Hit the wrong button.

Nice. I might be going to red rocks in sept for a 3 night STS9 run. Also maybe a local small festival. My wife is really pissed we can't go see phish this year. Haha.

what do the leg bolt plates that Stern now use, look like ?

The same as what's on all your games.

Using a bright flashlight and a magnifying glass should help you find them.

they still use em ? ah good to hear. : P

Have him get the date of manufacture of the back of the game. That's a really important data point now.

Have him put the Williams HD leg braces on ASAP.

I just read that again, looks like this is a replacement Ghostbusters cabinet. That would suck if this is the second one he received with issues.

Is it not better to just ship it back ASAP?

I would not accept it unless I could get a discount or guarantee that I could get it swapped.

Yeah he should try that first.

Wait, I thought the cabinets cracking was a thing of the past. I was told this was put to bed and no longer an issue.

How can this be possible?

By who?

Earlier in this thread, known Stern sympathizers were suggesting that only a couple dozen cabs were affected. Pretty crazy that the same customer got two of them, what a coincidence!

Just picked up Space Station,cabinet all good,decals all good,inserts all good.No issues what so ever.

When stern sends you a replacement cab does it include hardware (side rails and head mounts) or do you swap it with existing?

I posted a summary of actual Pinsiders who had reported issues.
That apparently makes me a Stern sympathizer and fan-boy.
I prefer the term "realist".
But thanks Maken.
So would appear we have 1 more cabinet to add to the list.
First one reported since the initial 24-30.

UPDATE: Stern Finally made it right

As some of you may know I fell victim to both Stern quality issues of late on my GB premium having playfield issues and then about 1.5 months ago I found that both front sides of my cabinet were split. I reported the PF issues back in October. They said they would replace my PF. I didn't hear anything from them for months. When I noticed my cabinet failure I contacted Chaz at Stern, sent him pics while I had him on the phone, and reminded him it had been close to six months since I was told I would get a replacement PF and I never heard back from them. He said he would submit the cabinet pictures to his guys and see what they say and would call me back. Several days go past and I never hear from him so I call him back and said what's going on I never heard back. He said they would replace my cabinet, but they were considering just getting me a whole new game rather than me having to swap the cabinet and PF myself, which i didn't feel was fair to me or something I wanted to do. He said their sales guy, I think named Joe would call me back with the final verdict, he may have had to check with my distributor and make sure it was ok with him to just swap out my whole game. A few days, maybe a week went past, no return phone call so I called Chaz again and asked what the verdict was. He checked with Joe and said my dealer, Trent at Tilt Amusements would swap my game. I explained to him I didn't really want another GB because my GB experience was a let down from the time I got it with all of the problems and I would rather have an AS, I told this to Trent also. So this past weekend my friend and I loaded GB up, made the 250 mile round-trip to Trent's place and came back with a new Aerosmith Premium.

To sum it up I am happy with the end result, but I wish the problems didn't happen in the first place or they would have been resolved sooner and not taken as much effort on my part; I probably made 12-15 calls myself to my distributor and Chaz at Stern to get resolution. I do like AS so far and am looking forward to learning more of the rules.

Thanks to Chaz, the other folks at Stern, and Trent at Tilt Amusements for the game swap!

IMG_20170610_222728789 (resized).jpg

Great resolution pindude80. Terrible customer service to have to go through the wait and all the non-responses... with no info. Stern and the distributor both really need to get their act together on what is very basic customer service. The amount of effort it took is very disappointing.
'

Grow a pair and if you have a problem with an earlier specific post or posts, quote them and then say your piece. Otherwise stop with the outlandish open-ended slander of no-one and everyone.

man if someone came and swapped my GB for an aerosmith id be mighty pissed

Maken is one of the biggest sh*t starters on Pinside Zoomer, it's what he does best. He doesn't have the knowledge to contribute anything of value on here so he just runs around and starts crap with people and down votes everyone.

Your upvote percentage is under 70. Mine is over 90. My post got 12 upvotes and your post got moderated for breaking pinside rules. Nice doing business with you.

The more and more I watch the cheesy video that Stern put out, it seems like the hyper ramp might obstruct the view just a little bit. Is anybody using that as part of their thought process for wanting a Pro?

I am not. I'm down for the premium. At first I thought the same but then after reviewing I'm good with it.

Seriously? That's why you jump in to a thread like this? To throw a rock and garner some thumbs up from others, some of whom don't own any pins made later than the mid 80s?
That actually makes sense to be honest. Can't really see any other logical reason.

The only thought process that people go through before buying a pinball machine are finances and value for money. Everything after that is justifying the purchase choice. Simple and easy.

The answer to that is simple. It's because of a few individuals down voting me all the time for no good reason other than the fact that I have something good to say about Stern. I said that I didn't think there was a major cabinet problem and I get slammed with down votes like it's a crime to say anything positive about Stern games. No biggie though, I can handle it.

You are one delusional guy

A downvote means someone disagrees with you. No biggie.

Well, everybody has a process, and that may be yours. For me it's more the theme, gameplay, art package then finances in that order. If I didn't have at least some money to spend on machines, I wouldn't be in the hobby. I was not big on this game at first, and I'm really looking through it now and trying to allow it to grow on me because I love the theme so much and have waited for a new Stars Wars pin for quite some time.

Planning on purchasing my first two NIB's for my own line up in the next two months or so, but only 2 in the budget and considering 3. I've bought a few NIB's for the shop, never one for myself. Torn between SW, Houdini and MET (although a modded HUO / nice MET Pro on the secondary market may be the way to go).

