I am not sure if you are confusing me with someone else or not.In any event since you listed me specifically I am well versed in saving or enhancing natural wood without compromising it but not everything sent is salvageable .

Feel free to look through a gallery of playfield restorations instead of a basic thread on just one to understand what is salvageable what isn't as well as the thought process behind it.
http://christopherhutchins.com/gallery/playfield-only-restorations

Well he can look for those in the gallery they are certainly in there.

I am not sure but some playfields have much darker layers and transitions between plys than others.
Some have ugly knots in the shooter lanes that are complete eye sores. Others have milder changes from ply to ply.
Point being that there is no straight formula for this work it is all case by case. You look at a playfield. Find the potential in it and make the most of it for what that particular one is.

If you take in 600 playfields over the years and 50 need the most extreme repaints even down to the wood it does not mean it is a standard or preference it just makes it an option or need at times.

You probably just need to look closer at it,It is not full paint it is a candied transparent base coat.There is nothing weird about it as it is a very convincing match to the true wood and can be used to barely or heavily cover depending on the issues at hand..
The grain is still there it is just more muted due to the need to fill the vertical cracking.That is the challenge there.Covering well enough to hide the cracking but not so well that the grain disappears.The owner makes the call if they prefer ground in dirt or muted wood tones.9 out of
10 times they prefer muted wood tones to cleared over dirt from my experience.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-four-million-bc-restore/page/6

The process is covered start to finish in there too so it isn't a secret where it started out.A 47 year old play field comes with some challenges .

Same. playfield different lighting.
See the grain?

7c3a9f181b194e1bce1bd380736daeb1f968f2fc (resized).jpg

I appreciate that . I know in some paint shop pictures in particular that wood tone rework can look very bland and flat . It is just the lighting of a dingy messy paint room . You have to have somewhere to make a big mess doing this and that is it but it doesn't show as well in there.
That has a lot to do with why I try to catch these games and playfields in a variety of lighting during the process.