<edit: Ron... doh!> I agree with your post about people willing to pay higher prices for their McMansion pins and not wanting some of the ratty games out there... but I have a somewhat related comment. I had PM'ed you asking about restoring and clearing an IJ playfield for me. If you recall, the playfield I have is already in really good shape, but needs some minor touchups here and there and then to be cleared. You said you weren't doing touch-up restorations anymore, only clearing of new PF's from CPR, etc. I can only assume because this is easier work and the playfield restorations don’t pay for the time you put into them, but am not sure.

Now that I read your last post, it confuses me. Why didn't you just quote me a silly high number for my IJ playfield restore and see if I would bite. Doesn't hurt to at least try to get what you're worth out of it, right? Maybe it would have been too much for my blood... but you don't know til you try. I'm not trying to be your agent, but I definitely reached out to you because I have heard you are the BEST and I believe it based on all the positive reviews I've seen. I just want to see you get out of it what you put into it. You keep saying you can't work for $5-10/hr (not your exact words, but paraphrasing), but have you tried to increase the prices and see if you still get customers?

Would like to meet you someday at a show and say hi because you sound like an honest, hard-working guy with a TON of expertise and artistic talent (yes, even clearing can be an art-form at it's highest level). I hope you are able to succeed with your restore business and I can only assume that you would be right up there with HEP, Bryan Kelly, etc if you get a full high-end resto business off the ground. Good luck with everything.

Ok... I truly am embarrassed (by calling you Paul, when I know your name is Ron... honest mistake as I had just read Mustang's post and had it in my brain. like you, I'm getting old) and honestly did not mean my post to come across that way that I was posting sour grapes. I had no intention of posting sour grapes and I really have no sour grapes to post anyway. I was not upset with you and truly wanted my post to come across as a question about how we could get you richer for the skills you possess. Again... if I made assumptions, I am sorry.

I 1000% respect you to refuse any jobs you want to and in hindsight I could have sent a PM, but I thought you were trying to drum up support for a business, so I thought my post had some connection to that. I will stop making assumptions on anything that you are trying to do... I'm just reading the thread in a public forum and trying to contribute. Again, sorry for coming across the wrong way. If you ask anyone that knows me, you'll find that I am not trying a dick move or anything. I support people like you in the hobby and just want to continue to be a part of this awesome community. I've had pins for 12 years, but only found pinside a little over a year ago. It seems I need to learn a bit of etiquette on the public forum because I would never want to offend you.