Cherry MX Switches: Types, Eras, and Customisation
Switches made by the Cherry Corporation themselves are, for some, the entry point to the hobby. While a lot can be said about their quality or their pricing, they are still well-documented and sought after by a lot of people in the hobby, and can be a compelling option, even for your "endgame" builds. Many purists even consider it to be the only real option for their boards, however, that is subjective.
Product Distinctions
| Colour | Type | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | Clicky | Medium | Classic loud click "office keyboard" switch |
| Brown | Tactile | Medium | Light bump, very common in "work keyboards" |
| Black | Linear | Heavy | Heavier linear, less common in prebuilt boards, yet extremely important to custom keyboards |
| Red | Linear | Light | Gaming-first, simiar to Blacks but far lighter |
| Clear | Tactile | Heavy | Stronger tactile bump than Browns, with a different stem. Can break your keycaps (see below) |
| Green | Clicky | Heavy | Heavier Blue switch |
| Orange | Linear | Medium | Recoloured Blacks with lighter springs |
| Purple | Tactile | Medium | Recoloured Clears with lighter springs |
| Silent Red | Linear | Light | Slightly different "red", dampened sound |
| Speed Silver | Linear | Very Light | "Fastest" switch, also a shorter total travel |
| Grey | Linear | Heavy (rare) | Spacebar switch in vintage Cherry MX-based boards. Very rare and not relevant enough to mention |
| Nixie (Clear-Top) | Linear | Heavy | Identical to MX Black, but with a semi-transparent "milky" top housing, slightly deeper sound |
Cherry sells (almost) all of the above in a different, all-transparent, RGB-friendly housing as well. We are not clear on if there are any differences between the all-black housings and the transparent ones.
Era Distinctions
Cherry is a pretty old company, and their MX line of switches has been around for as long as Cherry itself has been around, so there has been a lot of changes and distinctions made over the years for them. Very basically, and also rather inaccurately, because these are very "community-made" distinctions, nothing officially declared by Cherrry (except for the Hyperglide and the MX2A lines below):
1. Vintage
This would intiutively mean "older" switches made by Cherry, but it's quite unclear how old this exactly means. These are only MX Browns or MX Blacks (and Grey, but again, irrelevant). They fetch very high prices because they are considered smoother than future iterations. They is some woo around them though, so don't be too enticed to pay $1/switch prices or something ridiculous like that ($1 per switch is actually a pretty good rate for them, so you can imagine the pricing that they actually go for). These are also generally "harvested" from vintage boards that they were initially manufactured for, so they may be already-used and desoldered. New old stock (NOS) is a thing but once again, you're not reading this wiki if you're looking for those switches.
2. Retooled
This is rather unclear as a distinction, but these are generally considered less desirable than other eras. But it's still unclear. You can get batches of really smooth switches, and some really bad ones. Really depends on your luck. Getting them at retail in India is possible through Sigma Electronics, so give them a call.
3. Hyperglide/MX1A
These switches were realeased in around 2016. Cherry announced they have reworked all the tooling involved in the manufacture of these switches, and this led to a lot of improvements in quality (less scratch and more consistent sound) and a higher reliability rate (100 million acutations for most variants). By this time, Cherry was making most of the above switch lineup. While Clears and Greens have been around for a while, Silent Red, Speed Silver also joined the lineup after Cherry went "gaming" (i.e. OEMs like Razer, Corsair et al. started selling mechanical gaming keyboards, all starting with Cherry switches, and then eventually branching out and doing their own thing).
4. MX2A
The latest iteration. Advertised more consistency vs. Hyperglides, and these are generally available with lubed housings. You can get unlubed versions of these from Geonworks and other partnered vendors.
This is a very broad guideline, and will only mostly apply to MX Browns and Blacks, as they are the two most relevant Cherry switches there are.
Also, Ultraglide Cherry MX switches are not an official product line. Look into "Switch Customisation" for more on this.
