Plate + PCB vs Plate + Hand Wire

[ScottPaladin]

All of my builds and mods have been with PCBs and plates, but I'm getting a slight hankering to try hand wiring one of these days. Is there any noticeable difference between having a PCB and not? I could imagine it going either way.

[tp4tissue]

There is such a thing as soldering-art..  so maybe give that a go..

[ScottPaladin]

I'm sure that would provide some "interesting" key feel.

[phoible]

I've heard that some keyboards are quieter without a PCB.

I'm working on my first hand wire myself (have the matrix wired - waiting for some parts to connect it to the teensy). It has definitely been A LOT more work than just going with a PCB.
I've been working on it on and off for a few weeks and I'm not done yet, whereas I can put together a PCB with LEDs in a couple of hours. I think it would be easier the second time, though.

Hopefully it's worth it in the end.

The nice thing about a hand wire is that you can do whatever you want with it, even if there isn't a PCB made. In my case, I'm redoing an old M0110, but a lot of people do it for slightly custom layouts that no one supports yet or for prototyping a new design.