[IC] GMK sets interest check and planning

[rindorbrot]

Hey lysol do you know if full sets will be ABCDEF or BBCCDE? Or will you be able to specify?

Sorry for beeing a noob here, but what is the difference? I never heard of those terms before.

[IvanIvanovich]

Old set had a unique key shape for each row, then later around the early 90's they dropped the A and F and doubled up on the B and E shapes.

[rindorbrot]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

[phinix]

OOOh! I just found it!
I'm in for UK layout set black on white/beige. Second choice is Amiga black on almond/grey:)

[Lu_e]

Oh man. Didnt think on it long enough! Can you delete my entry so I can re vote? 

Edit: after reading the whole thread i see you will delete my old vote when i submit another... cool

All the ideas being thrown around have me pretty excited. Im just trying to imagine some of the combinations on a modern/black keyboard... I can remember contemplating miami when it was being discussed on the old forum, i think of gta vice city everytime. I saw a few miami colored keys in the sp crap bag thread.

[adrock]

I'd be in for Dolch, Amiga or Coffee and Cream.

I'd probably be in for others too, but they're the ones i like the look of the most

[IvanIvanovich]

Dolch and SKIData tied... should we just go for the DolSKI mash up and call it a day?

[baldgye]

SkiData is horrid :/

[esoomenona]

Mash up, please.

[Jmneuv]

Dolch and SKIData tied... should we just go for the DolSKI mash up and call it a day?

Absolutely

[emptythecache]

I actually would like to buy a dolch set and a skidata set separately...

[keymaster]

Dolch and SKIData tied... should we just go for the DolSKI mash up and call it a day?

Why not do another vote with only Dolch and Skidata? I'm sure there will be a winner since people who voted for other sets will have to choose between Dolch and Skidata.

[jdcarpe]

I actually would like to buy a dolch set and a skidata set separately...

eBay?

We should do something you can't get on the open market. Plus, I think at least one vendor is planning to do Dolch redux anyway.

[emptythecache]

ANSI MOTHER****ER. DO YOU SPEAK IT?

[jdcarpe]

ANSI MOTHER****ER. DO YOU SPEAK IT?

LMFAO. That's why I don't have a Skidata, but I do have a Dolch.

I'm saying we should do the mashup. Best of both worlds.

[IvanIvanovich]

If I had weight, I would decide on the mash up. You get something that is quite nice and classic looking, yet also fresh.
But, I think it is not fair to decide for everyone. So... now that we have passed the primaries I will make a new poll with Dolch, SKIData, DolSKI and 2nd place TA green/grey.
Sorry to all pulling for other options, but there is always next time

I know I said I would include vote on community colorways, but I think we may just keep things more cut down and simple this first time out and only do 1 colorway option, and we can build on our successes and learn from any mistakes and keep refining ideas in the mean time for the next go.
I hope this seems fair and balanced even though I know it is more limited than I originally planned. I just want to get a focus so we have the best chance of reaching our target order quantity. This way we can prove GMK that they don't need to worry about our groupbuy model and we can build momentum.

[Alessandro]

Sounds like good reasoning to me. Do we just place our votes again in the form on the first page or will another form be going up?

[esoomenona]

I actually would like to buy a dolch set and a skidata set separately...

eBay?

We should do something you can't get on the open market. Plus, I think at least one vendor is planning to do Dolch redux anyway.

Exactly this. We have such a great opportunity to do new things, and we're going to just let that go? If you want one of those sets, like jd said, there are places to find them. It's not like this is a quick and easy thing to do. We've been sitting on this topic for months, with an estimated many more months before we may actually receive anything. Let's do something fresh, people.

[IvanIvanovich]

Well also its a yes an no. Sure you 'can' find some things in the used/nos market. But, you are limited to just that. Some colorways are only available in one layout, or in some case a few but one may be unrealistically hard to locate due to demand and rarity. having new sets defeats that problem regardless how common something happens to be. On the other hand, we can just as easily focus on patch kits for those instead of full sets.

