Looks amazing! GLWS

Wish mine looked that nice. GLWS

Wow, that looks better than new

I've seen this machine in person and it looks even better in person.. I don't believe there is a nicer WH20 on the planet. This is certainly the "above and beyond" high end restoration that you dream of owning!

GLWS!

Your resto projects have always blown me away. Wish I had the scratch for this. GLWS!

Free bump!

Btw what colors are your LEDs? Cool white all around?

Needs the Bigfoot Spotlight mod

Sweet looking game, that topper is one of the best I have seen. Always hate to see a nice restored WH2O with a big crease in the foil

Stunning! Not a bad price given the restoration you've done, wish I could afford.
But thanks for your videos on youtube, you've taught me so much for my own restorations
GLWS

Bullshit, I'm sure it's more like 282 plays

White Water looks sweet in chrome. Here's mine.

05_White_Water.jpg

Nice to see someone else who's records are piled up in front of their already full shelving!

Hehe. I know, the records are my first sickness. I pull them out for, listening, DJing or making beats and they're such a pain to put back. Then there's the "new arrivals" that I don't want to file away until I've given them a good listen. It never stops. Every once in a while I spend an afternoon filing them away again.

Since when is Whitewater a $12,000 game.

lol

Wow, drooling over here. Unreal restore.

I can buy a WOZ LE fully loaded with mods for less than what you're asking for this game. This is a $5500 game.

Yes but Mike will deliver the WW in a timely manner! Can you say the same about JJP??? (this post was meant for sarcastic purposes)

If this was restored to the level your MB was, I'd pay at least $5501.

I'm sure the restore work is awesome. I guess you just have to decide how badly you want an incredibly nice WH2O. Someone out there must love the game enough. I have to say though, if I was going to spend all that time restoring a title I'd pick something that seemed like it could command the price your work was worth easier.

Personally not a fan of clown puking a machine, but I'll give you a BUMP!

Interesting analysis... WTF? does that mean exactly?

"Clown Puking" is using a lot of diff'rent colored LEDs around the game in GI. That may be a tad harsh on this as the slings/inlanes might be cool white, but just look blue in the vid?
Anyway, it's not really a rude/negative term, plenty of people love to do it, and more power to them.

Never been a fan of the Blue Whirpool lights though, I'll never change my mind on that one
Or iced mountains.

Clown Puking was just a new term for me... I am getting old!!!!!!

Not used too much anymore; sort of like SHAZAM! Not that I am Shazaming this thread or anything.

That's hardly a 'clown puked' pin.

Fair enough, I can only speak for myself. Blue Everywhere, red at the top, that's enough for me.
Opinions are like A@@holes, some are awesome, so you don't agree with you

MY OPINION IS RIGHT AND YOURS IS WRONG. (Also, it looked mostly white to me, hardly any blue, and a touch of red up top.)

You would think for $12k it would at least come with playfield glass. Sheesh...

You know when some one advertises it at a higher market value then it should be that they are emotionally tied to it and don't really want to sell.

Nice machine but $12k?

Yeah but one of them actually has shots that flow together. (:

Or maybe he would entertain offers?

I have have seen this machine. I think what most people are missing is the insanely meticulous restore that has been done to this machine. Every single piece is basically remanufactured, chromed polished and cleaned to the nth detail. Its as close to perfect as you will ever see a pinball machine.I think the asking price is just the dollar amount that he has in the parts. If you factored in his hundreds of hours on the project, it would probably look like an amazing deal.

I have seen high end restores and this one is the best I have ever seen.

Haven't played it. When it comes to pinballs I think Whitewater is basically a weak system 11 pin with a wpc boardset...... Just my opinion.

Mike's videos and pictures are pretty darn explicit and do an amazing job showing off his work. I don't hear anyone questioning the quality of the restoration.

Mike is a great guy and spent a ton of time talking to me re my potential Totan restore, very upfront and honest and I guarantee you he's got a fortune into this pin.....It's not for everybody! But if I had a restore to do I'd send it to Mike for sure.....

