The synth repair guy in Akron put a broken key under my finger and I finally got it
Drove 40 minutes to his basement shop just to drop off a Juno and he made me press every key on three junk boards before he'd even look at mine. He said most folks never notice the click is half the feel, and he was right. Now I catch myself tapping old gear before I buy it, does anyone else test the keys that way first?
The key click thing is real and it goes deeper than most people think. On something like a Juno 106 the keys use a leaf contact that needs a certain snap, and once those get bent or worn flat the whole action feels dead even if it still triggers fine. I've pulled apart boards where the contacts were shot and no amount of cleaning would fix it, you have to carefully bend them back to get that crisp feel. So yeah, that 40 minute drive probably saved you from buying or keeping gear that feels wrong in a way you can't quite name.