I have bought over 100 pins as a collector over the years, so I have some idea what thought process goes into buying one. Just looking for some input. Simple and easy.

I hear ya. I'm just used to my BF, and that ramp goes over the apron behind the flippers. No obstruction at all. After watching the video a few more times, just seemed at times the ball was kind of "hidden."

Then again, that might add some additional challenge to gameplay, especially as the balls are looping around the hyper ramp. I think someone else referenced that earlier. I've had two Hurricanes, and that ramp loops in front of the flippers and it never bothered me.

I really want / need to see SW in action with some good video....like yesterday.

If only people were that grown up!

Took advice from this thread and put these on my KISS.

Stern's cost cutting is getting beyond a joke.

Compare their brackets to the B/W ones. 8 screws versus 3.

Luckily for Stern their games are a blast to play and they need to be - to make up for dodgy node boards, cabinet issues and huge delays in code updates.

IMG_1541 (resized).JPG

Well to be fair, Stern has never put the HD plates on their games so it's never been a cost cutting measure. But it is something they should switch to in my opinion. So far I've put them on my GB Pro, Avatar LE, Mustang Pro, Space Station and ST Pro. Got 8 more games to go. Also notice how many bolt threads are on the stock Stern plates compared to the Williams.

For the Pinball Showdown in Denver I took down, moved, and set up a '70s Gottlieb, a few '80s Williams, a '90s Premier, a '90s Williams, a new Jersey Jack, and a 2016 Stern. It's not the first time I've handled games from different eras, but doing so in a back-to-back fashion really made the differences in the cabinets stick out. Stern games just feel less solid. It doesn't just come down to weight, either. It feels like there's simply less density to the wood, and it's much softer.

We took my GBLE out to Denver in a trailer along with a Metallica, T2, Genie, Rollergames, and Pinbot. I was honestly most worried about the GBLE than any other game back there. I almost expected to see cabinet splits when unloading. Thank goodness it had just the same hairline starts as it had when we loaded up.

Stern needs to go with a bigger bracket on the corners. You can get away with lighter wood if it's secure, but I don't feel like it's being joined and secured very well right now.

Did you notice and joint glue coming out inside the cab of any of the games? I have several of my older games with that. I don't think the new Stern cabs have enough glue in their joints. That could be part of their problem.

Hey Paul,
After doing all those machines, - Did the BW bracket fit perfectly on all of them ?
Or did you have to get creative on any to get a perfect fit sides to center?

I notice the glue on lots of older games. It used to be a lot more common.

This is true. I did the B/W brackets on my AS the day after I got it and I looked closely for glue that ran out like you mentioned seeing in older games and there wasn't any. Seems the cabinet manufacturer is skimping on glue and I firmly believe this is why we are seeing the issues we have/are seeing.

I would like to hear what Paul says also. I did my AS and I had to use plumbers tape to fill the gap between the bracket and cabinet and it was a PITA. It wouldn't have been bad if they butted up to the sides but mine didn't. I still have to do my Metallica and Mustang; not looking forward to it either, but I have figured out a system to make it a little less painful.

Do you mean pipe strap or Teflon-tape. Both have been called plumber tape.

If you don't get a nice square fit, you are probably pulling your cabinet out of shape so the bracket needs to press in snug and fit nice and square into its new home before screws.. assuming your machine is not cracked and this is just an insurance policy. Some have used standard corner brackets above the space the BW bracket goes so this should always fit perfectly if the cabinet is square.

We have been gluing the cabinets on our new machines since 2014. Our machines travel a long way to get to Aus.

They all fit perfect. The one under the shooter went in with the long side up so it will help stabilize the top of the cab but I couldn't put the top middle screw in because the wood wedge piece doesn't extend up far enough but that's no big deal. On the start button side the Turnement button got in the way of putting it in the same way but again no big deal, I just flipped it upside down so the long end was facing down and was able to put all 8 screws in then.

I have yet to do my Met but they fit perfect on my Mustang Pro. I think it's very important to use #10 screws because it's then metal on metal as far as filling the plate holes. That way you not only have the clamping force but also no sideways slop force allowing the plate to move sideways. In other words your making those plates ROCK SOLID.

Funny you ask because I always thought of it as plumber's strap. I asked the guy at Lowe's if they had plumber's strap, he was a little confused at first and said I've heard it called plumber's tape, he took me over to it and sure enough the bag was labeled plumbers tape.

That was the problem with my AS, it wasn't a nice tight square fit, probably about a 3/16" gap between the backside of the bracket and the cabinet surface. My AS was only out of the box for 2 days when I installed them so no cabinet problems, but was added as an insurance policy. I am pretty sure I'm going to add corner brackets also and like you said as long as the cabinet is square it should fit tightly w/o any mods.

I did your method and used 3/4" # 10 screws with a lock washer. I bought # 10 x 1/2" screws. I held the brackets up to the top of the cabinet with my plumbers tape installed and didn't feel the 1/2" screws would get enough bite in the cabinet so I went with the # 10. Kind of weird that my brackets had a gap behind them and yours fit snugly. I only did my AS which was built a little over a month ago so I wonder if some of the cabinets specs changed or my brackets are made differently from yours. I bought the B/W style brackets from Pinball Life. We'll see how they fit on my older games- Mustang and Metallica

My plates fitted perfectly in my KISS pro.

Hoping to get AS soon so will see if they also fit perfect in that.