One of the most frustrating processes of building a custom keyboard – for me, anyway – is tuning stabilisers. Whether you’re using screw-in or plate-mounted stabilisers, lubing and modding them to eliminate ticking can be a taxing, annoying process.
Well, this is exactly what the Staebies aim to solve. Designed by Zambumon in collaboration with AEBoards – two well-known names in the custom keyboard scene – the Staebies use a new stabiliser design with tighter tolerances than other stabilisers in the market now.
In theory, the tighter tolerances of the Staebies eliminate extra room for the wires to rattle or tick, making these stabilisers much, much easier to tune for a pleasant typing experience. If you’re interested to pick these up, then keep on reading this quick first impressions of the Staebies!
We just got the Staebies today from Keyboard Treehouse for $22 (about RM90) a set, which includes a 7U wire, a 6.25u wire, five 2u wire, six sets of stems and housings, screws, as well as rubber washers.
Aside from that, this first round of Staebies are also packed in a neat little carry pack. The 7u and 6.25u wires are protected by a foam inside the case too, ensuring that they don’t get bent during shipping. While the case itself doesn’t feel particularly premium, it’s still a nice, practical storage case.
Speaking of the Staebies’ wires, how straight are they? Well, they’re about as straight as the wires of Durock V2 and C3 stabilisers. They still sit flush on a flat surface, though they do tick a little when I tap on the ends of the wires. This isn’t exactly an issue, and I reckon they will still work fine when they’re mounted on a keyboard.
There are two distinct versions of the Staebies: the all-black variant features a nylon housing with a black POM stem, while the clear version has a polycarbonate housing with a white POM stem. Beyond the different aesthetics of these two variants, AEBoards didn’t mention if there will be any difference in smoothness or sound profile.
Of course, I’ll test this out for myself very, very soon – stay tuned for that on our YouTube channel.
While I haven’t mounted the Staebies on a keyboard yet, I did assemble them to see how tight the tolerances are. Well, I’m happy to report that these feel very tight (in a good way). The wires, for one, snap on to the housing quite tightly – almost as tight as a C3 stabiliser. Chances are, the Staebies won’t suffer from any wire popping.
As for the housing tolerance of the Staebies, it is excellent. There’s very little wiggle room for the wire and stems to move around, so in theory, these stabilisers shouldn’t tick or rattle much when they’re mounted on a keyboard. I’m especially interested to try out the Staebies without lubing them to see how they would perform.
After all, one of the main reasons to lube stabilisers – aside from making them smoother – is to fill up the empty space between the wire and housing so that it wouldn’t rattle or tick. Given the tight tolerances of the Staebies, I’m curious to see if they need to be lubed at all – you can listen to how these stabilisers perform unlubed in the video above.
Naturally, I had to compare the Staebies to the Durock V2, which is considered to be the “gold standard” for keyboard stabilisers. As mentioned, I haven’t had the time to mount either one of them on a keyboard yet – I just received them in the mail! – but it’s evident that the Staebies have much better tolerances.
For starters, the Staebies’ stem doesn’t move as freely as the Durock V2’s stem on a wire, and when placed in the housings of the respective stabilisers, there’s a lot more wiggle room in the Durock V2 than the Staebies. Just look at the comparison shots below.
The Staebies 
Notice how loose the stem sits in the housing of the Durock V2 
Even without mounting these two stabilisers on a keyboard to compare them, it’s clear as day that the Durock V2 rattles a lot more than the Staebies. Suffice to say I absolutely cannot wait to try out these stabilisers from AEBoards and Zambumon.
I will be testing different stabilisers against the Staebies in a video review very soon, so stay tuned to our YouTube channel for that! If you want to pick up the Staebies, they are unfortunately out of stock at the time of writing, though you can place a pre-order with AEBoards through this form – Cannon Keys will also have them in stock soon.