Switch Customisation
⚠️Tactile side-note⚠️: For MX Clears AND MX Purples, any type - These two are the more tactile switches here, so if you want a better bump vs. MX Browns, pick these up. But be warned that the stems for both these switches have a little extra material on the part that goes inside the keycap, which means that these are prone to causing keycap breakage. You can use a Stem Trimmer (Geon manufactures one) to get rid of this problem. More will be covered below.
All switches can be customised in some way or the other, but Cherry switches probably have the most empirical research behind them are generally the most well-known switches to be "worked on". Covering the customisation more specific to Cherry switches first:
1. Break-in
Breaking-in/Break-in - When you let the switch actuate using a machine of some sort (literally called a Switch Break-in Machine) for several thousand, hundred thousand or even millions of actuations, the parts of the switch just "wear in" and that causes them to become smoother due to the material loss by friction over the actuations. This can be done by hand but you can imagine the time it would take, of course. This is generally the very first step to perform to a switch before any other customisation, including lubing, which also means that breaking-in Cherry MX2A switches may not be as productive as breaking-in a Hyperglide switch. Many vendors provide this as a special service as well, for example RNDKBD's Ultraglide switches, which are just broken-in Hyperglide switches.
2. Stem Trimming
Where you make sure your tactile switches don't rip your GMK apart :). Use either a metal keycap or a dedicated stem trimmer for this.
3. "L+F+SS"
This is the big, most time-consuming step, where you open all switches individually and work on every single one of them. Let's break it down into its parts.
3.1 Lubing
Many switch lubes exist and are used. Cherry switches take well to them, but lubing technique is important. More can be covered in terms of how each specific switch can be lubed, but some general points are - don't lube the stem legs for Browns/Clears/Purples, and of course, DO NOT overlube. Less is more. Oil and grease-based lubes both produce different results, but consult other resources for more thorough information on this. Lubing, like breaking-in, is a subjective customisation, and can be skipped if you are particularly a fan of the sound and the feel of unlubed Cherry switches.
3.2 Filming
Films improve the switch's feel, and reduce the amount of side-to-side movement you may feel on your keycap when you press the switch. Also subjective, but not a particularly hard thing to do. Any films work, but do some extra research if you must on what is best for you (0.15mm PC and relax, it's fine)
3.3 Spring-swapping
Simply just swapping out the stock spring present in the switch when stock, to something different and more favourable. Spring logic is a different rabbit hole, and it requires a different branch of research. Won't be covering that, but a good, high-quality spring from the likes of TX, Geon or Sprit, will be a LOT better than any Cherry switch spring. Spring swapping is so fundamental that you should treat it as a non-negotiable when working on your Cherry switch. Anything and everything else can be skipped, but a spring-swap is absolutely essential.
Springs can also be lubed and it is generally encouraged to lube any springs you are swapping in. Search for the bag lubing technique, it works well enough for springs.
Sample Customisation Workflow
1. Start with ***stock** Hyperglide or MX2A switches.
2. If **Hyperglide or unlubed MX2A**, perform break-in first. Switch should be *stock* and NOT lubed when breaking in.
3. After break-in:
- Trim stems if MX Clear or Purple.
- Lube, following a consistent technique for all switches, whatever works for you.
- Bag lube your springs, and then spring swap with the springs of your choosing.
- Optionally, film your switch.
4. If not breaking-in, mix and match parts freely.
If broken-in, **do NOT mix parts**, or you'll lose the smoothing benefits.
Conclusion
That was a quick look into Cherry switches, and how they are usually used by people in their modern custom keyboards. They have a place of their own in the hobby, and they still bear relevance and inspire switches from more hobbyist-geared manufacturers even today. Examples like the Durock Light Tactile, HMX Sonja, and of course Kailh, Gateron and all the other manufacturers who made their own lineups with the exact same product names, all serve as reminders of Cherry's influence on the hobby, but the originals may still be the best. Except for the clicky ones, but that's for a different article.