Keyboard—Help Identify what I have

[caver01]

A few months ago I picked up a batch of stuff—some Mac SEs, a Classic, spare logic boards, a LOT of old HDDs, and a bag of keyboards.

One of the keyboards is odd to me. It appears to be painted. . . maybe? It looks like a professional job, with a very subtle knock-down texture and a very very good color match, if it is indeed painted. The color Apple logo is missing, or so it would seem, but it seems appropriate—more like the recessed apple look, like later model AppleDesigns.

I don’t yet have the experience yet with the full options that were manufactured—so please, help me understand what I have here. Is this a painted keyboard that desperately needs retrobrite restoration of the keycaps, or should I think about stripping paint on this thing? I think it might clean up well with some soap, and this would be my third rodeo with keycaps and retrobrite, so that is definitely happening too. Anyway, what do you think?

<edit> It says M0487 Apple Keyboard II. And the logo has separation between the fruit and the leaf, so I can’t see that a color insert would work here.

 

[rjkucia]

As you noted, it's an Apple Keyboard II. Here's some more information on it: https://deskthority.net/wiki/Apple_Keyboard_II

It's kinda hard to tell, but it might have been painted - is that paint on the rubber feet in that 4th picture?

 

[caver01]

There does appear to be paint flaking off the rubber feet, and on a couple of screws. In fact, there are areas under the flip-down feet where the surface is smooth as if shielded from overspray.

Still, I am surprised at the quality if this was a DIY job, especially given the light texture effect.

The real question for me comes from the apple logo on the top of the case—It cannot be just a missing color logo, as the leaf is clearly separated from the fruit—no insert would cover this. That means the logo was like this from the get-go similar to AppleDesigns. Yet, I don’t think I have seen that in this keyboard form factor.

<edit> Well, after doing a few google image searches, I am able to turn up a few examples out there with the blank logo, so maybe this is not THAT unusual. . .

 

[rjkucia]

I think there's just a couple of revisions on it. I bought this Japanese one that looks the same (other than the different layout): https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/s1030597488

Edit: I think ours is the SMK version - your Caps Lock key should have a mechanical lock in it, versus a membrane one

 

[caver01]

Yes. That looks like the same bezel. I took it apart last night. It’s the SMK, double-ribbon board inside. Yes to mechanical caps lock mechanism.

I started pulling the keycaps which is tedious, but necessary to restore color. I am going to try to clean the bezel hoping the paint coating holds up. I think it will, as it seems very professional, durable and color-accurate. I don’t see any reason to strip it, especially since I don’t know what I will find underneath. I will post photos here as I go. I think this is going to clean up nicely.