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LEGENDS, PART ONE: a journey to the past

Sep 9, 20241997 VIEWS

I don’t think this is an article.
I’m pretty sure it’s the beginning of a book. The "technology" section of every thrift store is a potential treasure trove. Swap meets, estate sales... they're the same. I honestly enjoy sifting through stacks of typewriters, radios, turntables and dusty old keyboards... hunting for treasure. That's what has led me to ask my friends in the hobby a pair of simple but nuanced questions… what’s your dream thrift store find and what’s your holy grail? It turns out, that for many, that’s the same question. For a lot of people in this hobby, finding the perfect board for you happens at some point, and rather than staring at your collection of boards on the wall, or continuing to buy keyboards until your room looks like Wall-E’s trailer… Instead, mature keyboard hobbyists tend to do a number of things:

Sell/trade artisan keycaps
Purchase keycap sets
Sell or trade rare/nice (and sometimes new) keyboards to keep things fresh

Most of us haven’t found perfection and are very much in a place of discovery, excitement, and education. Trying new keyboard sizes, board construction, alternating switches to discover what we like best with which keyboard, and experimenting with keycap profiles/colors, etc. I’ve written a great deal about why I personally participate in this hobby, and because of my motivations, I don’t think that I’m going to necessarily follow the path I’ve laid out above, but mainly because I don’t think I’ve gotten into this for the same reasons as my friends. To me, keyboard building is a personal merging of my design and artistic sensibilities and my technology aesthetic. Keyboards provide me a practical way to celebrate the artistic influences I’ve enjoyed throughout the years, pay tribute to music/film/art that’s meant a lot to me, and above all, it’s the sense of community in the unique approaches to keyboard building and collecting that drives me. That said, for many they find a favorite setup for a keyboard or keyboards. And when they do, they’re faced with a few options:

retracting from the hobby and the community they’ve been a part of
remaining in the community but lowering their participation
finally and most preferably, finding other ways to engage with the community. (cough, ARTISANS, cough)

One of the most interesting conversations I’ve had with mature hobbyists has been around obtaining classic keyboards from the 1980’s and 90’s, some shockingly rare, and most with their own unique charms. For the sake of readability, I’m going to break this article into sections, the first of which dealing with just that subject… classic boards to look for in the wild and holy grails to dream of owning one day!

Back to the future When it comes to finding that perfect board, many keyboard hobbyists dive into the past, seeking excellence from manufacturers like IBM, Apple, Cherry, Wang and HHKB. When I asked a few of my friends the questions above, here are some of the responses I got regarding classic manufactured boards… Tactile Zine: “I'm a very big IBM keyboard fan and I've been lucky enough to go dumpster diving at e-waste recyclers for the classic Model M 1391401 keyboards. One time I pulled 20 out of a pallet-sized box filled with hundreds of them. Unfortunately, you can't really separate the switches from buckling spring boards like you can with say NMB or Alps SKCM/SKCL switches. Besides, I'd like the whole keyboard if I'm looking for anything classic. But really my current grail is to find a complete IBM system 370 with a 3278 keyboard. (Here’s a really detailed 3277 with fantastic views of the beam spring switches) That's a mainframe computer with a beam spring keyboard. In my fantasies I'd be able to wash or clean the beam spring board without damaging any of the keycaps. I've heard from hardcore collectors if you try to clean beam spring caps you risk wiping away the legends or damaging the caps. It would also be great to find a complete working Dolch PAC system. That's the system with the Cherry G80-1813 keyboard with the original Dolch keycaps that inspired the now famous Dolch colorway.”

Tactile Zine isn’t alone in pining for a beam spring keyboard, but for some, he’s not thinking far back enough.

Combat Wombat: “I'm not super into classic keyboards but finding one of those giant Model Ms would be pretty cool I think!” Obsidiank: “I don't have any classic keyboards at this point that would excite me other than maybe something from NASA.” Hoffman: “My personal grail keyboard would be an IBM 4704 Model F 77-key. There are plenty of other keyboards that would be really nice to have for a variety of reasons (I'd love to buy back my The Cheat that I had, some OG LZ boards, or even an industrial SSK), but being able to complete the 4704 collection with an original 77-key without having to sell a kidney for it would be amazing.” Save it

So here we are... The IBM Model F series of keyboards, and specifically the 60% model nicknamed the “Kishsaver”. I didn’t want to jump directly to it, but it was easily the most referenced keyboard in the discussions I had. (If you’re curious why some of these keyboards are called “savers” it’s short for “space saver” and pretty much means what we would call Ten-keyless, or TKL.)

Tactile Zine: I've owned my 2 grail keyboards since 2014. I don't need to dream about them anymore. Endgame is real for me. And both are vintage or older keyboards. I am lucky enough to own an original IBM 6019284 (nicknamed the Kishsaver after kishy, the person who rediscovered it's existence and shared it with the community) which is Model F buckling spring keyboard with a from the factory 60% layout. I had mine powdercoated to be purple. I believe there are about 30 of these floating around. Possibly up to 60. They were found in 2013 in an e-waste recycler in China. The seller sold them to the geekhack and deskthority communities. This meant that they were split approximately between North America and Europe.

These boards were meant to go with the IBM 4704 system which was used for finance. For people that like the look and feel of buckling spring keyboards, a company called Unicomp makes modern “Model F” buckling spring keyboards. They bought old IBM equipment and since 2015 have kept making keyboards. I even use some custom keycaps they’ve made for the Kishsaver, Unicomp is based in Kentucky so they made some fun university of Kentucky wildcats keyboards. they also made a university of Louisville cardinals board in red. Kriscables: “I would love to have in my collection the classic boards as IBM Model M or F. They are legendary pieces of history that every keyboard enthusiast will enjoy to type on on a daily basis, even many years after their creation.” Oni: “I would be psyched to find boards like an original IBM Kishsaver, IBM Model M SSK, or a nice Cherry G80-3000. If money and limited access weren’t an issue, I’d love to own a DK Saver.”

