They sent me a GMMK Pro at one point for some reason or another along with the flex kit, and I built it with the entire thought process being that I would give it to a friend or family member…and I ended up actually really liking how it sounded and was a little annoyed about that.
Ended up keeping it, throwing the Glorious Pandas I had into it and topping it with MT3 Cyber. It sits as a decoration piece on my work desk these days, was never able to end up bringing myself to get rid of it. Has been a conversation a few times and I’ve managed to get at least one more co-worker into custom boards, even as I’ve exited the hobby (waiting for the Supermassive killed any interest I had left in this hobby with the wait time).
I’ve felt for a while now that a lot of the clicky hate stems from the fact that most people first experience cheap clickies in cheap plastic boards. I think even the humble clickjacket can really shine, but oddly enough, only when you have a solid, quiet case to support them.
It’s kind of like how you can put expensive, high quality speakers in a car but not upgrade the sound insulation and the entire vehicle sounds like it’s rattling apart.
This board in PC seems like a bit of a unicorn, figured what better way to celebrate it than shine it up a little and put some 1984 on it.
The Retro R’s match so well in color but are loud. If anyone has any recommendations for a quieter switch, maybe some scratch or even tactile, in similar colorway, let me know!
TypePlus x Alexotos Granites would match pretty nicely with 1984 & the PC Hello IMO. TypePlus x NK Classic Blues would be an alright fit for it too as the housings are all milky iirc. Although the blue stem might be a little out of place with the Classic Blues in this build.
Thanks!
The Retro Rs are really just your standard HMX switch. Buttery smooth scratchless travel, crisp bottom out, and poppy springs. No modding required. The stem is on the thicker end of HMX stems but nowhere near that of Gaterons or Cherrys which I usually need to trim. Sound is also fuller and on the mid-deep spectrum of HMX switches. Other than that they’re just very good switches as expected of HMX but nothing characteristically unique IMO.
Yeah I picked this up on MM quite a while ago, and I’ve not seen another anywhere else since. Definitely bit of a unicorn it seems, or maybe it just wasn’t too popular I don’t know. The PC was a little dusty and had the frosty finish of a budget acrylic case. I had to put in some elbow grease to give it a little shine and translucency to bring out the PC. lol I did run out of steam at the end, though, but I think the bit of frost/haze leftover lends to the semi-retro look.
So… a thing happened today. We had a meetup in Dallas with some giveaways. I idly threw my name in the hopper hoping for maybe a bag of switches or a stand. Instead, I got this:
GDK Lab DK1-TKL. I think it’s the Darkgold? I actually got there a little late so I don’t know the exact condition, but other than those five switches, I see pretty much no evidence it’s been used. Pretty darn sweet, except that I now have to find caps and switches, lol. Also, the sheer number of giveaways at this little meetup speaks so very well of the community.
