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//gainsborough's Northgate "Gold Label" Trio

http://www.deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=19769

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//gainsborough's Northgate "Gold Label" Trio

Posted: 11 Sep 2018, 22:31
by //gainsborough
//gainsborough’s Northgate “Gold Label” Trio

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I have the day off from daddy day-care today so I thought I’d write a post about my gold label boards! The story for them is not-so-interesting, and even though I'll include a short description of how I got them, this is more of a picture album sprinkled with my thoughts on the boards!

Focus FK-727----------------------
Spoiler:
The AT gold label, as I like to refer to it as, is very nice sounding…except for the spacebar – which sounds absolutely horrendous. I suspect it’s a stabilizer rattling problem. It uses MX-style stabs. This board came from Matt who found it on a local add and it was pretty yellowed. I replaced the caps it came with from that of another AT board and I really like how it turned out! There is a small hairline fracture in the case extending from the bottom right corner of the numpad block, but other than that it’s in good shape! I actually kind of like the slightly yellowed look on this board!

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The caps are typical alps electric double shots, but the injection color is a brownish color instead of black! It’s kinda of hard to see on the photos though…
Focus FK-555----------------------
Spoiler:
This one I bought from ekeppel. It showed up on eBay at a pretty late hour one night I bought it within minutes of being posted. I had always wanted a 555 ever since seeing that a gold label version existed! It is exceptionally clean and has stock caps, which are pad printed, but non-yellowed!

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Gold Label Omnikey 102----------------------
Spoiler:
This one does have a little bit of a story. It is actually my third gold label board (I know… I have issues) but my first model with blue alps. The first one I knew had white alps, but it was relatively[/] inexpensive and I liked the look of the board. The second one was a complete gamble since the switches weren’t shown in the listing, and then this one showed up on reddit for trade only. After talking with the owner for a little bit he decided to sell it to me so I could complete my omnikey collection, thanks again mrmop520!

The condition of this board is also excellent! It came without spacebar, but luckily I had a very clean 7u spacebar lying around. The spacebar I have on it is not yellowed at all, which provides an interested reverse colorway to normal vintage boards that have PBT caps on it – like the wang 725 or the Zenith 163-73. Typically on those boards the caps are super white (since they are PBT) but the spacebar is badly yellowed (ABS). On this board, while all the keys are ABS, it’s the spacebar that isn’t yellowed. The caps on this one are typical tai hao caps that you'd find on most northgate omnikeys and focus boards.

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I don't think I could pick a favorite between them all. I think soundwise the 727 sounds the best (aside from its rattly spacebar followed by the 102 and then the 555. They all sound really nice, though (if you like the sound blue alps anyway). The heaviest is definitely the 555, by a good margin, I reckon. I don't have a scale or anything to weigh them with, but they are all above average insofar as weight for their respective sizes since they all have a metal back panel. I’ll try to get some typing videos up in the future! I actually have them recorded, but the acoustics sound awful in the room I recorded them in, so I don’t think it’s worth uploading since the videos don’t do the boards justice. I’ve noticed clicky boards, in particular, provide the toughest time for recording how they sound. It's hard to encapsulate their true click sound.

I have kb-101a collection that I plan to post in the near future, but until then: thanks for reading!

またね。
//gains.

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 00:21
by JP!
That's a nice collection. Are there any other gold label boards?

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 00:25
by samuelcable
I had no idea the first 2 existed! nice shit as always gains

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 00:30
by //gainsborough
JP! wrote: That's a nice collection. Are there any other gold label boards?
Indeed - there is a fk-747 that has a gold label as well:

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I think Luigi has one. I messaged him about it but I don't think he's that active anymore. I would love to get one though =P
samuelcable wrote: I had no idea the first 2 existed! nice shit as always gains
Thanks!

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 02:38
by Chyros
Just... wow xD .

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 05:33
by Elrick
The GOLD Label King, truly amazing.

Keep them dust free, never let them sit in uncomfortable temperatures and treat them like valued older relatives.

Thank you for showing them here on DT, much appreciated ;) .

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 06:20
by idlethock
Your collection posts never fail to impress. I'm glad you were able to get that gold label 102 in the end too!

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 08:51
by //gainsborough
Elrick wrote: The GOLD Label King, truly amazing.

Keep them dust free, never let them sit in uncomfortable temperatures and treat them like valued older relatives.

Thank you for showing them here on DT, much appreciated ;) .
Will do, my man =) I love posting collection stuff on DT!
idlethock wrote: Your collection posts never fail to impress. I'm glad you were able to get that gold label 102 in the end too!
Thanks, dude! I actually just finished putting on some AE DS caps from a dc-2014 (only replaced the lighter colored keys, except for ./del on the numpad >_<). Maaaan though it sounds really good now! I really like the result!

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 19:01
by Myoth
these are some nice keyboards, good job on finding them !! I wish the omnikey had the same wave profile as its older brothers, it would have made for a perfect keyboard ! (well ... Alps Electric keycaps would have been cool too ...). I think the only downsides to these keyboards are the keycaps really, pad printing ? lame ... thin doubleshots ? less lame but still lame ...

though I have to wonder, were you looking for these or did you buy one after another and decided to get the last one ?

Posted: 12 Sep 2018, 21:57
by //gainsborough
Myoth wrote: these are some nice keyboards, good job on finding them !! I wish the omnikey had the same wave profile as its older brothers, it would have made for a perfect keyboard ! (well ... Alps Electric keycaps would have been cool too ...). I think the only downsides to these keyboards are the keycaps really, pad printing ? lame ... thin doubleshots ? less lame but still lame ...
Before bed last night I ended up putting Alps Electric doubleshots on the 102:

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Thinking about using some 163-73 caps for the 555 (most of them anyway), but I also might save those for something else. I could do 5140 caps or something too.
Myoth wrote: ...though I have to wonder, were you looking for these or did you buy one after another and decided to get the last one ?
I was looking for them. The 555 was definitely on the wishlist, along with the 102. The 727 was a bit of an impulse, but I'm really happy I have it!

Posted: 14 Sep 2018, 02:43
by snacksthecat
//gainsborough wrote: Image

The caps are typical alps electric double shots, but the injection color is a brownish color instead of black! It’s kinda of hard to see on the photos though…
Ooooooh. I have a couple sets of typewriter caps that look like this style doubleshot. I never knew this is what Alps manufactured caps looked like. I feel like I just learned the name of my crush.

Posted: 14 Sep 2018, 05:38
by //gainsborough
snacksthecat wrote: Ooooooh. I have a couple sets of typewriter caps that look like this style doubleshot. I never knew this is what Alps manufactured caps looked like. I feel like I just learned the name of my crush.
I really like them on clicky alps! For linear and tactile alps I tend to like thick PBT dye-subs more.

Posted: 14 Sep 2018, 14:08
by ramblinrose
Looking great with those thicker doubleshots! Enjoy that board man - those blue alps felt amazing, better than the custom TKL I made!

Posted: 14 Sep 2018, 21:29
by //gainsborough
ramblinrose wrote: Looking great with those thicker doubleshots! Enjoy that board man - those blue alps felt amazing, better than the custom TKL I made!
Thanks again, mate! :D

Posted: 15 Sep 2018, 01:28
by BlindAssassin111
...You always seem to find the nicest boards, I wish I could find some like these.

Posted: 15 Sep 2018, 02:42
by //gainsborough
BlindAssassin111 wrote: ...You always seem to find the nicest boards, I wish I could find some like these.
It takes a lot of time, energy, patience... and paypal credit, haha. As long as you don't get carried away with any of those things you'll eventually be rewarded with the investment!
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