IBM isn’t the end all though. Apple, Cherry and more obscure keyboard manufacturers like Nixdorf, Wang and Kinesis made masterful contributions to the hobby. Personally I’ve always loved the Apple Extended Keyboard II and the incredible keycaps mimicked in Biip’s MT3 2048 Extended keycap kitting. Here’s what others had to say:

HBK: “I’d like to find an Apple M0110, such an elegant looking design, also I’m just a sucker for HHKB layout.” Jridgii: “For vintage, probably a Cherry G80-2100HBU. Two really obscure boards I don’t think I’ll ever find are the Cherry G80-0284, Cherry G80-0320. Those would be special. Something else that would be a super cool find - a G81-1600SAU or Cherry G81-3000SAU, just because it would be fun to have a set of OG beige ANSI dyesubs”

Theremingoat: “For vintage stuff, I’d like a proper space cadet board in good shape. Funny enough, I just got my hands on a 'once in a million' sort of keyboard, a completely intact, clear-cased Nixdorf Magnetic Valve keyboard dated for 1986. Before they made “Nixies,” Nixdorf used exclusively magnetic valve switches. The reason this board is unique is that only known examples of clear-cased Nixdorf keyboards all exist currently as property of the Heinz Nixdorf Museum in Germany. To find a clear-case version of this keyboard out in the wild like this is like spotting a unicorn, and I intend to care for it as such.”

Switching it up

Goat’s lucky find offers us a perfect segue into a rabbit hole that directly applies to this discussion. That is; awesome keyboard related finds from the 1980’s and 90’s aren’t always relegated to mass production… alternate switch types like Alps, Topre, Beam Spring, Model F, NMB Hi-Tek and others offer incredible typing experiences that can be deeply satisfying to someone looking to engage with keyboards in a different way.

Hoffman: “The most realistic boards that I keep an eye out for while thrifting are some sort of Alps boards. Whether an Apple Extended Keyboard (AEK) II or something with brown or blue Alps switches, I think there's the best chance of finding something desirable that flies under the radar in the Alps world. Depending on the find, I'd either be looking to use it as-is or harvest switches for a custom Alps build.” SwitchOddities: “The vintage keyboard discussion is a bit out of my wheelhouse, so I'd have a relatively boring real answer of just whatever old boards came with like nixies or hirose stuff. What I'd really love to find although I don't know what it would even be is an old board that came with Content (KTT's old/formal name) switches, like a full nylon winglatch Content Green or something, but there's no real documentation on what, if anything really had those, it would have probably not even made it to the US. I don’t think I have a “grail” keyboard… whatever it would be, I'd be in it for the switches. Or, actually a middle ground between old/rare (but less boring and more specific) would be an EpicGear board with their EG MMS switches, I grabbed one for the EG MMS Violets but I could use the others, I think they were grey and orange? Leave it alone

And on the subject of switches, after a few people mentioned finding keyboards because of the specific switch, I asked if they would consider pulling switches from a vintage board to place them in something new. The answer from most, a resounding “NO.”

Theremingoat: “Any old tech is worth being excited for when it comes to stumbling across in a setting like that. While I like switches, I'm no animal and I'd preserve any keyboard like that to the best of my ability. People who buy perfectly intact, rare vintage boards just to gut them are incredibly disappointing. If you truly care about the technology, its history, or the context by which it actually derives any implicit or explicit value that caused you to seek it out in the first place - you'd leave it intact.” Jridgii: “I wouldn't harvest them (switches), stuff like that is more of a collectible/something that deserves to be preserved.” Binsento: “If there’s one board I’d love finding, it’s the IBM 5140. The keyboard itself is ok, it's just a cool piece of vintage convertible PC tech in general. I'm mostly interested in the switches (saying that though, if I found one in good condition I'd probably leave it as is instead of harvesting switches.) The 5140 comes with brown alps switches, and due to the nature of it being convertible, it was probably stored folded up so the switches are likely clean. It's one of the few keyboards that actually had Brown Alps. Other than that, Zenith z150 I think has neon Green Alps which are even more rare, but that's about the only reason I care about them. They are supposedly about the same as Brown Alps.” And now for something completely different. Other diamonds from the past reside in the earliest days of custom mechanical keyboards, specifically the Korean “kustom” keyboards of the early 2000’s. Made in tiny groupbuys by members of the KBDMania and OTD communities, these aluminum Gods were made in some cases (and hear me here…) INDIVIDUALLY tuned for specific switches. Imagine that. A keyboard, made for you, to sound and feel amazing for one specific type of switch? It’s incredible to think that that level of customization was present at the very birth of this hobby. Obviously these boards were costly to make, are incredibly rare, and go for $4-5000 if you see one in today’s market. They were practically works of art, or better said, practical works of art, and are one of the main reasons we go to meet-ups! The chance to see these rare beasts in the wild. In the continuation of this article, we’ll take a look at modern classics from the early 2000’s, when keyboard enthusiasts began taking things into their own hands. For now though, I want to hear from you! What are your thrift store dreamboats? What keyboards are your holy grail? Do you vibe with any of the switches mentioned above? Do you own a Kishsaver? Take a couple minutes and let us hear from you, and as always, keep finding the stories in everything you do. Best, James (@storyboardtech)

(Edited)

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