I’ve been reading posts on Keebtalk and what comes through most is the joy that people have about keyboard building. So as a sort of homage to that joy and Pirsig’s book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, a book about searching for quality and value, I thought it might be interesting to have a post where we could share the Zenish moments we have when working on keyboards. Here’s my first one:
The attic is quiet. Muted, unintelligible voices filter up, a door closes, soft footsteps pattering on a carpeted hallway below. I clear the desk of clutter, position the desk lamp, and layout my small plastic tool tub. I’m a novice and have only the basics: a switch puller, a keycap puller, loose alan wrenches, a few precision screwdrivers that I found in one of my mother’s junk drawers, a stem holder, a tweezers (also found in that junk drawer), a small scissors, and some lube. A keyboard is in front of me. I’m still searching for that perfect sound signature and don’t even know what it is for me. I’m too new to the hobby to know. Today, I want to remove all of the foam and try a tape mod. I put on a set of 2.0+ reading glasses, and put the 2.5+ aside. When I need to see detail, I wear one over the other. My daughter laughs when she sees me doing this. Then I laugh. I take a breath and remind myself that the build is the joy. Take time. Enjoy removing the keycaps and switches, relish unscrewing the case, the plate, the stabilizers. Put away each tool when you are done with it, keep the screws together and safe. This I’ve learned the “hard way”, realizing that I have spent a good portion of my life looking for things that were simply not put away or looking for things that I have put away in a special place so I would not lose them, only to forget where that special place was. Breath. Enjoy. Pay attention to detail. Pay attention. Of course, I want perfection and work toward it, but the result is just the result, not really the end at all. The rest of the world fades away and I am with my keyboard.