lets add GOT & MET...

my GOT is ghosting in 4 inserts, shooter lane and drain were mylar'ed before ever playing and there looking bad already also. 200 plays and only 1 month old. Think its a August playfield.

Churchill isnt making any playfields for Stern and isnt in the future im told by Stern distributor. Stern and Churchill had a falling out. Huge gamble buying a Stern thats made end of 2015-present.

Everything in life is a gamble. I could say the same thing about certain car manufacturers. If you are buying from a reputable dealer, then you have to trust they will take care of you. If you don't feel they will do what is right, then you shouldn't be buying from them anyway.....no matter what the quality of the product.

Uh.. well there's plenty of car manufacturers, and if there's a problem- you drive it into the dealership and they handle it.

Stern is pretty much the only pinball manufacturer in the game, besides the small boutique companies that release a new machine every few years. You also can't easily repair a pin by dropping it off at a dealership or repair center, or easily return it to a store or ship back without some big hassle.

So yeah, buying a new Stern is way more risky than buying most any new consumer electronic product, and especially a car.

http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/churchill/index.html
There were hundreds of playfields at Churchill in October of 2016. How certain are you that your distributor gave you good information?

Shes the most honest distributor ive dealt with. Have you seen any Churchill stamped playfields, there very proud of there playfields why would they stop stamping on playfields? Im under the impression that a deal went sour and Churchill isnt ever going to make Stern playfields again from story i heard. i seen that Churchill had made some GB playfields but did they ever send any to Stern.. Could be a complete bullshit story and im just going by what ive been told and since no playfields have shown up stamped by Churchill im going to believe her until proof shows up saying otherwise.

Show me a Churchill stamped playfiled , never seen a manufacturer stamp on a playfield.

i just looked over a original run MET pro and i dont see any Churchill stamps. The stamps do look different then FUNs on GB and GOT pros. As i said im only going by what i was told. If i was lied to then ill be finding another distributor.

There are literally hundreds of playfields shown in the Pinball News article from October of 2016. There are screens in the screen printing area for Ghostbusters, Kiss, Star Trek, Metallica, and a few other titles.

How do you reconcile the photographic evidence that in October of 2016 production of Stern playfields was happening with story you've heard? Does it seem more likely that none of those playfields were shipped to Stern or the story you heard was wrong? Maybe your distributor was simply wrong?

I doubt you were lied to, I was honestly interested to find out where the manufacturer stamp was. Not to call you out .
And She is a very good distributor, I use her exclusively.

could be she was wrong as i said im only going by what i was told. whos to say Stern didnt want to pay what Churchill wanted and stuck them with those playfields and thats what she was talking about. Do you think the crater dimpled BM66 are coming from Churchill? why would i be told by a distributor that there getting BM66s returned because of the quality of playfields, why would a Stern distributor talk about quality issues if there wasnt any?

Honestly all i really know that are facts are that ive had 2 shitty ass playfields from Stern now from 2016. A GB pro and a GOT pro.

its all good man im just telling people what ive been told. i thought Churchill did stamp there playfields with there names but only thing i seen on MET here that is older is a hand written C with a h inside of it that may stand for Churchill but i dont have any other older Sterns to look at here. Who makes Hobbit playfields?

20170120_125912 (resized).jpg

My Family Guy

20170120_125936 (resized).jpg

Thanks Billy!!! i knew I had heard Churchill stamped there playfields, now that ive seen yours stamped CHURCHILL does anybody have a 2016-17 Churchill stamped playfield?

Not sure of your point....Just like a dealer, Stern should take care of the product. Yes, getting service is more difficult, but that is part of the gamble I was referencing. Stern is the only mainstream game in town and we all know that going in. It's not like a bunch of Stern dealerships suddenly closed their doors, and in this informed age there is no reason to not to know all of the potential issues prior to plopping down 8K.

A pinball machine is a toy, plain and simple. It is not something we need to survive, so if you only have one dealer to go to and they don't stand behind their product, then don't buy it. Go buy some other shiny object that has a better company behind it. And before anyone says that route operators depend on them for their livelihood, there are other products out there that make them money. I am sure they don't want to buy a pin and put it on route from a supplier that doesn't support their products. Sure they will "want" a Stern pinball, but if Stern isn't the place to go, then it won't take long for JJ and others to expand and corner the market.

This is what is wrong with the "me" society of today. We want everything to be right, just and fair. The world does not work that way, and we need to accept risk and at least some responsibility for everything we do. Now I am not saying a person should just roll over and let anyone get away with anything....I am just saying we can't complain about "difficulty getting service" when we knew that might be the case going in.

End result if Stern stands behind their product, they will sell them and they will stay in business. If they don't, then eventually they will piss off enough folks to effect change or to put them out of business from lack of sales.

My spare TSPP PF has Churchill Cabinet Company stamped right on it along with other info.

Does it really matter though? They are hardly infallible as they produced the faded inserts that a lot of MMr buyers were forced to accept.

it only matters because people think that if Churchill makes the playfields that there wont be any issues and people are thinking they are getting Churchill playfields from Stern now but from what ive seen and heard Sterns still dealing with FUN who created this ghosting inserts, cracking clear in shooters and drain area situation within a few plays of brand new out of box games.

Did the MMr guys with faded inerts get un-populated replacement playfields?

GotAQuestion why a thumbs down !?
dont you know that GOT & MET have also ghosting & clearcoat probs ?
bah...

They got exactly zilch... except the refrain "falls within specs". Well ONE guy claims to have gotten one but put out so many confusing posts people didn't know what to think.

So if Churchill is calling the shots (like in MMr) there ARE no "2nds"... you will keep what they send you and LIKE it.

