Genius. Head is open!

Next problem: the collar that goes between the head and body is MIA. We have vague memories of wrapping it and packing it. It may be in the basement, somewhere in a sea (haha) of boxes.

Does anyone sell *replacements* for that piece? Or are we going to have to fabricate a new one if it's truly lost?

You’ll have to fabricate one. Read post 940 forward in the Meteor club here for basic size info.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-club-we-will-let-you-know-when-the-danger-is-past/page/19#post-4603467

Shockingly--seriously, I'm just SO surprised--we found the collar in the basement.

Which means...drumroll please...Seawitch is playable! Wahoo! Sure, it's giving free games for no reason at all in the middle of play and the rollover switch at the top of the loop isn't registering, but I'll figure that all out. It's good to have you back, Seawitch!

Thanks for all your help, guys!!!

The replay values are probably set low so you don't have to constantly credit up. A quick switch adjustment on the top rollover and you'll be in business! If you want to change the replay values reference the manual on ipdb.org.

I've always had trouble with the ball flap/gate at the end of the shooter lane and recently made a prototype gate with piano wire and a spring. I originally posted this a little while ago on the Stern Electronics club thread, but thought I'd share here as well. The design is far from final, but it works surprisingly well as is. I rarely get a spinner shot rejected since putting it in place of the metal flap. It also interferes less with the ball on plunges. Only issue so far is the gate bumps the ball when it comes around the loop clockwise, making it a somewhat unpredictable transition to the upper right flipper. I'm pretty happy with it as it is though, and hope to continue improving the design. cottonm4 sounds interested in the idea, so maybe he'll come up with something
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I have a set of used plastics for sale if anyone is interested. They are slightly faded next to new ones, but otherwise look great. Some art missing in some areas, see photos. I also flattened them using the help of glass and the hot Texas sun. Unfortunately, the set is missing the small plastic right above the upper right flipper. $50+shipping takes it. PM me if interested.

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Edit: plastics are sold.

I spotted a Seawitch repro backglass for sale here at pinside. $150+$50 shipping

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-seawitch-backglass-1

So I got my drop targets level and I'm still getting airballs off the middle bank. I seem to remember someone saying something about putting an additional or different rubber on the posts or something. Anybody have any other airball reduction ideas?

What angle is the playfield at? If it’s higher than six degrees, lower it to six degrees. See if that helps

Played my Seawitch, then headed down to Blairally in Eugene, Oregon to play their new Beatles pin (Seabeatles?) to see how it compares.

1- shooter lane much improved with a "ski jump" instead of the metal flapper, makes RH loop shots easier.
2 - Left & right loop shots are opened up a lot so you can really rip the loops.
3- Spinning wheel in center. Did not think I would like this, but it kind of makes up for the ease of shooting the loops.
4 - Addition of passageway & target behind left drop targets.. cool addition.
5 - Magnet at top of loop instead of just a rollover button- cool addition.
6 - Addition of "modes" - updates the style of play. I like it, but found myself shooting for the drop targets mostly, old Seawitch habit that's hard to break.
7- Multi-ball addition - Cool new feature.
8 - Don't know why Stern does not add bluetooth sound to this pin (or ALL of their pins), It's hard to hear what's going on. Would love to use my bluetooth headphones while playing.
9 - No real knocker? Come on Stern, if there ever was a pin that needed it, this retro SS pin does.

Anyway, had a great time playing it, would like to have one of these at home next to Seawitch.... but not at that price!

1- shooter lane much improved with a "ski jump" instead of the metal flapper, makes RH loop shots easier.

this is the one thing that I would like to see if it's possible to retrofit in my seawitch. it looks like it's 2 or 3 pieces of metal; the ski jump itself, a different outer ball guide which has the cut out that is just over the 1/2 of ball's height under the [jump] and a 2nd (upper section) of ball guide to prevent launched balls from leaving the playfield

Well, if you try it, please post pics of the process & part #'s needed. I'm all for keeping stuff original, but this would really be a great improvement. Especially if it were reversible.

I'm working on it. I have the part numbers and have made contact with a Stern distributor.

I am going to try and get just the ramp first. I want to make sure the ball is not going to have too much problem snapping into the glass all of the time. I don't care if it smacks the glass on launch as long as the ball trajectory and speed are not affected.

Thanks for clearing this up. I thought it looked like the loop lanes were more open than Seawitch.

Just joined the club today

What are the "must dos" to the machine to really dial it in?

