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If you’ve been in the mechanical keyboard hobby for any amount of time longer than 20 minutes, you probably have heard of the terms frankenswitching or frankenswitch. Or, in line with the experiences of probably the vast majority of members in this already ultra-niche hobby, you have never heard of it at all, and have been thoroughly enjoying clicking and clacking and b byuilding regardless. Following the evolution of the keyboard hobby making its way up the ladder of popularity and just only recently semi hit the mainstream world recently (thanks to the exponential rise of quick-consumption platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, etc. and the unprecedented shift to social distancing and remote work/socialization) gives me a subjective insight into how the majority of people in the MK hobby now don’t really know what a frankenswitch is. I will cover the said history and evolution of the mechanical keyboard further down below, but for those who are unfamiliar with this even more niche of a branch within this hobby, let me walk you through what exactly it is.
“Frankenswitching” is the practice of creating new switches by combining parts from different existing switches. The term is derived from (you guessed it, here’s a cookie I guess 🍪) the fictional character Frankenstein, who was made from various body parts stitched together. Frankenswitching is a way to experiment with different switch characteristics, such as sound, feel, weight, tolerance, and (most experimental, hard to verify and replicate, and irrelevant of all) actuation point. I will give you a brief rundown of the history and overview of frankenswitching, as well as some examples of popular frankenswitches. I will also cover something I don’t think any (or many) people within the hobby ever covered
The history of frankenswitching dates back to the early days of mechanical keyboards, when there were only a few switch options available. Keyboard enthusiasts, limited by the available products patented and exclusively manufactured under Cherry, wished to experiment with the still restrictive platform, so they began swapping out the stems, springs, housings, and other components of their switches with other corresponding parts harvested from a different switch. One of the earliest known examples of the practice was the now-dubbed *Ergo Clear* switch. I will do further into much more detail in a later chapter about the effect that led to why people would consider doing this in the first place, but long story short is that spring weight affects tactility (or at least perceived tactility) **much more than people noticed. The Ergo Clear switch was created by replacing the spring of a Cherry MX Clear with a lighter one harvested from a Cherry MX Red/Blue/Brown switch. This resulted in a much more pronouned tactility with a longer and rounder tactile bump (and an unintended minor side effect of making the switch sound a tad bit more high-pitched, but this effect is minor enough that it can, for all intents and purposes, be ignored).
(An opened MX Clear with the original MX Clear spring it came with (right) and an MX Blue/Brown/Red spring (left) - Image courtesy of The Knize Family)
As evident by the community growing to like this much more tactile version of the MX Brown, people would keep in mind that the MX switch platform is in need of tactile switches with better tactility. As hobbyists kept experimenting, they came to derive another characteristic effect - the strength and “shape” of the tactility of a switch is most affected by the curvature and general shape of the switch’s stem legs (aka the two obviously protruding “legs”). The more “pronounced” the curvature of the stem legs, the more tactile the switch will feel. If the contact leaf that is gliding along the shape of the legs overcomes a taller and rounder tactile bump. Compare the general shape of the stem legs in the figure below.
(An MX Brown stem (left) and an MX Clear stem (right) - Courtesy of r/MK’s u/ripster)
(An animated illustration of the gold contact leaf gliding along the path of the stem legs of a tactile switch being pressed and released - Courtesy of Deskthority)