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kool-keys t1_jdwava2 wrote

Keycult now manufacture in the US, and since they decided to do that, quality has taken a nosedive it would seem.

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ApostatePipe t1_jdxjti6 wrote

Some of my hobbies are folding knives, mechanical watches, and keyboards. In all of those hobbies, Chinese manufacturing produces some incredibly well made items that dominate the market. I totally support anyone who wants to buy products elsewhere, but anyone who thinks that Chinese manufacturing is inherently sub-par is delusional.

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kool-keys t1_jdyxe79 wrote

I agree. I'd love it if there was a totally British made board (if there is, I'd love to know), but some of the Chinese machining work is very high quality.

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Fraaaaan t1_jdw3x2n wrote

Pizza Keyboards manufacture their keyboards in Italy. At least they did with their latest board, the Pizza 65 which had 2 rounds.

Tvrd Rad manufactures their boards in Serbia.

Arslock designed the The Fossil Fullsize and Palmetto 60% which were both made in the USA.

There's also a bunch of old school Korean makers that made their keyboards locally in Korea like OTD boards, LZ, Duck, Kmac etc.

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdw6aew wrote

Thank you so much for the reply. I will add these to my list as well. Greatly appreciated everyone.

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highchillerdeluxe t1_jdw7jtz wrote

You probably not search correctly. They use general pcb manufacturers because from a pcb standpoint, keyboards aren't any special. They are actually rather easy to make (unless you have any weird specific features).

OSHPark (based in the US) is probably the most well known PCB manufacturer for the general public outside of China. Most people would say they have superior quality but you pay more, obviously. The typical tradeoff.

PS: I'm sorry. I just noticed you asked for the entire keyboard manufacturing pipeline rather than PCBs only... I didn't delete this post because it might still interesting for OP...

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdwchvt wrote

This is good information. Maybe I should go old school heheh research custom cases and match them up to a good quality PCB. That would bring out some uniqueness to my lineup.

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darknessblades t1_jdw79cr wrote

Any reason you do not want a keyboard produced in china?

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdw9ttq wrote

Just was curious. Want something different and unique that would stand out from the crowd. Each time I go to meets its normally the same thing you see over and over just with different variations. Every now and then I come across boards like Keycult and even the Frogs in which you can tell the level of quality is different. I am into craftmanship. Even the level of detail that go into stacked layer cases from Switch Couture, SM keyboards, IV works, P3d I have been amazed by. Maybe because its different or I am just not getting the itch no more over the past few years. Lots of players in the game now and so much too choose from but they are all looking and sounding the same. Time for custom ergo builds? lol IDK.

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MayAsWellStopLurking t1_jdwhoy3 wrote

Many coveted boards that have very unique design language and aesthetics are still ultimately ‘made in China’ because they have a very robust CNC market.

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Fraaaaan t1_jdwiac4 wrote

> Every now and then I come across boards like Keycult and even the Frogs in which you can tell the level of quality is different.

The thing you're noticing is probably the quality and attention to detail in the design process of the keyboard, not the manufacturing part.

A mill in China and a mill in the USA will do the job equally well. Any CNC machine that is capable of milling a keyboard will do the job pretty much exactly as good as the next one. The finishing process (mediablast, anodization, coating etc.) is what you'll notice most across different keyboard manufacturers.

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdwjj6i wrote

That is true, the level of quality is definitely different. Maybe it’s just the tiers I am looking at and not necessarily where they are manufactured from I should be concentrating on. Budget vs mid vs high end tiers and the boards they are custom built from ground up.

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Fraaaaan t1_jdwl81w wrote

Definitely. When you're buying a custom keyboard you have to keep in mind that it's not all black and white. Expensive doesn't mean better, more complex doesn't mean better and manufactured outside of China doesn't mean better.

Take your time picking out a keyboard and make sure it's coming from a reputable makers that has made good keyboards in the past. Some great examples are Geonworks, westfoxtrot, ai03, TGR, Vertex and SingaKBD. The board you're buying doesn't necessarily have to come from a well known maker, but it really helps if you're new and can't recognize good projects yourself quite yet. Even if you find something from a less known/new maker, you can always ask around and see what other hobbyists here on Reddit or Discord think of it. Getting a few opinions before you dive into something is always a good idea, especially since keyboards are a big investment in terms of time (if you're joining a GB) and money.

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdwqb9b wrote

Awesome thank you so much. I have over 12 boards and it seems like I am losing the itch. Started off with budget boards, tried a Frog TKL and recently got a Therav2 and am like meh. Was going to see what the Mode hype was but now not sure if I should jump in.

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NoOne-NBA- t1_jdwy2sq wrote

>Each time I go to meets its normally the same thing you see over and over just with different variations.

This is the point at which you need to decide whether to let your own creativity loose.

If YOU design your own keyboard(s), you can make them as different from everything else out there as you want.
You don't necessarily have to design everything from scratch either.
You can buy some portions outright, and have other portions custom built.

The keyboards in the pic below both use off-the-shelf KPRepublic 60% cases, but are a night and day departure from the original keyboards those cases were designed to house.
I designed those layouts myself, for my own use, in two very specific locations.
I had plates cut, to mimic the mounting of the originals, but with dramatically different layouts, then hand-wired everything together, using Elite-C controllers.

https://preview.redd.it/yzertqdmpdqa1.jpeg?width=1226&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e8810befd9f9c4f35c7df7172df5b71b16d21cef

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdwyxno wrote

This is awesome! The Ergo/Ortho community also is so inspiring. Totally on a different level.

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samvvell t1_jdw7krb wrote

P3D Store should be mentioned as well

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obfeskeit t1_jdxjspf wrote

Ducky, Vortex, Costar make boards in Taiwan. Topre (realforce and hhkb) is made in Japan. Leopold is made in Korea.

Geon's Frog is made in China btw.

TGR's newest boards are made in Malaysia I believe.

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cruzkinegaming OP t1_jdxo3gw wrote

interesting lol this whole time I thought the Frog was made in Korea. Maybe because its their entry board of the lineup?

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obfeskeit t1_jdyv2rl wrote

Geon has a factory in Korea, he produced the F1 and F2 in house, Frog was outsourced to Korea because the factory is too busy.

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