funny that you mention him because I was just asking the same question the other day with a few others in the playfield restoration business.

bill davis is a name that I haven't heard in at least 4-5 years (and I considered sending him my joust playfield to have him touch it up about 7-8 years ago on more than one occasion)

Go ask people on Rec.Games.Pinball. He did a lot of people wrong on there .

I worked for bill for many years. I checked in on him a few months ago. Went over to his place and chatted. He's back into his old hobby of flying model helicopters. Enjoying the retired life. Taking care of his dad. He is basically finished up everyone's play field and does his own games now for fun. There are a few play fields in the shop but not like it used to be. I think he just got sick of everyone's bitching. And theres more money in body shops so he helps out at a local shop part time. For cash.

Oh Please ! He had some peoples play fields for 2-3 years and he was sick of their bitching !

He had my IJ playfield for 3.5 years. I finally had to just show up at his house to get him to finish it since he wasn't returning any phone calls. He was very apologetic and after the day a friend (who also had a pf there that we dropped off together) and I showed up, he made good on his word to have them ready to pick up in 3 weeks from that day. We went back and sure enough they were complete and they looked beautiful. He really did great work when he was doing it but that was just an insane amount of time and very frustrating, especially considering we paid him in full in advance! He also wasn't charging nearly enough for his time, it was a real bargain when I think about it.

That IJ will finally be 100 percent done and back in my collection in a week or so, just trying to iron out the last of the issues with it. When it is all said and done that project will have a total of 5 years invested in it (the better part of the last year was procrastination) if you factor the time between when I pulled it and stripped it down to when it gets moved into a spot out on my basement floor.

From talking to him for a couple hours the day we showed up at his place it seemed that between the massive pile of playfields people sent him, poor organization, and various events in his life, he just got way in over his head and way behind on everything. I appreciate the two playfields I had done with him, he made them look better than new and it was totally affordable. He was the first person I ever heard of doing that sort of thing for pinball playfields so he was a pioneer in a way and opened the door for the many talented people who do that stuff these days (sadly all at prices that I could never afford).

I think I was one of the first people to have a play field touched up and cleared by him. I had him do my TZ play field back in 2000 or 2001. Then I had him do my SS play field too. Same time frame, but it's funny (well not really) but when he did those two play fields it took one week for each play field!! I could NEVER imagine having a play field at someplace for 3+ years! Crazy! I'm glad to hear that he is doing alright. Also glad to hear he isn't doing play fields anymore....just too long of a lead time!

About 10 years ago I had Bill take a blown out scrap Funhouse pf & apply a pf overlay from phoenix arcade.
Was amazed he got the overlay so perfectly aligned with no air bubbles etc. Playfield looked nos with a (too) thick clear.

Bill is a supernice guy, sometimes to his detriment. People brought him blown out pf's he should have flat out turned down, but he had a hard time saying no. He may have had some bad judgement, but his work was outstanding and among the best in his craft.

Yes this is very true. I went there multiple times over the years and have had Bill do quite a few play fields for me. Some of the play fields he had there were just beat. I could not believe some of the junk that people sent to him. He told me so many stories of the amount of time he put into some of these projects that at the end of the day he made less than $10/ hour. I just think he got overwhelmed and burned out at the end of the day. I hope he is enjoying his retirement. He is a very nice guy.

I for one will ALWAYS think of him kindly.
He did my STTNG and MM play fields and the quality of work was outstanding.
Count me as a very satisfied customer

Sold a beautiful RS he did, along with my game, I was going to restore. Awesome! Hopefully buyer restores RS with it.

My Scared Stiff has a Bill Davis playfield in it, and still looks great. He was definitely an innovator and the best back in the day, glad to hear he's doing ok.

I had a Who Dunnit, of all things, with a Bill Davis clear coated PF in it. That PF looked incredible.

I saw that game at one point when it was for sale, it was nos and cleared. Amazing W?D

I used Bill Davis exclusively for a lot of years. Had *many* playfields restored to perfection by him back in the day before repros of anything were ever available. He was brilliant at touch ups.

My TAF, TZ and WH2O all have NOS playfields that were cleared by Bill.

Great guy to shoot the breeze with too. He and I had many lengthy phone conversations.

Right with you Robert. Bunch of playfields done expertly done by Bill, even went to his house a few times. Last time I was there I brought my 85 year old Dad with me and Bill took us out to his favorite fishing spot at a nearby lake. Caught some fish, told some fish stories, all in all had a great time. Glad to hear things are better with Bill.

Yeah me too. I got ahold of this game after Rob had it and I can say I have never seen anything nicer really. His work looked amazing. Too bad the game wasn't a keeper for me because it was the nicest game I had in my collection.