I was looking into these switches, so I actually searched and found your review. Nice review! I'm far less.... extreme.... about keyboards than many others on this website, so I have a question. How specifically does one identify stabilizers as being Cherry's, and what are the benefits of modifying them?
Show Image
(http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/media/guide/costar_cherry_stabilizer.jpg)
I can't speak to the benefits of modifying them, as I've never done it.
COSTAR STABILIZER
The benefit of Costar is that it feels "clean". You just feel the switch feel and that's it, drawback is that sometimes you can hear the metal bar hitting the plastic parts and also it's a little bit harder to change out keycaps.
Solution is that lubing the connection joint will completely eliminate the noise and make this the best stabilizer ever. As for removing keycaps you get used to it after a while, it's actually not that bad.
CHERRY STABILIZER
The benefit of this is that you can pretty much pull keycap straight out to get it off, slap it back on directly to put it back on. Real simple when changing keycaps. However there are tiny plastic "legs" at the bottom to cushion the bottom out, and while make it feel "mushy" and defeats the point of getting a mechanical keyboard. Because if you want mushy feel you already get that from rubber dome.
Solution is to clip off the "legs" as demonstrated. First you need to desolder all the switches with stabilizers on them (7 for full size keyboards, 4 for tenkeyless). After that you can press on the tiny tabs behind the mounting point behind the stabilizer mount and rotate towards you to get the plastic mounts off the metal plates. The metal wire can slide through the gap on the plate. Dessemble the wire, get the stems out, clip them, then reverse the process to get everything back in.
Feel free to let me know if you're actually gonna do it then I can give you more detailed instructions.