Beautiful yellowing?

Jimi14

15 Dec 2016, 18:46

Ran into this Mitsumi on ebay recently.
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Mitsumi ... SwiDFYQux1

Cant honestly tell if they keys are actually supposed to be that color, but i i personally find it somewhat nice looking.
(as a comparison, here is the another keyboard of the same model, http://www.recycledgoods.com/mitsumi-kf ... ea4xa.html)

Any other cases of yellowing actually making a keyboard look more beautiful?

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fohat
Elder Messenger

15 Dec 2016, 18:55

When it is consistent it is not necessarily horrible. Very surprising that the case has not yellowed.

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mars

15 Dec 2016, 18:56

I kind of like how the hhkb ABS case yellows, it makes the keys pop-up in contrast:

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mars

15 Dec 2016, 19:00

fohat wrote: Very surprising that the case has not yellowed.
If it is pvc it won't yellow.
Like the IBM model M case.

ABS yellows.
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Chyros

15 Dec 2016, 19:08

They're not supposed to be that yellow, they're normally all-beige. Some keyboards do look better with yellowing though, I picked up an excellent example of this recently ^^ .

Jimi14

15 Dec 2016, 19:15

Chyros wrote: They're not supposed to be that yellow, they're normally all-beige. Some keyboards do look better with yellowing though, I picked up an excellent example of this recently ^^ .
Yea i know, its just that it was so consistent that it almost looked deliberate.

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Menuhin

15 Dec 2016, 19:31

I don't know if nice yellowing can happen to every keyboard, but this Super Nintendo actually looks quite nice yellowed in cream color with the contrasting purple color buttons:
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There are a few examples where natural coloring / yellowing is definitely treasured.
e.g. Meerschaum

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Techno Trousers
100,000,000 actuations

15 Dec 2016, 20:22

fohat wrote:When it is consistent it is not necessarily horrible. Very surprising that the case has not yellowed.
Yeah, that's true. The worst example to me has always been those SGI Alps keyboards with pristine white PBT key caps contrasted with an ugly yellowed ABS space bar.

Engicoder

15 Dec 2016, 20:38

Here is my favorite yellowing: Lynk - Key Tronic
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ideus

16 Dec 2016, 03:23

Interesting layout, what language does it support? It appears like a hybrid of ANSI US with changed positions for 7 of the symbol keys.

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Chyros

16 Dec 2016, 04:09

Key Tronic boards tends to yellow into a very rich amber, I've found. It kinda gives them character.

Tbh I only really dislike yellowing on coloured boards because it skews the colour. If I get an SGI granite sometime, and it's yellowed, I'd probably retrobright it. Otherwise, probably not.

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czarek

22 Dec 2016, 10:31

There is no such thing as beautiful yellowing in my eyes.
I'm an old time Amiga user and I keep a lot of retro computers (Amigas, IBMs, Macs) and discoloration is a bane of my existance.
Sure you can retrobright but it's a half fix, usually the plastic will return to the yellowed state within weeks :(
I tried to like some of my yellowed computers but no, they just look like piss. Unfortunately it's getting really hard to get not yellowed cases and/or keycaps for some models...

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seebart
Offtopicthority Instigator

22 Dec 2016, 10:46

I like the idea behind this thread, yes I believe there are keyboards where yellowing looks good. The only one I have where it looks OK due to the color scheme and the metal case is my Sanyo MBC-2000.
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citrojohn

22 Dec 2016, 13:18

These days yellowing's almost the only way to get a decent beige in a new keyboard. :twisted:

I rather like the yellowed look - though preferably evenly yellowed. My Apricot PC keyboard sat on end for about ten years, with one side in periodic sun. When I got it out again ("hmm, this is old, wonder if it's mechanical?") I wished I'd turned it over circa 2010!

Seebart's RAFI Compudent is an interesting example. Really the "tooth keys" ought to be light blue, and it's a pity to lose the original colour... but the mint-green is quite attractive. Pity it's uneven! I wonder how the 4x keys manage to be so much more yellowed than the 3x.
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And here's the back of the caps for comparison:
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