Quoted from Flipnaught:Don't be afraid to try lower pitches too though. I settled on 6.8ish after running the gamut from 6.5 to around 7.3. Any higher than 6.8 and my slings get out of hand and send it into the outanes instantly among other gripes with certain shots. Just have to find what works best for your machine.
Mine also improved greatly after replacing the factory stern balls. The ones from stern bounced all over the damn place. Not to mention the factory balls had dents the size of a crater on the moon after a couple hundred plays. Looks like someone took a ball peen hammer to them. Air balls like crazy and completely unpredictable. Went with silver jets and couldn't be happier. They have been holding up really well and move around really smoothly on the playfield, no air balls, no bouncing, no crazy crap. Just smooth.
Agreed. I’ve owned a lot of sterns over the years and have always found that 6.8deg is a real sweet sweet spot with all of them.