I'm getting a new poll form together, I will post it shortly.

Also, in regard to languages options... I know this will disappoint some but for now I am just going to call it as US/GB/DE/ES/SF other languages just don't have enough interest right now, unless it is only marginally cheaper to add some extra keys to cover more they will be put on hold for next time.

[CPTBadAss]

I actually would like to buy a dolch set and a skidata set separately...

eBay?

We should do something you can't get on the open market. Plus, I think at least one vendor is planning to do Dolch redux anyway.

I've had horrible luck with auctions on eBay. How do you find Dolch set without bidding on auctions?

[jdcarpe]

I got mine BIN for $100 plus $25 shipping. Someone had posted it in Great Finds here. Had to buy the whole PAC 63C.

[CPTBadAss]

Thanks JD!

[IvanIvanovich]

New poll and OP edited to reflect what is happening, also a nice graph of responses will be available from now on so you can see what is winning anytime.

[Lighthouse1]

Although you can get Dolch on Ebay etc for Ansi getting an ISO set is really hard (unless someone can help!) and so I think the best chances of getting one is something like this group buy.

[pasph]

Although you can get Dolch on Ebay etc for Ansi getting an ISO set is really hard (unless someone can help!) and so I think the best chances of getting one is something like this group buy.

and even for ansi you need a moogle kit for a standard tkl

[limmy]

I chose Dolch over the mesh-up. I kind of worry that the mesh-up might not give enough contrast because orange would show best contrast under dark background. On the other hand, GH set that had similar color mix was pretty decent, so I would say there is good chance that it will turn out better than I thought.

I wanted Dolch because it is more or less a sure shot. I know what I will get. If we could get a sample before we could decide, that would be most helpful in my opinion.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes exactly, which is what I mean by patch kits mod and language packs only, to supplement what can be obtained 'simply' from used market.

[Dianoda]

Gah, did all the skidata votes go to dolski? 

[jdcarpe]

How do you Dolch voters feel if this scenario happens:

Lysol collects orders for Dolch, and everything moves smoothly. That is, up until a week before the GB is supposed to end, and a vendor releases Dolch replica sets from GMK onto the market. No wait, no lead time for manufacturing, everything in-stock and ready-to-ship. We lose half the orders to people who want their sets NAO for a slightly higher price, and we can't make the MOQ due to the lost orders.

How do you feel if that happens? Would we have to pick another colorway and open the GB for longer to collect more orders?

[Halverson]

^ ****ty scenario. Could be avoided with handarbeit

[pasph]

We lose half the orders to people who want their sets NAO for a slightly higher price, and we can't make the MOQ due to the lost orders.

How do you feel if that happens? Would we have to pick another colorway and open the GB for longer to collect more orders?

In that case I feel that this is no more a community but a not-so-good shop
If we don't care to support the efforts of the other members there's no membership

[Acetrak]

We lose half the orders to people who want their sets NAO for a slightly higher price, and we can't make the MOQ due to the lost orders.

How do you feel if that happens? Would we have to pick another colorway and open the GB for longer to collect more orders?

In that case I feel that this is no more a community but a not-so-good shop
If we don't care to support the efforts of the other members there's no membership

I don't think that was jdcarpe's point. From the very beginning lysol said they reached out to vendors to see what colors were they planning to buy in bulk so we don't get the same thing (general consensus is variety is better). But that's a no go.

Now there are speculation about dolch coming out because it's been a popular set for a long time, no one can deny that. For the sake of this GB, we want to plan smart and efficiently. With that said, is dolch the best colorway for this GB?

[jdcarpe]

Well, what if the vendor has already placed the order with GMK and is just waiting on production. They may have thousands of dollars tied up in inventory to sell, even before a community GB starts. Vendors aren't forthcoming to us with what their plans for future products are, simply because they don't want competitors to get a jump on their products.

I'm just asking these questions because I think it's quite likely that this exact scenario will play out.