Knowing Mike's work firsthand, I'd challenge anyone to put it side-by-side with a HEP restored game. What would a fully chromed, ultra low-use HEP Whitewater go for?

Not as much as you'd imagine. The title is what dictates & drives prices...NOT what you "have in it". This is why Chris Hutchins (and other pro restorers who are in this as a business) advise their clients what titles are worth making this type of investment in. If you are wealthy and/or never plan on selling it, it obviously doesn't matter. If not, well you need to carefully choose what pins to invest in (and even that's no guarantee...).

I commissioned a HEP AFM restoration over 2 years ago...had 12k in it. When I tried to sell it in Jan 2012, couldn't get anywhere near 12k. Might be able to get 12k in today's market, but who knows?

Have a collector friend that tried selling a HEP CFTBL 2-3 years ago and couldn't even get 7k for it. IIRC it sold for 6.5k. In today's market, you'd probably get 7k, but who knows.

This is why you won't find too many HEP FT's out there It would likely cost 10k (including the pin) and you'd be very lucky to get 6k out of it.

Agreed. The work here is just beautiful, no question at all. I'll never own a pin this clean, because even if I buy NIB it won't come out of the box this nice. But it's still a $12k WH2O.

Hey, somewhere out there is a wealthy collector who just wants his/her games to be perfect, and doesn't really care about the cost. Here's hoping this pin finds that person.

Games are restored with a single customer in mind, regardless of who is doing the restoration.

That makes the value on the used market of restored games lower than you might think sometimes.

With the plethora of restoration options available, every game is a little different. Tailored to the person who commissioned the restoration.

The only way a restorer gets paid a fair wage for their time is if they are doing a commissioned restoration for someone. They don't just buy beater, blown out games, fix them up, and try to get rich off their work.

I have no doubt that there's a lot of money invested in this game. White Water is a VERY expensive game to restore - even if you don't do a bunch of plating, or throw a new cabinet at it (not sure if this game has a new cab or not?) Ramps, playfields.. are not inexpensive. Where most games have a couple ramps, WW has *7*! Boulders.. ramps, boulders and plastics are coming up on a grand alone!

So, what, 3 grand for a base game, another 2 grand in playfield, boulders, ramps, plastics.... a few hundred bucks in supplies, probably more than a grand in plating, another few hundred in LEDs.. there's a lot invested in this game before you even talk about time.

If Mike *had* to sell it for some reason, we'd find out what the true 'market' value of it is, at this very moment.

And, at some point, interested buyers come along and say 'for $X, I can commission one the way *I* want it. Sure, you can do that. The thing is, for $X, you have to find the base game, get in line with the restorer you want, and wait.

But to make snide remarks about the asking price isn't very nice. It sure doesn't help build a community around here.

Mike does contribute to this community - showcasing his work, sharing tips and tricks, etc. If all you're contributing to Pinside is smart remarks about someone's price, perhaps it's time to step back and take a look at why you're here.

We can all help each other, we can all learn from each other.

When my time comes, I don't think my family is going to sit in a funeral home, looking at pins, and thinking about them.

I do think, they will sit around, talking with the friends we've made over the years, talking about the pinball trips we've taken, the memories.

Yeah, the game is fun, but the community and the people are more than fun.

Talk about what you enjoy about pinball, help someone fix their machine, be positive.

Don't sit around complaining about the price of a game you're not interested in buying, or taking shots at the way someone chose to restore a game for themselves.

If you're truly interested in the game, make the guy an offer of what it's worth to you. The worst he can say is no.

Good points, John, but I think this thread has been very respectful of Mike's awesome restoration work and contributions to the community. I've been a fan of Mike's work for awhile now...would love to find the right project for us to work on. Maybe one day...

Nevertheless, selling highly customized pins or extreme restorations on Pinside requires a bit of a thick skin...that's unlikely to change.

That is a helluva nice looking WW. Not sure about $12k, but damn it looks nice