Bakanekko60, a Superb Budget Option from CannonKeys

Cheers, this is my first blog post. I hope you can get something out of it. Let me know if have any questions.

Even having only been in the keyboarding hobby for a couple of months, I can now appreciate that keyboards are not necessarily what this hobby is about.

Of course every enthusiast loves keybaords but part of the fun, when you get past the in-stock options and start joining group-buys, is becoming part of a community that you and others are willing to support (IMO, a group buy is more like backing a sports team than buying a sofa from Ikea), so that a thing that might not have existed will exist and you can revel in that creation.

Immensely interesting to me has been the mix of in stock items and group buys, raffles and pre-orders that are unlike any other hobby I know of. However, the wait time of a group is a barrier to entry to this hobby many see and do not proceed past. Any new keyboard enthusiast will want some things to play with while they wait. The Bakanekko60 is one such diversion that might turn into your new favorite keyboard. It’s a simple but elegant 60% O-ring gasket mounted keyboard that comes with everything you need. It’s also perfect for beginners as it is hot-swap so you can try out different switches without desoldering. Ok, not everything but you don’t need to solder or buy 3rd party stabilizers.

Once built the Bakanekko sounds pretty good. However it has noticable case-ping. One of the beautiful parts of this keyboard is its bounciness with the o-ring design, and putting drawer liner in there will kill that flex potential. I opted to use polyester (Polyfil brand but any works) to stop the noise from reverberating all along the metal case, without sacrificing flex as the polyester is not that dense and can easily be compressed (credit to Alex Otos from YouTube for doing a video on Polyfil).

Once you get all the polyfil to not peek out the sides or obstruct the gummy o-ring, it sounds crisp and not very muted. My experience is that the denser the material the more muted it becomes. It sounds good though, like really good, with my AEBoard NAEvies lubed with Krytox 205g0. I’ve only been in the hobby about 5 months but in that time I’ve tried the GMMK Pro, the GK64, the IQUINIX L80, among others. This sounds and feels the best, despite its low price and availability. I think if sound and feel are your priority, this should be your first stop in the hobby to test out different things.

I’m not telling you what to buy but I can’t deny the value proposition CannonKeys has put forth here, given you’ll try 60%. At the price of an injection molded budget keyboard and less than a pseudo-gaming keyboard like the GMMK Pro, you’re getting a great entry level Aluminum keyboard you fellow newbies will happily use until your group buy fulfills. You can get it today, and it should stay in stock for the forseeable future (although only right now in Black). I’d say spring for it, it’s the nicest for its price.

I was so impressed with the Bakaneko60 form factor that I decided to have a wood version made. I have a basic prototype that I intend to use as a stepping stone toward much more ornamental wooden pieces in that form factor, for example wood works like those at one of my artisan partner’s instagram.

Here is a link to where you can buy it if it’s in stock.