HEP

HEP
I did LOTR WH2O
Chris is perfection!

HEP, hands down.

Yes Christopher Hutchins of High End Pins Highendpins.com I will be driving and delivering my Silverball Mania to Chris this spring 2021 for a complete restoration. I spoke to him on the phone a few weeks ago a very classy guy. Check out his web site and look at all the detailed work!
P.S. Chris also has a forum HEP this week on pinside check it out !

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18

The best places usually have a line. The same applies to restaurants.

The most consistent, great restorations I've seen have been done by Chris at HEP. In looking at all the great restorations here on this site that others have done It's apparent that some pinsiders are just as talented, but only work on their own loves.

The business you're looking for is HEP. Some times the best things are worth waiting for.

-Paul

HEP is the tops in restoration no question.

Another vote for HEP. And he isn't 2 years backlogged either. Usually about 6 months to a year but worth the wait.

Plan to spend some money, but any HEP restored pin sells for a few thousand over normal cost anyway if they are ever sold. People pay to have a HEP in their collection. So at least you could recover a little bit back if you ever decided to let it go down the road.

Just received my game from HEP last week. The wait time is two years. The quality is stunning. I also own a WH20 that was restored by HEP for the person I bought it from. I've only owned HEP restorations so I can't compare but I don't see how anyone would be better.

Chris is so High-End, the man has intimately been involved in games that we commoners never have any hope of seeing. He’s restored Krull’s and King Kong’s.

We’re really talking about hand-build Ferrari or Shelby level quality here.

Chris is a master of the craft and if you want the highest quality you can’t look anywhere else other than HEP.
Another bonus is anytime a genuine HEP is sold, you can contact Chris and he can verify every pin he’s ever put his hands on.

I took the Krull to Pinball Expo, and i also had one of the King Kongs he did. They were nice, but not perfect. Although they were older restorations and his work has only improved since then. But being prototype games, there are not the reproduction parts available like all the common titles he does

That is the problem with some of the super rare games. Chris has said that some things on those games need to be preserved as is and cannot be completely restored just due to the fact that there is no way to replace the item if something goes wrong.. A decal for example. It might be misaligned or bubbled. But if it does not come off perfectly and gets destroyed, it stays destroyed forever because there is no way to replace it. Therefore, with the super rare games, sometimes he needs to weigh the risk and preserve when he would normally restore. Speaking to Krull, Kong, and other super rares he has done.

For more common games, every one I have seen has been pretty near perfect, if not better than new.

Just dive into his thread here on Pinside and go through it. You will see how the games come in, his work along the way, and the final product. His restorations are well documented. You will also see some of his home cooked meals, his choice of beers, some workouts, and other parts of his life thrown in as well. Its the best thread on Pinside and one that many of us check first every day.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hep-this-week-9-17-18/page/174

Don't expect a game in six months; 18-24 months is a more realistic estimate. Also, there are others that do VERY good restorations. But they may not be as well known as HEP or do it full time. Quality takes time, so don't expect miracles in short order. Also, be prepared to pay; high end restorations are not for the feint of heart (or wallet).

I was baseing the 6-12 months on when he might get to the game, not when its done. And that estimate was on what Chris told me (about 6 months) and where my game is now (14 months and supposedly almost up). Yeah, I guess 18-24 months is probably a better timeframe.

Thanks for the votes of confidence.
Since timing is a bit of a focal point I will address that best I can.
There really isn’t a way to describe timing and what will or wont flow through here in a given timeframe.
Some games come and go within 4-6 months others can take a couple years. You can see examples of that in the HEP thread.

The reason for that is that I take in all types of projects.Many of these projects are things few would attempt at all let alone do them to the highest levels possible for someone else and support it.

Decaled cabinets with new playfields have a much quicker turnaround but when you start building and painting brand new cabinets for forty year old games,working on stuff no one has ever seen before ,customizing paint schemes,or having to manually repaint a 70 year old playfield and cabinet it takes much more time.