Gentleman 65 SE Shipping Update

The ship with the boards on it has arrived in Houston. However due to backups in the port, the ship is not scheduled to be unloaded until March 28th. After arrival, it will take some time for the boards to be transported and processed by the receiving warehouse before I can pick them up.

A little history so you can understand why the Gent’s ship date to customers has changed multiple times from the original estimate. Mid-October, our supplier indicated the boards would ship in 60 days. In late December, manu stated that shipping was delayed until January, which was then further delayed to the midst of Chinese new year, causing even further issues due to the associated yearly shipping rush, exactly what I tried so hard to avoid. When the boards shipped, we were notified the shipment would be picked up on Feb 2, to arrive Mar 3. Then the ship was changed and shipment was scheduled to leave on Feb 8 to arrive Mar 8. Then the ship changed once more, causing the shipment to leave on Feb 11 and arrive Mar 18. The shipment finally departed on Feb 11. Throughout March the eta of the ship arriving in Houston was changed three times totaling over 2 weeks of delays. I share all this hoping you will understand, I am not trying to be overly optimistic on the delivery estimates, but just projecting shipping date to customers based off the info provided to me.

Mint case update: the manufacturer was not able to work the last 10 days due to the CCP shutting down Shenzhen and many other cities due to a COVID outbreak. The update I received is that the last anodization failed and many units were pitted in the coating process and must be remade.

The remanufacturing of the mint parts started yesterday and it takes 10 days to remake the boards. Then they will be ready for coating. Given the issues with the anodization, clearly the anodization factory, chosen by the manu (I had no say), is not capable of executing this well. I have commissioned 3 Cerakote companies in the US to color match to the mint switches and coat a proto board. If you’re not familiar, Cerakote is a much more durable, premium and consistent finish vs anodization. I will use whichever company provides me the best quality and turnaround time. I hope to have the sample for you within a week at most. Early color-match attempts have shown a beautiful surface finish far superior to that of ano.

If mint buyers want to change their colorway to e-white, e-black or pc, please email sales@jkeys.design with your order number now or asap after seeing the proto. If you’re not happy with the final proto color and you don’t want to change your colorway, I will work with you.

As always if you need any assistance, please join the discord and create a support ticket or email: sales@jkeys.design.

I am so sorry for yet another delay. This process has motivated me move away from GBs and sell future board runs in stock. Please know I am doing everything I can to get the Gents to you as soon as possible. Thank you for all your support and patience.

JJ