[pasph]

Vendors are not to blame, they do their job

But in this case you have 3 choices
1) rent an oracle to choose the right set
2) don't do GB with GMK
3) support Lysol no matter what happens

in the meantime hoping for a more cohesive community

[IvanIvanovich]

Vendors are to blame if they are actively stabbing the community they claim to support in the back by sabotage. On that note, I also would strongly like to support things that are not as likely to be picked by a vendor, but all they need to do is monitor this thread and get the jump on us, so really if they want to be b!tches there is nothing we can do to win. All I can hope is that the community can see though such behaviors if that happens as actually harmful and let anyone that does such a thing choke on their inventory.

[jdcarpe]

My oracle told me that Dolch will be coming out after black on beige sets and Olivetti repro sets. Take that for what you will. The oracle has predicted things with great accuracy in recent times.

I think our choice is between Skidata, Dolski (Skidolcha?), and Triumph Adler. Just my (informed) opinion.

[IvanIvanovich]

Step ye into the light oracle! Bathe us with thy knowledge!

[pasph]

Can someone make a mockup of Dolski?

[IvanIvanovich]

It was already done the font is not correct but it is good enough for now, see the OP?

Should I add 3rd and 4th place options back too? Or is what I already have good enough?
if curios those options would be white on black and handarbeit respectively.

[jdcarpe]

Step ye into the light oracle! Bathe us with thy knowledge!

You can probably find him on DT or on reddit at /r/mechanicalkeyboards...

[oluf]

It was already done the font is not correct but it is good enough for now, see the OP?

Should I add 3rd and 4th place options back too? Or is what I already have good enough?
if curios those options would be white on black and handarbeit respectively.

Not IMO.. You've done a fine job of narrowing them down.

[Halverson]

It was already done the font is not correct but it is good enough for now, see the OP?

Should I add 3rd and 4th place options back too? Or is what I already have good enough?
if curios those options would be white on black and handarbeit respectively.

I think what we have now is best. Just hope if a vendor is doing a buy for one of these schemes, they let someone know.

[jdcarpe]

^ They did. And that person let us know. And everyone ignored it.

[Halverson]

^ They did. And that person let us know. And everyone ignored it.

Wait, who, what where. I don't remember ignoring that.

[jdcarpe]

I can try to find it, but it will require some digging.

Edit: here it is...

How about the rest of the people who were in the know about GMK and decided to troll our interest check threads with concerns about GMK's production capability, timelines, etc.?  Some people have known about GMK a long time before the company name was ever even introduced to me.  A certain someone in mid-2012 said to me (and I'm paraphrasing) to sell off all my doubleshots because a new company has acquired the tooling.  The first sets would be beige doubleshots and Dolch following that.  Now, I don't want to "reveal" any secrets, but chances are we will see Dolch sets fairly soon.

That person also told me that if I ever spoke a word about it, they would know that it was me (which btw I kept my promise).  I'm sure that person shared the information amongst the l33t west coast, and thus began the journey of GMK production, hidden away from GH.  I can go diving through my PM's and gchats for exact communications and of course, reveal the mystery at hand.  And of course, I can continue speculating with my crazy theories but I'll leave that for my other post.

[Halverson]

I can try to find it, but it will require some digging.

I'll just believe you, its all good

[calavera]

I'm always interested in key caps set like these

[phinix]

Well, in this case I'm out.
I'm disappointed that none of those white/grey/beige sets didn't come through
Everyone wants dark dolch colors then...

[IvanIvanovich]

There is still a chance I might make a few smaller supplement pack options for other common set colors when the buy comes around, if a vendor doesn't fill that gap first.

[rknize]

I voted for Dolch, but I would be probably be OK with DolSKI. 

As far as planning for the future, we just have to take it as it comes I think.  This would be a lot of work for poor lysol, but assuming things go as before and Dolch wins, I'd recommend keeping the runner up (DolSKI) in our back pocket.  It might even be worthwhile to give a 2nd choice in the poll.  If a retail Dolch set comes out before money is collected, we can vote what to do.  If the set comes out after...well life sucks for that vendor because we will probably undercut them.