I see on the TNT video Todd replaced all drops with Steve Young repros. Do the repros drop ok? I'm hesitant to go that route but let me know your thoughts.

It will be a while before I get it running. Lots of hacks to undo.

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Consider lowering the ball guide where it meets the upper left flipper, so that it makes a smoother transition to the flipper. Stock build had it drop onto the flipper.

Check the rail guides in the inlanes to make sure that they are secure. Usually they loosen up on Sterns and Bally’s over time. Vid1900 did an article about buying wire from a home improvement store and a wire bending kit from Marco’s to replace these guides

The repros drop fine. Must do.
The shooter lane mod, I don't know. I played Beatles, and this mod made the star rollover (by the upper right flipper) a must do, as a skill shot, and too easy.
I am going to leave mine alone. It's a Seawitch, dammit.

Steve Young repro drops work fine.

You look like you scored a nice play field that will clean up nice.

You will need to add a small piece of acrylic or polyurethane plastic behind the upper left flipper. The ball in this pin likes to jump that flipper and crawl onto the plastic by the girl's face. This will require you to turn off the pin and pull the glass down to retrieve the ball. In mine, it broke the plastic.

EDIT: Interesting. Your Seawitch has a 2-quarter coin door drop instead of a 3-quarter coin door drop. I wonder if someone changed that out.

I would definitely look at those:
http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Stern_Seawitch

I tried changing the upper right flipper bat to a WMS one to make loop better, slight improvement but it is no Beatles

I forgot about using a Williams flipper. That is a must.

Lots of great suggestions! Thanks all. Looking forward to the restore!!!!!

There is wall to wall mylar. Don't think it was factory but it definitely preserved the playfield especially considering the ball that was in the game! Ouch!!!!

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Rusty ball from no action. That pin has not been played for a long time.

Weird for sure. Was stored well. In a games room but not been working for a while he said.

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Who else is playing Seawitch tonight (or today, depending on time zone)?

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I'm playing and tweaking! New member of the club finally. It's a game that I have chased for some time now. Fabbed a Lexan bracket to prevent the glass/plastic jam and it turned out great. Now to clean, touch up and make her all she can be. Snuck some games in and had a blast.

Please do tell. What is the glass/plastic jam? Do you have pics of the lexan mod? I'm about to restore mine and want to know all the tweaks!

Does the steel shooter lane flap have screws or rivets on y'alls? Mine has screws and it makes the ball bounce before coming to the upper right flipper. Odd that they made it right in the path of the ball as well. Is this an up / down adjustment I should be making or looking for a different flap?

Should be rivets. Contact Cliffy to order up one of his replacement ball guides for the game, they're very nice.

www.passionforpinball.com

...I don't see them listed at his site, but i was able to order one from him via email, listed at the contact section

(forgive the potato quality of this photo, but it should do the trick showing the rivets)

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Does anyone know the names of the blue colors on seawitch cabinet? Or do I have to just do a custom color match?

Go to your local paint retailer and start grabbing paint color chips and match your blues that way. Rustoleum spray cans has both the dark blue and light blue that is a pretty good colors match.

I will grab come chips today or tomorrow!!!!!!!

It is discussed here with a couple of options. http://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Stern_Seawitch

Plexi (Lexan) shaped with a torch, a few brackets, 6x32 machine screws and some nylon lock nuts and I am thrilled.

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It looks nice. Balanced.

Very nice. Looks great. Thanks for the info. Blue rubbers look pretty cool on the machine as well. I wonder if yellow rubbers would match well?

Thanks. That was the previous owners doing. I am still trying to decide if I want to keep them or go back to original.

When i colour matched my F2K cab i removed the side rails to reveal the true base colour as opposed to matching the faded paint. I just wheeled the cab in the store and had them match with their fancy machine. Was kinda funny but we fot a perfect match lol

Haha that is awesome! I got a $5 sample of what I thought was the baby blue but it is too light so I will try to color match it better.

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I finally have my Seawitch working now!!!!!

MPU was crashing upon boot up. Disconnected sound board and that stopped the crashing.

Ultimately swapped to an Altek MPU but pretty sure the issue was 2 shorted pop bumper coils. Someone had a 5 amp fuse in place of the 1 amp fuse for the playfield which did not help the matter. Clipped the 2 coil wires for now and changed to a 1 amp playfield fuse.

Could not start a game and do any testing till I found a wire slightly off one of the coin door switches. Soldered that and was able to start a game.

