Nice job

You can also use a dowel that matches the diameter of the shooter lane and wrap sandpaper around it. That maintains the shape.

Last year I had a really nasty shooter lane on my Grand Prix I rescued from a shed.
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After brushing all of the debris and dirt out of the pores of the wood the best I can I sanded it down with a socket wrapped in sandpaper. I think I used 120,220 and finished with 400. I checked with a long straight edge often to ensure I wasn't putting in any dips of bumps along the lane.
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That left it smooth, but still had loads of dirt embedded in the fibers in the wood, and made a weird snakeskin pattern.
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Not wanting to dig any deeper, and alter the shape and depth of the lane I mixed up some acrylic I applied with my finger to fill in the pores with a paint that matched the surrounding wood.
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All of the ruts and imperfections in the surface were still there, but now they were masked a bit by the paint. You could still see the faint grain of the natural wood through it.

After that I buried it in many coats of clear.
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And the finished product.
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I'm pretty happy about how it came out. If I had elected to sand out the dirt pattern down to clear wood I feel that I'd have to remove at least a 1/16" and I didn't want to alter the shooter lane that much.

-Paul

Wow- I literally was about to do the same project on my Wheel of Fortune's beat up shooter lane. Great to observe someone else's work!

Any recommendations for a brush-on or spray-on clear to use for a Stern shooter lane? (This is basically a touch-up, not a "take apart the whole playfield and airbrush clear in a paint booth" project).

If I wanted to sand through all the mess to good clean wood I'd still be sanding! While what I did is not ideal, I felt it was for this particular playfield.

As far as clearing to protect your work you could also mix up a few ounces of 2 part auto clear, and brush it on as well.

I'd love to see more ideas!

-Paul

Nice
Mine lane is worn to a point where the rod hits the ball to high and there is no adjustment left.
Any suggestions to build it up?
and is the the clear holding up?

lower the shooter rod assembly , loosen screws and nuts , there should be some wiggle room