Stabilizer Tuning
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Stabilizers, often shortened to stabs, are the mechanisms under your longer keys such as the spacebar, shift keys, enter, and backspace. They keep those wide keycaps level so the key goes down evenly no matter where you press. When stabilizers are untuned they rattle and tick, and that noise is usually the harshest, least pleasant sound on an otherwise nice board.
The most common style is the plate mount or PCB mount wire stabilizer, where a metal wire links two housings so both ends of a long key move together. Rattle comes from the wire slapping inside the housings and from the housing ends ticking against the board. Tuning targets both of those noise sources with a few simple steps.
Lubing is the first and biggest fix. A thick lubricant applied to the wire ends and the inside of the housings where the wire contacts them dampens the metallic rattle dramatically. Many people also add a small amount where the stem of the stabilizer meets the housing to smooth the up and down motion. Careful, generous lubing here matters more than it does on switches.
Clipping addresses stabilizers whose housing feet have small protrusions on the underside. Trimming those feet flat with flush cutters lets the housing sit flush and removes a distinct high pitched tick on bottom out. Work slowly and cut only the intended feet, since over trimming cannot be undone.
The band-aid mod places a small piece of soft material under each stabilizer where it meets the board, cushioning the point where the wire bottoms out. Combined with lubing and clipping, it produces a spacebar that thocks rather than rattles. Tune your stabs before mounting keycaps, test each long key, and you will remove the single most common complaint people have about how their board sounds.