It was March 16th –basically 12 years ago in the time of covid– when I first told you that Susuwatari was going production. I was not happy about it, we weren’t ready and I had no trust in a factory that to that point gave only disappointment.
Well, when I’m wrong I’m wrong. Today I got the production prototypes for Susuwatari… and to my great surprise they are pretty darn good.
If you follow me you know that I’m an annoyingly perfectionist and I’m never 100% happy with my work. Well, this time I’m moderately optimist. I have no clue how the manufacturer pulled this off after the countless low quality tests we made in past year, but I’m not gonna complain.
Of course there’s something I’d still like to fix. Colors are still not a perfect match of what I had in mind and a couple of keys (not important ones) would need some retouching, but anyway they are ready for production and shipping as they are.
So warm up a special place in your collection, Susuwatari is coming to you real soon!
Comments
Woohoo! Gotta take the good news when you get it, especially lately. Excited to put this on my keyboard!
Will there be a round two of this set?
I’m definitely gonna need another board to put these beauties on!
Really hoping I can nab a base kit from drop when they start selling the extras. I want to put these babies on my blue 7V… when it ships… in Feb 2021… (My first keeb! How can you stand these long waits??? lol)
Wooooot! They look pretty darn good I must say. First MT3 set for me.
Now that keyboard they’re supposed to go on is still at work, god damn it. Gotta figure out how to get that permission and go grab it as I’m most likely not going back to work at the office any time soon…
When I first ordered these, almost two years ago I was really into high profile keycaps. Since then I got tired of SA and MT3 and the high profile look. However, looking at these, I’m so happy I joined this GB. I can’t wait to receive them!
I was really hyped about this set when it launched, and joined the drop. I was happy to wait through all the delays when it seemed like Drop was committed to putting out a quality product.
When your March update came, 18 months after I paid for the caps – I realised that Drop were no longer committed to going into production with a product that you were happy with, and subsequently I had spent a lot of money on something I was not going to be happy with. I cancelled my order.
Fast forward a couple of months, and now I see your photos, I am 100% happy with that decision. I don’t mean to sound negative, but the look back at the renders from 2018 and you must agree that what has been produced does not match it at all: https://massdrop-s3.imgix.net/product-images/massdrop-x-matteo-mt3-susuwatari-custom-keycap-set/FP/tJB678kjQfCz8va7D5qr_03_DROP_PAGE_SMALL_mt3_susuwatari_m60a_persp_angled.jpg
The colorway is what made me fall in love with the set, and the colorway that has been produced feels like a bad knockoff of Dolch, instead of the exciting and vibrant set you designed.
I feel so sorry for you having to watch Drop make such a mess of it. I’m happy they have turned the car crash into something a bit better, but I’m sorry to see your vision has been fumbled badly.
I have learned my lesson with Drop, I hope you will too.
:-/
Believe me I feel your pain, at the end it came better than I expected but worse than I envisioned. The whole process was painful and they rushed at the end. That being said, it’s far from a bad keyset. As I said in the post, it came up very decent. I’ll try to get better pictures later (what you is shitty cameraphone pics).
Excited they are almost here! In real life, are the legends white like they appear in the photos or tan/gold?
they are a creamy/light-yellow color.
Awesome, can’t wait. Planning on putting them on NK Cream switches, so your description is even better :)
Honestly, it’s so different from the first time that I’m disappointed
I actually prefer this colorway to the renders because it looks to be the exact shade of the 5251 keycaps’ light (alphas) and dark grey (mods)
damn these look good, sorry i skipped this one, Hopefully i’ll be able to pick some up as extras after they ship to the group buy ppl.
where can I get custom keycaps in this profile?
You can either find MT3 on drop, or you can find people selling their used/unused sets on reddit r/mechmarket or mechanical keyboard discord servers.
Do these compare to the color of your Feb, 24th post?
Can you make a sound comparison video of Susuwatari vs dev/tty?
Personally I would like to hear the difference with Holy Panda switches.
These keycaps look great in your pictures. Nicely textured and matte-ish though it’s ABS. Has a retro feel to it while remaining fresh with the hints of colours in the legends. Awesome keycaps! Just picked up a set on Drop!
Seeing these, I am extra happy with my Serika MT3 keyboard. Maybe, I just like to have something colourful on my desktop. :-)
However, my fingers don’t care for colours. So to them the feel is all that matters. They really like the way, the key caps are sculptured. My fingers naturally tune themselves to hit the middle of the keys.
MT3 deserves to become a new classic. Every major keyboard brand should offer some models with keycaps like these.
one MT3 in every family!
Great work getting some double-shot MT3 keycaps out there! I can’t wait for mine to arrive.
I see a lot of complaining in various places about how these just look like Dolch. I am curious whether that bothers you. Was your true vision something that could never be mistaken for Dolch?
