived already, firstly, the day he shipped my sets, we noticed in pics on the orange set there were a couple of keys where the orange didnt seem as vibrant, within 4 days, he had discovered this issue affected 9 keys in total, he reproduced all those 9 keys, colour checked them, sorted and individual bagged them, and shipped them to me all within 4 days of discovery, and paid for express shipping to ensure they got to me in a timely manner, the second issue, is we recently discovered the spacebars fit a very tiny bit loose on costar stabs, within days he designed a new costar insert, produced them, and shipped me thousands free of charge, just in case anyone was ever to need one, those will be on hand with me any day now and will be available to anyone who needs them for free
this gb did indeed take a year to produce, (in actuality physical production time was incredibly short) but he did spend a long time working on the set, after this gb launched, a discovery was made on the early sets about LED compatibility, and as the use of LEDS is becoming more and more prevalent, he literally reworked every single key mould, to account for this, once again, every single key in the set was altered from the ground up, what i have received is sets that are now considerably more compatible with boards but feel considerably better to type on as well, removing legend issues, and just looking at the quality of the actual keys, i would say they are outstanding
to speak on legend issues, yes there are some, it is a new process, with every legend being made by hand, not spit out of a machine, any people suggesting the legends have gotten worse, are simply not actual comparing them to the original sets, tons and tons of legends have been improved in minor ways, the legends that were slightly out before have all been fixed, but after tons of trial and error, the keys that stick out the most as being incorrect to fix completely would put the entire mould at risk, and many of the moulds contain 30+ keys. the resolution to this is that in future rounds a new mould will be made for these last few offensive legends
based on feedback during this buy, which of course is a big learning experience given it is only his second production run, he is making several changes moving forward, firstly, from now on colour samples will be made prior to buys launching, to improve quality control and sorting he has designed, made and produced custom plastic trays that every key will be sorted in and shipped within, and where possible all changes will be made now prior to the buy going live
whilst this buy did take a long time, that time was spent improving the experience for you guys, based on feedback from the original set, that feedback came after this buy had launched
jtk has been incredible dealing with me, and could not be more facilitating, which is why its so frustrating to see people who have never even seen the set, criticise jtks commitment and standards, i couldnt ask for anyone better to deal with, i consider him a friend and have in each buy forsaken the cut from each set he has offered me to run these, so that he can make a little extra and make back his initial investment faster, and put more money in to correcting these sets
they are a work in progress, but one he is incredibly passionate about, and i think what he has acheived in such a short period of time on his own with just a little help from me is nothing short of admirable
we all want a perfect product, but for everyone showing support and managing there expectations accordingly based on the pricepoint, options and stage this is at, i cant thank you enough, whilst im not part of jtk, i have invested a huge amount of time and feedback in to these sets, and worked incredibly hard to bring them to everyone, and to any naysayers, we are also working incredibly hard to get these to the standards you desire, but will always be clear as to where we are at in this process