Good to know , thanks for sharing

Edit: it really doesn't matter what I think. I disagree with MET on the "list" though. This thread and the entire owners thread have net 2 occurrences of ghosting or chipping each. But it's time for Stern to burn for all their games even if Ghostbusters (and maybe BM66) are far far far worse cases.

I could see a situation where Stern told Churchill they didn't want the PF's stamped anymore to hide the transition to crappier PFs (that went very wrong) and now that it's back at Churchill, they're still not stamped. There IS a difference with the Churchill ones, though. You can see it in the vibrance of the PF colors. The earlier GB playfields had more muted colors that didn't "pop" whereas the one we got in December has a very vibrant look and has had zero issues so far.

It wouldn't surprise me if Churchill and Stern quickly ended their relationship again. There's a reason they fell out in the first place - pricing pressure. Same thing happened with cabinets.

If they do in future or have already terminated pf agreement with Churchill, it's likely because they agreed to a lower price point, but with the proviso they couldn't guarantee low defectivity, defects immediately show up and Stern start pointing fingers, Churchill say "we told you" and stop production.

Could also be the issue that as Stern are clearly still using FUN and / or other suppliers in addition to Churchill that are terrible quality, they don't want to be tarred with the same brush.

I seen 2 different colored playfields around September i believe. I definitely think the deeper more vibrant one looks better. I dont think that any of the ghostbusters ive seen in person including the premium i seen with deeper colored playfield have been anything but FUN made playfields, all with ghosting.

Maybe you got lucky and got one of the Churchills from magazine article but i doubt that Churchill would not stamp there playfields to hide something.

Lol...dream defect. Trade it for playfield issues any day of the week. =P

Ghostbuster Premium with zero ghosting or chipping and a more vibrant playfield, December build. I'm pretty sure these are Churchill.

Not so sure about the Batman '66 playfield we have, though.

Jesus...what CAN'T fail on a pinball machine?

Any markings on the playfield when you lift it up? Usually there's a date, but curious if there are other marks.

A mark on the left end that's been blacked out with a sharpie. Nothing giant and obvious like the old Churchill days.

Looks like stern found a cheaper source for buttons

Whats next

i had a MET, and i love it, still thinking its the best pinball STERN has ever made...
but few from later run(s) had probs, its a fact, than for those having clearcoat & paint going of the wood, its not funny at all

now stop playing with thumbs down, express yourself as an adult, its not a prob if we have diff points of view, we're here to talk & exchange, simple as that

Saw some premiums pro's and even le's next to each other last month. Like mustang, met, twd, gb, start trek, this was a big distributor. Amazing that almost no playfield was the same. The premiums looked dull, red was not real popping, the blue was darker or lighter. Sometimes the pro was better (twd), sometimes the premium looked better (met). When you see the machine alone, you will not notice it right away. But comparing these machines next to each other the colors show. When the colors are right, the playfield really pops, just beautiful. Question, are these all the same manufacturer? Why these quality differences?

Likely all Fun, or what ever their name is. There have been a lot of reports of printing issues - faded colours, alignment issues etc - as well as all the insert issues , cratering and wear.

This was interesting thanks for posting it.

Did anyone else notice the guy running the industrial router without any apparent ear protection? And how about the guy spraying test clear coat without a mask...

The lack of health and safety regulations or adherence to them in the US boggles the mind almost every time i see non cutting edge facilities. It's nothing like Canada, Europe or Australia .... or even China, in many cases.

Horrible for workers ... but also one of the reasons the US has remained semi competitive for low tech stuff unlike other advanced economies.

Looks like he has foam earplugs similar to what I use. They provide attenuation up to about 36 decibels. USA regulations require under 80 or 85 for a weighted average but I don't remember if it's eight hours or a shorter time period.

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This is simply not true. The U.S. actually goes way overboard with safety regulations to the point that it is putting companies out of business.

Agree, you should see the pictures of wood work factories.
Steel roofs, harbor freight type saws, barefoot, no protection and child labor.
$35 a month 60 hours plus a week.
Extension cords everywhere.
Look at time lapse of the yangzhee river.
Until recently, no plution controls...dump
Cyanide in the river....no problem.

Agreed. Businesses small and large have a sea regulations, my friend works as an engineer that gets permits approved and it's really at over the top levels but he has a job thanks to over regulations.

Is there anybody here from Canada or US that has received a new playfield from Stern yet? I am getting my playfield swapped this Saturday, and have also been working on a Youtube video for The Canadian Arcade to chronicle my experience with the process, which overall has been fairly painless and smooth so far. I have a few questions for anybody else who has received a replacement, or is receiving one soon. It would be greatly appreciated if you could reach out to me via PM.

Thanks!

good luck with the replacement, and let us know how it goes...

please show us your drill Pictures

you must drill all inserts before you get a new one

What other thread?

Is any body selling the Ghostbusters Cliffy set on their online stores yet? I did email Cliff last week asking, but never heard back if he offers them. Also, is there a protector for the right side ball eject for the Ghostbusters Pro? This area seems like it gets worn the easiest, and I already have a bit of clearcoat breaking away here. Brushed on some crazy glue around that area to cover up the exposed bits of wood in the meantime.

is that on your replacement playfield ?

to be fair, that area on my old playfield had barely any clear coat to begin with and was getting banged up even worse. Wife had a game today, and low and behold, there was a little chip of clearcoat hanging out on the playfield afterwards. didnt take me long to see where it came from. Otherwise, the drain area is holding up fine, and no issues with ghosting on any inserts yet. Only a few days into the new playfield with like 55 plays or so. Not out of the woods yet by any means.

rightscoop (resized).jpg

thanks for sharing.

after that few plays on the NEW playfield, there should be no clearcoat coming off from anywhere.

Noticed some ghosting just starting on my TWD pro manuf. March 2016. Thought I might have gotten lucky...