Mode Sonnet Build Log

2026-03-10

The Mode Sonnet is a gasket-mounted aluminium board in a form factor I keep coming back to: 65%, blocker between the alphas and the nav cluster, weight that makes it feel like it cost something. It did cost something. That is a different story.

Specs

Case: Mode Sonnet, E-white, Tsangan bottom
PCB: Geon Frog PCB (soldered)
Plate: POM
Switches: Gateron Oil Kings, stock
Stabilisers: TX AP, lubed with 205g0
Keycaps: GMK Mecha R2

Mode Sonnet, top view — placeholder — Top view. GMK Mecha sits on it better than I expected.

Build notes

POM plate is the right call for Oil Kings. It takes some of the sharpness off the bottom-out without going fully mushy. The gasket compression on the Sonnet is light enough that you still get feedback, which with an unlubed oil king would be borderline uncomfortable. Lubed: very good.

The typing angle on the Sonnet is steeper than it looks in photos.

Stabs needed more work than usual. TX APs are good out of the box but the wire rattles on this particular PCB cutout until you add a small amount of dielectric on the wire ends. After that: silent.

Verdict

Daily driver now. Would build again. The e-white colourway is harder to photograph than darker options but it looks better in person.