One GI wire was off on the back right of the payfield as it was catching the slide rail. Soldered that back on and moved the wires out of the way of the rail and GI is back in action.

Cleaned ball drain switch so it actually registered and then played a game!!

Tried plugging in sound board cables to the Altek MPU and sound is working with no crashes!!!!

Lastly there were no controlled inserts. Test point 1 on the power supply getting no voltage. Swapped BR1 (bridge) and still no change. Turns out the fuse clip was dirty. Took a dremel to the fuse clips and BOOM we have controlled lamps!

Been a fun project. Next up is cabinet paint, playfield and plastics, drop targets and flipper rebuilds! Then siegecraft adapters and LED's!!!!!

White titan silicone rubber might look pretty sharp!!!! I may actually consider the yellow!

https://www.titanpinball.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=33&product_id=52

I have white Titans on mine, with blue flipper rubbers. Looks great

Just got a Seawitch that I am working on.
I have an issue with gameplay when the ball is hit around the left orbit.
When the ball gets to the thin metal flap, it will bow it inward and it flexes back out, effectively forcing the ball away from the upper right flipper.
This makes it impossible to do multiple orbit shots.
I saw someone mention above that Cliffy may have a replacement flap. Might it be a bit stiffer to allow a smoother ball trajectory?
Or is there some other fix for this problem?

Still tweaking Seawitch playfields for production this month.
** Sunday Night Special - 1 Only! I have 1 new Seawitch glass left from late 2018. The last glass in inventory (all titles). New stock production starts this week. New USA customer $250 US shipped. Previous customer $225 US shipped. **

Great Pinball Limited, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Classic Stern Glass 2019 Sales each glass title: Price on Ebay is $300 US + $50 US shipping USA. Private sales are $250 US + $50 US shipping.
If you are a previous customer of backglass (Star Gazer, Seawitch, Nineball, Catacomb, Lightning, & Iron Maiden)  or playfield (Star Gazer & Seawitch). $225  US + $50 US shipping. On the honor system of backglass made by Great Pinball. Can be purchased in the past from me (Great Pinball), Ebay, Marco Specialties, or with a private seller (can be with a pinball machine sale, or part sale).
If you order 2 or 3 Stern backglass in the same box. You can get a further $25 US off the cost of all backglass. Shipping total will remain at $50 US per box, & I will absorb the rest. 
Paypal: [email protected]
Please include your phone number & email with paypal. Along with the glass title. If this info is missing I will contact you, as it is needed for UPS Standard ground shipping. 
Glass is shipped in custom manufactured double cardboard walled box. Has honeycomb cardboard spacers. Glass is wrapped in in paper for protection! Edge strap guards are taped to corners of outside box. Glass damage by UPS is around 3%, & I self insure my glass. Any problems contact me: [email protected] or phone 902-402-7188 cell. If I need to contact you by phone: 902-457-1399 home
Glass is tempered with **NO LOGO**. Manufactured by Canadian Glass Manufacturer. 3mm x 25.5" x 28.5" 
http://www.vitroglazings.com/en-US/Glass/Architectural-Glasses.aspx
Glass has been printed (hundreds) by Atlantic Digital Reproductions. They also do my playfields. Glass is hit double pass for color & white, Single hit (pass) for gray blocking. Example ink head prints & uv cures: color, color, white, white, & gray. Commercial UV inkjet production on flatbed printer (OCE).
 http://www.atlanticdigital.ca/
Thanks for your purchase! 

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May be selling mine. Not sure what these fetch.

Cliffy makes a replacement flap but it will not fix your problem.

It has been discussed.

Think link. go to post #227

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/price-check-1980-sterns-quicksilver-stargazer-seawitch?tu=cottonm4#op

THis link: go to post #310

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/price-check-1980-sterns-quicksilver-stargazer-seawitch?tq=&tu=frunch

New rails will be available soon. Sending them out to Taylor for some sweet Reese rail action. Once he makes the template up he can make them on demand for everyone.

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Thanks for sending them out to him!!! This will be awesome when the new playfields start getting produced.

Thanks for the links.
Not a fan of either of those solutions though.
Hopefully the Beetles retrofit will somehow work out for us.

** Sunday Night Special - 1 Only! I have 1 new Seawitch glass left from late 2018. The last glass in inventory (all titles). New stock production starts this week. New USA customer $250 US shipped. Previous customer $225 US shipped. **
This one only Special is still available. Bring new life back to the girl!

I sent you a PM, John.

I'll take that Seawitch back glass if it is still avaialbe.