Dolch is such a classic, popular color way and this clearly has a bit of extra color making it unique. So being inspired by or in the same extended family of Dolch seems like a good thing to me, especially when you want a color way with broad appeal to show off the first double-shot set.
I just design what I like, I don’t care much if people are gonna like it :D The inspiration is gruvbox btw, it was very difficult to work on colors for various reasons so we weren’t able to match 100% my vision, but it’s okay.
Hey matt3o, I can’t seem to get the answer from drop – are the keys in spacebars kit all convex? I got just the base kit back when the GB started, now I’m into split spacebars and am deciding between blanks and spacebars kits. Thanks!
the spacebars are all convex (if Drop haven’t fucked up).
I was trying to get this answer on the drop page, but they aren’t replying to this question. I’m afraid they are just blanks. This happened with mt3 serika after it was promised they would be convex. I found someone with an ortho kit who let me know that the 2u is not convex. 30 dollars for spacebars is too much to take a chance on unless drop is going to be forthcoming.
I got the spacebars kit,and they are all convex 👍
I know it’s been a while since this was posted, but I just wanted to thank you and say how much I appreciate this blog series. I have joined far too many group buys where there is a lack of communication during production and especially a lack of candor regarding the final product. Your honesty is really refreshing and appreciated.
I understand that Massdrop != Matt30 but regardless I think this takes some courage and because of it I will happily support your projects in the future.
thanks, I really appreciated your comment. For me it’s still all about making things I like, when it comes to keyboards money is never the drive.
Is there any chance in future of PBT versions of these caps?
I’ve joined the drop for a base set for this. Just hope the color of the actual set is within my expectations
This set looks really nice, and the colors match more what I was looking for than dev/tty. I have a question about the high profile of the keycaps though — many of the shots I’ve seen are of keyboards on which the keys are somewhat inset. How do you think these keys work on keyboards like the Alt or the Input Club KType where the keys sit above the base plate? Are there any photos out there?
Here you go.
https://imgur.com/gallery/xfeJ2Po
Matt3o, thank you for MT3. I didn’t know what I was missing until Susuwatari. SA doesn’t really work for me, but the bigger dishes with slightly sharper edges on the MT3 spherical profile is just perfect. And that lovely thock, just… *chef kiss*.
\o/
I just ordered a set from Drop because I couldn’t resist the look. I really wish there was an international kit available though, that’s the only thing I’m truly missing. Is there a chance one could be added down the road?
we don’t have the tooling right now but that might change in the future
Thanks for the reply. I’ll keep up hope!
I really hope you can figure something out for a NorDeUk or International kit for Susuwatari and the upcoming 3277. I’m in the process of creating a few retro builds and these caps would fit like a glove on those boards :D
These truly look amazing.
intl kits are a priority for me. problem being Drop is not very EU friendly.
Are there any plans to include the blue font 1u cmd key from the ortho layout in the base kit?
Posting this here just in case before I take the leap to Mech Market… anyone have an extra 2U enter key from the Base Kit or another 2U blank/space bar from either the ergo kit, the ortho kit or the space bars? I just need the one key to complete my Kyria. I love you Matt3o, but it is a bit brutal to pay $30 for just one keycap…
Also, holy crap do I love my Susuwatar, my wife got them for me for our anniversary. I was against ABS forever but these were so pretty I gave it a shot… yeah… I guess I’ve never had *good* ABS keycaps before. God these are pretty and feel great. The MT3 profile is unmatched for comfort on my fingers and the combination of these along with the black case for the Kyria just look superb. If only I could get that one last 2U and I’d be set.
I just got a Susuwatari set and now every other keycap feels like utter garbage. Absolutely love the look and feel of them! I am happy you put in such time and effort to make such a great product inspired by computers of the past that we love. These keys are an absolute dream to type on and I plan to buy another set for my work keyboard.
Keep making things! Your honesty and integrity is inspiring and makes me want to support your work even more. You rule!
♥
I had to order my next set for work right away. It is kind of crazy how much more accurately I type on your MT3 profile, and the comfort is next level. I’m in love with the space bar in particular. I use it in the inverse configuration with the slope pointing downward towards me and it is just soooooo much more comfortable to type on.
I took the decision to build a custom keyboard when I find Susuwatari keycaps set, more or less a year ago.
Now I complete my first keyboard and finally I can appreciate your fantastic keycaps: the design, the touch feeling, the colors.. I really love them. Grazie Matt3o!
I have only one more wish: I miss the accent mark on the vowels…
Is there a possibility one day to have an international kit with ISO IT keycaps?
Thank you again.
MT3 doubleshot doesn’t have ISO legends unfortunately (except UK). Sorry!
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