Finding Vintage MX Blues

[ComradeSniper]

I'd really like to find a source for some vintage MX blues for some upcoming projects of mine. Does anyone know of a relatively common board that could be used to salvage vintage Blues, or any other source?

[mapple]

wait what? r they different from current blues?

[terran5992]

Try salvaging some from some old cherry boards?

[urbanus]

wait what? r they different from current blues?

No, not noticeably.

[yasuo]

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8/cherry-mx-old-vs-new-t139.html

[IvanIvanovich]

Look for old G80 blues boards made before 1989. Made in W. Germany on the bottom label is a nice easy give away.

[Wildcard]

Look for old G80 blues boards made before 1989. Made in W. Germany on the bottom label is a nice easy give away.

I wonder if these are more common overseas, but in the US I've had a real difficult time sourcing these.

Do we know of any other odd boards that had these other then Cherry, like the dolch pac's?

[ComradeSniper]

A friend of mine told me he had an old Chicony keyboard lying around and that it had MX Blues in it. I'm guessing it's a Chicony KB-5191. A little research shows that some of these boards do have vintage blues in them, so I'll have my friend confirm or deny that for his.

Edit: He says they're vintage. I don't want to rip him off, what's a fair price for a full size vintage mx blue board?

[rowdy]

What, if any, different is there between vintage and modern blues?

[1391406]

What, if any, different is there between vintage and modern blues?

Vintage blues tend to employ more harmonica and acoustic guitar, in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of blues in general.

[Wildcard]

Let's please not make this a thread on what the differences are, as there are several other threads that cover this. We're simply trying to determine other potential sources for vintage blue switches.

ComradeSniper perhaps adjust the title a bit to reflect this?

[Tarzan]

The SkiData board I bought has MX Blues on the number pad and upper keyboard area.  Not sure if they're vintage, though...

[ch_123]

One word of warning - my experience of old Blue Cherry keyboards is that they don't age well. All that friction on those plastic bits wears them down over the years. I've noticed the same thing with the one vintage Brown board I typed on once.

[Wildcard]

I'm finding mixed info on the Skidata boards. Does your board have a date on the bottom? Also check if the switches appear to be a light blue with a wide cherry logo that barely goes past the edges where the square stem goes into the switch housing.

[Wildcard]

One word of warning - my experience of old Blue Cherry keyboards is that they don't age well. All that friction on those plastic bits wears them down over the years. I've noticed the same thing with the one vintage Brown board I typed on once.

Fortunately there are some speciality boards that saw very little use which could be a good source for vintage MX Blues. Another board similar to the Dolch are the INET Spectras.

[1391406]

Let's please not make this a thread on what the differences are, as there are several other threads that cover this.

Care to direct me to one? Yes, I've searched.

[ch_123]

One word of warning - my experience of old Blue Cherry keyboards is that they don't age well. All that friction on those plastic bits wears them down over the years. I've noticed the same thing with the one vintage Brown board I typed on once.

Fortunately there are some speciality boards that saw very little use which could be a good source for vintage MX Blues. Another board similar to the Dolch are the INET Spectras.

In this case, the two vintage blue boards I've used were both Dolches

[IvanIvanovich]

Oh yes, the MX Chicony 51X1 boards are a fine source. The 5161 I had was vintage blue. Also old Dolch that is earlier production year... though unless you can get the seller to take a very detailed picture of the switch to see that big logo on there it's a crap shoot. Probably best chance on PAC 486, 62, 63 or the very oldest ones that are not 1813, but that other with the **** keycaps. There are also some rebranded PAC, but I forget the brand names, they also have 1813.
Older G80 have been pretty dry on ebay US for some time, but they do still come up fairly frequently on ebay.de and taobao if you want to gamble.

Said SkiData now owned by Greystoke was mine, and I exchanged the switches in it. All SkiData come with clears default so don't bother looking there.

[Tarzan]

Oh yes, the MX Chicony 51X1 boards are a fine source. The 5161 I had was vintage blue. Also old Dolch that is earlier production year... though unless you can get the seller to take a very detailed picture of the switch to see that big logo on there it's a crap shoot.
Older G80 have been pretty dry on ebay US for some time, but they do still come up fairly frequently on ebay.de and taobao if you want to gamble.

Said SkiData now owned by Greystoke was mine, and I exchanged the switches in it. All SkiData come with clears default so don't bother looking there.

Saves me taking pictures of the label.   

Thanks, Ivan²!

[dorkvader]

One word of warning - my experience of old Blue Cherry keyboards is that they don't age well. All that friction on those plastic bits wears them down over the years. I've noticed the same thing with the one vintage Brown board I typed on once.

Fortunately there are some speciality boards that saw very little use which could be a good source for vintage MX Blues. Another board similar to the Dolch are the INET Spectras.

My INET feels terrible, The blues either haven't aged well or are otherwise heavily used. I will be replacing them with new blues sometime soon.

As always though, your mileage may vary. The keycaps on mine are also nice and shiny.

[ComradeSniper]

ComradeSniper perhaps adjust the title a bit to reflect this?

Done.

Oh yes, the MX Chicony 51X1 boards are a fine source. The 5161 I had was vintage blue.

Good to hear.

[Wildcard]

Let's please not make this a thread on what the differences are, as there are several other threads that cover this.

Care to direct me to one? Yes, I've searched.

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8/cherry-mx-old-vs-new-t139.html

I was talking with comradesniper via pm about this topic and suggested we start a thread on it. I know there are other sources of vintage MX blues out there but I can't seem to find them

[Wildcard]

Oh yes, the MX Chicony 51X1 boards are a fine source. The 5161 I had was vintage blue.

Very good to have some validation on this. One warning to others however, make sure you validate the switch type in the Chicony boards before buying them. Some of the same models have varying switches depending on the year.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes, that is important to note. I have noticed that Chicony could have ANYTHING as the switch type, as if the model number has no actual meaning at all. I have seen in the same model MX, MX copies, SMK, Monterey, Alps...

[the_ambyguous]

What, if any, different is there between vintage and modern blues?

Vintage blues tend to employ more harmonica and acoustic guitar, in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of blues in general.

 ) ) underrated post

also, i know this thread is extinct, but I just found vintage blues in a highscreen g80-3081HFD