I purchased the GMMK Pro back when it was initially released. I love the layout of this keyboard and I’ve been happy with it for the most part. My GMMK Pro still has some noticeable ping to it and I’d like it to be closer to that “thunk” that y’all be lookin’ for. My GMMK has:
Glorious Panda switches, unlubed
Aluminum switch plate
What would be the most essential upgrades I can make with this board? Should I lube my switches first? Is upgrading the switch plate worth considering? I know that the stabilizers are one of the first things that I should switch out, but should I do that before the switches or plate upgrades?
If youre looking for upgrades to reduce ping, I would recommend looking at the foam insert from Stupid Fish.
I’ll also drop a time stamped video where a reviewer covers the inserts and talks about the acoustic dampening here, in case you want to listen to sound tests.
Have you tried the brass plate? I’m pretty sure that will give you the THOCC you sure looking for
Also definitely lube your switches they are meant to be lubed the reason they come with the lubed and not lubed option is so that when you get them you don’t have to clean the factory lube when you want to lube them properly
I just installed the PC plate and lynx switches on mine and I love it. I bought the spacebar dampening pads from KBDfans though because I hate the clack of my spacebar. However, now my lighting is all blueish from the lynx switches. It’s supposed to be white… anyone know a solution for this? I dont think its possible to have pure white anymore and that makes me sad
Someone may consider this as overkill, but a big difference was made when I replace the foam in the bottom casing with Dualplex Neoprene Sponge Foam that has adhesive on one side.
Simple guide:
Take out the foam insert from the GMMK pro bottom case.
Place it over the sponge foam and use a silver sharpie to draw an outline and the cutout for the wire/holes/notches.
Use an exacto knife or scalpel to cut along the sharpie marker outline.
Apply the foam with the adhesive sticking to the bottom case and making sure that the outer edges are fitting in perfectly.
Doing all of this provided the extra thock and depth that helped really seal in the deepness I was looking for. Other than that and lubed switches, I use dialectric grease on the stab wires with the help of a blunt syringe and added the adhesive sponge foam to fill the empty chasm of my space bar to make its clacky sound to a deep thock.
a big factor for sound are your keycaps too. if you get a deeper profile (SA/Mt3…etc.) you’ll notice a big change in characteristics. along with the other suggestions of lubing switches, swapping your plate and whatnot. Good luck.
Since the topic is name essential upgrades, I’m going to name my main ones.
Stabs. I recommend Durock v2. I haven’t tested the latest from Glorious, but they’re already sold out I believe.
FR4 Plate (I got mine from AVXworks). Not only does it fit 3rd party stabs great. It’s also a screwless design, making it much easier to adjust and mod everything. The GMMK Pro PCB has way too many screws if you ask me.
As for non essential but “nice” upgrades:
Switches that you like (I recommend KTT, they are cheap and generally sound great stock)
Keycaps. You don’t have to spend 100’s of dollars for GMK’s. There’s some rather decent ones on Amazon for like 50$ for a whole set, including novelties (for GMK you often have to pay extra for those).
Lube + tools needed for switches and stabs.
Masking tape for tempest modding. Probably the cheapest best bang for the buck mod you can get.
I tried a bunch of things and several layers of tape while testing the sound profile. My final build ended up with just one layer of masking tape on the PCB, one in the bottom case, no bottom foam and the FR4 plate, with KTT Strawberries, Durock v2 stabs all lubed with Krytox g2050.
Maybe not “essential” but cool are guitar knobs going on the pro knob. I saw people posting pics with them and decided to give it a go. I got a wood one to go with my theme and it worked great. I had to modify it slightly to fit the insert, but easy to do.
