I just wanted to take a minute to post the great experience I had buying my first NIB pin from Steve at Pinball Refinery. Build date was June 2015.
Instead of waiting for Stern to decide if they would do another run of Metallica premiums, I decided to get a MET LED Pro from Pinball Refinery and let Steve perform his magic. I cannot begin to express how happy I am with the final product, and what a pleasure it was to work with Steve during this entire process. This pin is a beauty! Excellent craftsmanship & outstanding communication from day one, right up through delivery day. Steve truly went the extra mile to make sure I was happy with everything and answer all my questions. I would not hesitate to purchase from him again
Now onto the good stuff! Sorry for the lousy photos because they really don't do this pin justice. You have to see it in person to truly appreciate, especially that candy purple powder coating. Among the various upgrades.....
UPDATED 2/17/17:
Upgraded Siderail Armor with Flipper Button Area Protection
Under Playfield Service Rails (replacing pegs)
Candy Purple Powder Coating (Legs, Siderails, Coindoor, Lockdown Bar, Ball Return Rails, service rails)
Chrome Flipper bats
Red LED flipper Buttons
Chrome Leg Bolts
Chrome Ball Shooter Rod
Custom LED upgrades in GI, Inserts & Flashers
Creeping Death UV Lighting Rails with additional Lightning Decals
Creeping Death Pinblades
Shaker Motor
Color DMD
Flipper Fidelity Complete Upgraded Speaker System
LED Sound-controlled Speaker Lighting
Undercab LED Lighting System
Sparky Blue El-Wire mod
Translucent Titan Silicone Rubbers throughout
Translucent Titan Flipper Bands
Custom Snake Upgrades (Red LED Eyes, Fangs, Tongue Sticker, Green LED mouth Undercab Lighting, Green Led Flasher)
Flashing Cemetery Arch Gate
Mantis Mystery Hole Scoop Protector
Cliffy's Shooter Lane Protectors
Clear Plastic Protectors & Clear Sparky Protector
ADD-ONS SINCE PURCHASE:
Mylar added to magnet/coffin areas/shooterlane
Metal Pop-Up Post
DK Pinball's 8-way 5V/12V power splitter
Iamdarras Eyeball Coffin decal
Hooked-On-Pinball's Spinner Kit
Timebandit's Total Lightshow GI Theater controller board
Timebandit's Spinner Sound Caller add-on kit
Timebandit's Inlane Wiring Harness for apron lighting
Timebandit's Acrylic Apron with Blue Crystal Tint & Diffuser Panel, with installed retainer brackets for playfield lift
I think that's everything The only thing I have left to do is complete my custom Sparky paint job, and add Timebandit's Rising Cross Mech, whenever he's able to bring the final product to market.
It may sound like I have a ton of mods, but they're all classy IMO & blend in well everywhere. I don't like to clutter up the playfield too much, like the way add-on toy guitars, crosses, mini LCD screens do. There really is no limit to the amount of mods you can do to this pin. I know the RT ramp snake mod seems to be pretty popular, but I'm not a fan since it blocks the rollover insert lights from the player's view, and I don't like any of the solutions so far to fix that problem. I considered at one point in adding the backbox lights&flashers mod, but that would truly be overkill on this machine. The undercab lights & Total Lightshow mods are plenty.
Also modded the code with PinBrowser....removed Sad But True, One & Unforgiven....replaced with The Thing That Should Not Be, No Remorse & Leper Messiah. I also created a long custom track called "Fire & Ice for All", which is basically a mix of Fight Fire with Fire into Trapped Under Ice into And Justice For All. It's nice because I edited it at the correct spots, so that when Lady Justice mode starts, it kicks into And Justice For All. What a difference. Highly recommended. As you can tell, I only like Metallica's early stuff from Kill Em All, Ride the Lighting, Master of Puppets & Garage Days. I might do one more tweak to the song code, as I hate Enter Sandman being in there, but it does have a mode dedicated to it.
Bottom line is....this pin ROCKS! Definitely one of Stern's best pins of All-Time IMO, if not THE best. Thanks again Steve for delivering an incredible custom pin! It's blossomed even more with all of Timebandit's incredible mods since I first purchased it 2 years ago.
I don't think you can come any closer to owning a Premium/LE than my PR Pro, and then some I'm in the group that feels the Hammer blocks the view of the playfield & slows the game down during the physical locks, and I really don't miss the snake jaw at all. The only thing I wish I had are the color-changing spider inserts, but I'll gladly take ALL of my current mods as a trade off. The 2K I saved on the Pro vs Premium was much better spent on the mods I added. I've sunk a lot of cash into this pin, but I don't care since it's a long-term keeper for me.
If anyone is interested or thinking of buying, don't hesitate to give Steve at Pinball Refinery a call & ask for a quote. You won't be disappointed.
Current Video of the pin:
(coming soon)