I tried this. I jumped a wire from the coil on the double bonus relay to the change relay and when double bonus is lit, it lights the spinner. Pretty easy mod, I just used a jumper wire with clips. I can post pics if anyone needs them.

Actually - I just picked up a '76 Bally old Chicago that has this feature. Will have to look & see how they did it. Maybe I can duplicate it on the Gott

Not sure if this has been done but I modded my Paul Bunyan flipper setup to make it easier on my arthritic hands and maybe others can do this with their games.

It's completely reversible to original condition.

The Gottlieb 60's games all seem to have the lever that you physically push with the flipper buttons to actuate the switch.

I noticed the 70's Gottlieb flippers were easier to use because the buttons contact the flipper switches directly so I got the idea to personally mod the 60's flipper "workings".

What I used:
Roll of red wire I think it was 12 or 16 gauge.
Soldering gun.
Small Jones plug and the switches from a 70's Gottlieb game.

First photo shows the 60's levers you use with the flipper buttons. I removed those and saved the screws for them.

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Using the schematic as a guide I screwed the 70's flipper switches in place (leaving the original 60's flipper buttons as they are).

Then wired them in (and did some soldering) as shown in the photos.

I stapled the plastic cable ties with the red wire to the wood and also attached the wire to the existing wiring system.

Red wire from flippers to small Jones plug to playfield, soldered to make it easier to unplug the Jones plug and remove playfield.

Also I used the plastic tubing you heat to shrink and hold the wires together.

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I like it!
I played a bunch of those old linkage Gotts at the NW pin show & they made my fingers hurt....

Thanks! The same thing happens with my fingers when I play them old EM games too much...

What I like about it is it's easily restored to original state by removing the wires, flipper switches and jones plug then screwing the flipper levers back in.

I've had to do major artwork/painting PF reconstruction on a couple of my games. I protect it with Varathane, but before so I autograph under the bottom apron with a date, then spray over it.

An orange traffic cone can usually be found somewhere around a race track - often the start line or pit entrance.

Grand Prix got an orange super minipost rubber there by the flagger.

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I used Velcro (fuzzy side) on the chime box and back glass frame to replace the dry-rotted Gottlieb foam. I'm toying with adding yellow/Amber 44's under the upper arch on my Diamond Jack .

I've used colored bulbs in a backbox to make minor flaking look better. I also put an orange bulb in a game where the credit when kit lens is missing in the apron.

I have some anodized bolt covers from my gear head days that would fit over the 5/8" leg bolts . Not sure how it would look but the coin door and front legs are the first thing you look at before hitting the power switch and credit button.

Most of my Grand Prix drop targets were broken and original replacements seem not to be available. I never really cared for the bullseye targets anyway, so I made these from a Monaco GP poster and some blank PBR targets. Seems to fit the theme much better.

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I gotta another great mod (IMNSHO) for a Williams Hot Line.

Why are they 'always' for the Williams games?!?! : ) Oh well...

Instead of having it where, when you get to the 'N' and the 'Making Next Letter Special When Lit' lights up and then you get the E (get the replay) but 'that' special shuts down... how about if it 'stayed' lit for special... and then started all over again. In other words, the H would be lit for special, then the O, then the T and so on...

Only one... teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy, the most minuscule of a problem with this mod... *I* didn't think of it! hahaha

Forgot to mention something kind o' cool about this mod for Hot Line... the way it reads on the playfield already (Making Next Letter Special When Lit) is grammatically correct for this mod. And on further thought... I think if you were to 'do' this mod, it would make better sense to have it light after completely spelling Hot Line. So in other words, your first game for the 'on playfield' special would be the H.

UNLIKE my idea for Wonderland [where I think it would be pretty neat to have the kick-out hole be a special when all numbers are completed] There is nothing to indicate this on the playfield... but you could black stencil "Special when Lit" in the red area around the kick-out hole and install a light underneath the hole to achieve this mod. Not sure how hard this would be to do... but still think it would really add to 'this' game as well.

I did the pop bumper de-synchronization mod mentioned several pages back on my Top Score a few months ago by adding a separate relay. I am very happy with this mod as the bumpers, which are already quite fast due to being souped up by having some windings removed, never stall and kick the ball around very quickly. Makes the game much more enjoyable than the stock game.

Hi pinsiders
for my Shangri-La http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2110 I made myself a little red box. Now I have everything (as before) PLUS: If I hit ALL Red / White / Blue "1", "2", "3": An Extraball. The simple red box I call "Type-3", works wonderful.
I then made a white box to have (Type-3), Type-2, Type-1. I can change in between by turning a knob on box-white.
See here (post-09, post-11 with pictures): https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anyone-know-the-first-williams-game-to-include-a-manual#post-2787543
Greetings Rolf

I think I'm going to steal the above idea and add a PBR bell assembly to my WMS Spanish Eyes to replace the sickly sound of the stock wood-boxed single chime that's in there now. I've been too spoiled by the sound of Gottlieb chimes.

I did just this to my Drop A Card a decade ago. Being the game has 2" flippers, and the 100s are the big score on the game, it seemed right that the 100s provide a large bell gong instead of the large chime bar. It fits right in.

Alas, PBR only has the two 3-inch bell assemblies in stock, black and plated. The 5-inch shell is shown, but out-of-stock. Great idea though, I'll have to scrounge a 5-inch bell up somewhere...

My '53 Grand Slam was missing the baseballs in the lower PF that light up for one of the specials once the bumper sequence is completed. I found white plastic ball shells and asked our artist friend to paint the threads on in rust rather than black, thinking that would better tie in to the existing art/color scheme. I liked the look so much that I stopped searching for the originals and treated it as an upgrade.

