I've had it both ways. The CPR Space Shuttle just felt WEIRD to me...after playing on a beat up playfield for so long and listening to it, the almost silent ball roll on a CPR playfield and the slightly different placement of the bits and pieces just seemed to throw it slightly "off" for me....and there's no way I would have known that until everything was back together.

However...

After repainting and having Crescendo cleared, I freakin' LOVE it. To be honest, I never got to play the game before we did all the work, so I have no clue how it would have played on straight wood. The playfield we repainted was in playable condition, I can't imagine with wax it would've been "slow" by 2" EM flipper standards after everything was rebuilt. We also put the glo-ball in there, and the plastic covered ball on the clearcoat....that thing is smoking fast when it really gets going in the lower pop bumpers. I'm VERY happy with the clear on this one.

Jackbot, after having it cleared...it was just like "This must be what the game was supposed to play like." It's not that the gameplay was substantially different, but the feel and look and the smooth roll of the ball...pfft.