Quoted from John_I:The Hard Top playfield restoration process seems like a good starting point, especially considering the price of clear coat these days. Hopefully a cost effective process will be available soon, even though people will bitch about not using wood when that happens....
Agreed, this seems like the way of the future, and I would think manufacturers of new pinball machines would be looking at this. But, yeah... LOL.... I expect doing this would usher in a new round of bitching.