Hi! This page is currently a work-in-progress as I add in the basics and soon comprehensive articles for each of my boards. If you’re interested in checking out my collection, you can check out my Notion page as this was my setup before starting this up! (link)

From Word-of-Mouth to Words-out-of-my-Mouth

My Mechanical Keyboard addiction hobby started in about 2015 when I got my first: The Corsair STRAFE RGB. The feeling of the keypress slowly depreciating was both jarring but satisfying, making for a great improvement in my typing and gaming experience compared to all the junky membrane office keyboards that were in use for the several years prior. For the next few years I got a couple other pre-built keyboards, the Ducky Shine 6 being the first one I got for myself in 2017, which wasn’t a significant improvement in terms of feel and sound, but it certainly delivered on a much cleaner aesthetic while providing a more true OEM profile rather than the hideous proprietary “OEM” profile Corsair used back in the day.

By that point I had a friend hounding me about the custom keyboard hobby, but I largely ignored it for a combination of money (I was still a broke high school student at that point) and the seemingly daunting task of procuring parts, modding them, and by that point soldering was still by and far the most common option for PCBs as hotswaps hadn’t swept the keyboard scene yet. It wasn’t until 2019 when my eyes were set on the Glorious GMMK TKL as it was being showcased as basically a modern miracle because of it featuring hotswap sockets, which granted- at the time- unparalleled repairability value to the board while offering a very cheap price tag of $60, leaving the switches and keycaps to the user’s wishes. When it came in with my Kailh BOX Reds and the gaudy Aura Keycaps, it kind of blew my mind the ease of “making” your own board.

Then just a year later in 2020, one of the biggest events in Keyboarding history occured: the revered “Making of Tfue’s $3500 Custom Luxury Mechanical Keyboard“ video by TaehaTypes. A combination of sticker-shock, big gaming names, Fortnite, and COVID created a huge phenomenon out of the Mechanical Keyboards hobby. Of course, in 2020 I wasn’t about to dive $3500 on a custom board without knowing what I’m even doing, let alone for a Keycult with a one-off wavy anodization. What could I replicate off this build? Ah, the so-called “self-lubricating” NovelKeys x Kailh Cream Switches with their full-POM construction. To the dismay of most people who bought into this hype, this alleged cheat code to not needing to lube your switch was very much overstated. While technically true, it simply remained scratchy in sound and texture, it just didn’t wear out as fast because of the way POM interacts with friction. But it still sounded nice and felt good as one of the earlier adopters of the long-pole stem.

It wasn’t until 2021 that I started my first job and started acruing an income of my own that I then took a deep dive into the customs hobby, starting with- at the time- Glorious’ second coming of Christ, the GMMK Pro, noted once again as a well valued “customizable” keyboard for $179 during a time where most custom kits were closer to the $250-350 mark. In the period of 4 months, I bought myself a board for each month, starting with a couple “insane value budget thocckers” (GK68s) and a Tofu65 for something more “refined.” 2022 saw a slower pace with 2 Keychron keyboards which, at the time, were kicking Glorious’ ass in the value proprosition market (still do tbh), an NCR80 as my first foray into the “vintage” style (and my first go at Cherries), the Wooting 60HE which also took the internet by storm with its HE capabilities and ease of modding given it follows the GH60 footprint, meaning it could be swapped into most tray mount cases with a hole for the integrated USB-C. 2022 also saw my one and only attempt to get into actual vintage products, buying a Wyse 50 for myself to harvest Vintage Cherry MX Blacks from, which really was just a disaster in total. 2023 was a huge step back to give myself good pace in the hobby as well as coping with a very strange year for myself, but I still treated myself to what I hoped would be by and far my best board that didn’t need modding, the Brutal65 V2 which largely disappointed me, then 2024 turned my luck around where I finally started hitting banger after banger after banger.

In this current time of 2025, the future is uncertain as a result of the really disturbing onslaught of tariffs being put in place against import objects, especially those from China. I don’t typically like buying secondhand products if I can help it, but I still hope to be able to grab myself a couple other boards this year before possibly taking a short break until shit gets un-fucked.