DasKeyboard modified

Not long ago I learned all about mechanical keyboards from THE Mechanical Keyboard Guide. My interest was piqued, I decided to go pick one up and find out what I've been missing all these years. I didn't want to spend too much money at first, until I knew what I wanted. So I was looking around for something used. I visited a local used electronics shop, searched through their pile of old keyboards hoping to get lucky. And lucky I did get! What I pulled out of the pile was an IBM Model M, brand new, never been used, still in the original packaging! Black, with the little red nipple in the middle, manufactured in 1995. They didn't know what they had there, and sold it to me for $10, which is their standard rate for all the junky old keyboards they have. I could have turned around and sold that on eBay for... what could I get for that? $100? Maybe even up to $200 if I'm really lucky. But screw that, this one's mine!
I used the IBM for a couple months and loved it. Typing on that thing is sheer joy, words can't even describe. Only complaint is the noise. Personally I actually like the sound it makes. But it's so loud and I do so much typing, that it wakes up the entire house at night.
So begins my hunt for something else. I knew I need a cherry MX Brown keyboard, because I need the tactile feel so black are out, and I'm trying to reduce noise so blue's are out. That doesn't leave much else.

I considered many different brands and model. But, at the end of my search what I ended up with is a DasKeyboard Model S Professional Silent. Great keyboard, I would recommend it to anyone. It may be a little pricey compared to others, but it's worth it IMO. As soon as I read on their website "Darth Vader approved", I knew it was the one for me.

There's nothing I can say about it that hasn't been said before. But, I had just one complaint about it: the blue LED's. I can't believe Lord Vader would approve of that.
Those blue LED's are an offense to the colour scheme of my entire PC. With very few exceptions, the only colours allowed are red and black. I decided very quickly I would change out those LED's. I was going to wait until my 30 day exchange period was over, but I got impatient and did it this morning. I've only had it for 2 weeks.

Anyway, here's some pics. Enjoy!

First LED already swapped out:


Close-up after changing two:


All three installed:


Rear of PCB:


Reinstalled:


Now this is a keyboard that is Darth Vader Approved:


All back together close-up:


End result looks fantastic, and I haven't even seen it in the dark yet.

What more do you want? Obviously this doesn't affect functionality or anything like that. But it makes a big difference to the look. With my case flashing red all the time, and my mouse shining red. The keyboard just didn't look right until now.