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You did well...! A tasteful and thoughtful compromise is so much better than just sticking to stubborn guns to find an "original."

Good job.

J

The chimes in my Williams Grand Prix sound awful; it was like listening to my grandma banging on the heater pipes in the farm house.

My Mars Trek was manufactured by Sonic (Segasa), but I've read that they used Williams parts to make their machines. The chimes in the Mars Trek sound fine, and the chime boxes in both machines look identical.

I guessed that it was the chime bars that made the difference, so I bought a Sonic chime unit on Ebay. It arrived today. I removed the Sonic chimes, and they simply slid onto the Grand Prix's chime unit.

The sound is much better now. No more grandmotherly "clanks". It sounds like the doorbell.

Now I hope it's not Grandma and her hammer at the door...

Do you recall where? I think I have some to replace on a Marble Queen, and could just paint them.

http://www.pyrocreations.com/inc/sdetail/556/559

Cool, thanks.

So you've got like 23 left over now?

Well back when I ordered them (a few years ago), I don't remember them having that minimum - I had maybe 6.

Added chimes on/off switch & a free play/coin play switch to my High hand tonight. Just inside the coin door for easy access.

Stealth mode makes it easier to play when everyone else has gone to bed......

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mounted on a chime bar no less! looks clean.

No, it's a 1/16" thick x 1/2 x 3/4" aluminum angle. Used really tiny toggle switches.

My buddy had a noisy old pin and two little ones that needed their sleep. The chime switch went in a block added right behind the power switch.

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I know a lot of people don't like Leds in EM machines but I added full leds to my interflip Dragon. I also added green leds under the Dragon targets so they glow. And a blue one to the kick out hole.

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LEDS look good in that Dragon. They look good in certain situations - and that's one for sure. You did a nice job. Some, or maybe more EM's the LED look maybe doesn't work so well... Matter of taste I suppose. Sure works well for that Dragon.

What brand and types, configuration of LED's did you use ? Warm or cool whites, flat tops, bullets, frosted, clear etc ? With LED there are so many choices. Making the right pick in the right situation is the only way it comes across so well and works like you have done. Good job.

I am normally a purist, but couldn't help myself this time.
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That looks great, easy to reverse if someone in future doesn't like. I did this same thing to Gottlieb's Rack-A-Ball with mini billiard balls from my kids mini pool table as is was about to be tossed out. I sold the game years later and offered the buyer the original white balls for backglass and he loved the billiard balls better. I own Gottlieb's 300 and have been looking for mini vintage looking bowling balls with no luck.

Love the soccer balls in the Gottlieb SS. Great job!

Nice balls.

Hmmm--I own a 300 as well. Maybe I could drill some holes in the balls that I removed from the Super Soccer to make them into mini-bowling balls. Keep the originals intact, you know, just in case. I would think that the holes would show up better on a red ball than they would on the black, but would it still look okay? (I'm thinking probably not--but maybe I could Sharpie them?)

That is really cool. Where did you get those?

ebay.com link: 4pcs Indoor game 32mm Foosball Plastic Soccer Ball Football Fussball funny

They are relatively the same size (as the originals), although the weight may be off just a bit. I need to do some further tweaking--they seem to work about 95% of the time.

Cost me a whopping $5.34 (shipped) for a set of 12.

You got a lot of bang for your buck. Perfect "mod" for this machine.

Added over 8 years ago: I'm not to proud to say that I had to copy your mod - it almost took a month to get the mini soccer balls from China - it took about 2 minutes to change them out. Well worth the wait - looks great and works great (no adjustments even required). I'm with you about not making mods to old EMs, but this one looks like it belongs!

That looks really great!

New set of cabaret lights about to get installed on a Gottlieb King Pin...

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Measure twice, drill once!

Mine is usually left by banging into a wall or another machine when moving a machine

I can hear the screams already!

I like the idea, but could it be done with surface mounts instead to avoid drilling? Routing the wires might be problematic. Reverse-able mods are the best king IMO.

The only reason Gottlieb stopped installing the lamp sockets was due to operator complaints ("too hard to replace the bulbs!"). So which is more true to the original artistic vision? Leaving them out or putting them back where they belong?

Cabaret lights as reversible mods doesn't interest me because nothing looks as good as installing a lamp socket (1/4" bracket) with a filament bulb and colored sleeve. I've never wanted to undo it on any games. Most, like 2001, greatly benefit because it can get pretty dark up there otherwise.

A few I've done:

Grand Tour (fitted with green/yellow tubing):
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Flip-A-Card (bare bulb stage):
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Surf Side w/Pinsider Rat_Tomago (traditional Gottlieb red/yellow tubing):
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Snow Derby (experimenting with different color light tubes):
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...and a custom color paint job (old vs. new below):
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I agree, they look much better, and yes 2001/Dimension is dark up there. I also like the custom colors on Snow Derby!

Forgot to include 2001 (traditional red/yellow here):
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(I also added a fifth lamp socket under the middle kickout when special is lit... so now they all light up)

Thanks for the compliment! I'm really happy with how the custom paint job turned out (uses white lacquer webbing instead of black for "snow"). I think that was the crowning touch which earned it best 70's EM this year. Tons of work but I think it is now the best looking Snow Derby in the world. Much more appealing than the default factory colors.

Holy Crap! I just saw a Surf Side Rat....... Twice!

the first few years of the metal arch they were hard to replace, but gottlieb change the socket that had a hole in the base that made it easy to replace. just pull a hair pin clip and the socket and burnt bulb would come right out. i think they stop using them to save a few cents. not sure what game was the last to have them but i did it to a 67 surf side also. looked really good in the dark.