Officially joined all of you Mop Tops tonight. What a blast to play! My 17 year old guitar playing son loves the Beatles so that makes it a little more special to play this fun pin together.
I think I need to dial back the flipper power as I am getting a lot of air balls. What is the consensus on placing the rubbers back on the outline pins?

I have had my Gold since early December. We love it. I put the rubbers on the outside posts. If you continue to get air balls -off the "FOUR" drop targets - after dialing back (we have our setting on "normal") I would suggest going to a hardware store and getting a little sheet of Lexon and cutting an overhang that covers "FOUR". It took me about 30 minutes and looks pretty good.

I think he was likely referring to air balls off of the "FOUR" targets (the 1964 targets already came with a clear plastic extension that stops air balls from these targets), but I agree with your advice to measure and obtain a lexan piece from the hardware store to cover the FOUR targets area. The lexan is just a few bucks for a sheet and the hardware store will cut them to your required size for free with purchase. So, you only need to drill the two holes into the sheet for installing above the FOUR target area.

Yes, you are correct. I meant the "FOUR" drop targets. Sorry.

Topper is for sale on Stern's website.

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FYI...Stern claims to be working on an "airball kit" to help with airballs from the "FAB" "FOUR" targets.

Wow, that’s really what I’d call “laying one down”. Nice!

In January I both called and sent an email to Stern to put my name on the list to get one of these. I have not heard anything back.

Chas told me fairly recently they were still working on it...who knows? Since dialing down my flippers the airballs haven't been a big deal (and the game still plays very strong).

That's a nice looking topper!!

Thanks for the reply @jamesdeloris . I noted that there were no rubbers on pins between outlane and inlane, but there were 2 extra rubbers in the goodies bag. The right lane below the upper right flipper is especially brutal - if the ball bounces around there at all, it catches on the rubber on the right slingshot and goes to outlane, and no jiggling so far has been able to help. I take it that the rubbers on outlane posts reduce right outlane drains?

I know I can just try it, but figure the rubbers were not there for a reason, and am curious. I read through installation pages and the user/service manual, and did not see anything. Thanks!

I just put mine on today. It really is a beautiful topper. Each of the letters in Beatlemania has its own LEDs. It lights up in patterns very similarly to the kiss topper. I would highly recommend it.

Actually I had to cut a small slice off the rubber on the right post so the ball would pass through the lane.

I was wondering the same thing last night. I put the rubbers on and made the right outline too tight. I thought it was a misaligned post! I’ll file down the rubber a bit ....it at least helps protect the balls from scratching.
Does anyone have their upper left flipper set to low versus normal?

My upper left is set to "normal"...no experience with the "soft" setting.

If you installed the smallest rubber (3/8 O.D.), you shouldn't have a problem.

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Thanks snaroff for the comment and the photo.

My game is still the old code( 1.08) My distributor said that the latest code took care of the overly strong flipper and sling issue.... so new code “ normal” should be fine.

Backflipper,

Since you now have a topper installed, I was hoping you could enlighten me as to what effects are provided by the topper. I assume the Beatlemania letters light up as you spell Beatlemania via successive loop shots and work toward a Beatlemania award. Do each of the four Beatles heads light up as you hit the associated targets for John, Paul, George and Ringo? Also,it looks like the Beatles Heads may extend some from the background wall. Are they interactive in any way (e.g., are they on motors or springs, do they move)? Any information would be appreciated as I'd like to know what the topper does before I purchase one. Thanks.

I’m waiting on mine, can you post some pics of the topper on the machine please?

Just scrolled by on Facebook. No doubt product placements like this will lead to selling all 1964 games.

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The Lexan thickness should be no thicker than the original plastic?

Ok, thanks, I’ll give it a shot!

What tool do you recommend for cutting the lexan?

what about the type of drill bit?

I cut mine with a saw and used sandpaper to smooth out the edges. There are two pieces - one metal and one plastic - on top of "FOUR". When I tried to put the lexan piece in between there was not enough screw left to attach the nut. So I removed the metal piece and replaced with the Lexan.

For .020" thickness you can easily cut it with a pair of cheap scissors. For .030" you can cut it with scissors but you need strong hands. A pair of sheet metal tin snips will also work. This is for outside cuts. For inside cuts you need a saw, and a small drum sander is nice to have.

To make the piece you are wanting to make, .020 is all that you need to stop air balls.

I made one of these deflectors for one of my pins. This is all it is.

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Any bit you can get from Harbor Freight will work.

Yes, I have been hearing lots of new quotes. In particular I noted several new ones that occur when balls drain. This was an important addition as I was beginning to get tired of the frequency of hearing "the next one will be completely different" when the ball drained. Now, there are enough different ball drain quotes that this particular one does not annoy me anymore. I should point out that I have also heard new quotes that are associated with other actions, but none come specifically to mind as I type this.

I believe that Lowes and/or Home Depot will also cut a purchased lexan piece to any desired size for free. I know I had them do this for me, but can't recall if I bought the piece at Lowes or Home Depot. That means all that is left is drilling the holes in the piece that has been cut to your desired size.

I had two cut at my local ACE then my contractor/ neighbor drilled the holes and rounded the edges...$1.99.

What a difference a day makes. Installed a nice homemade plexi shield over the FOUR drop targets, downloaded the updated code and kudos to Jonathan at ASOA for walking me through the audio fine tuning( lowering the base and increasing treble in the back box)
No airballs and great sound!
I thought the new code awarded a ball save if you went behind the fab targets and then drained?

My bad... just saw where the left outlane ball save defaults to NO.

Stern totally came through today and sent the cover for the “FOUR” drop targets.

I didn't get mine yet...I know I'm on the list.

Stern sent one out to me yesterday. Just send them an email with your shipping address and game serial number.

I would guess that it is clear. If it is thinner / cheaper grade I’ll keep my homemade version on. My corners are even rounded off so looks pretty good and has worked really well.

I streamed this game a while back - fantastic fun - annoyed that its so pricey otherwise I'd probably buy one.

Oh yeah... that would make more sense and look way better.

Yes, but if it were to break you will only need to worry about that one small cheap piece instead of the more expensive art piece.

I don't have one of these pins and only can make opinions based of what I can find on the computer.

I thought that there were no air ball issues with the upper four drops and that the plastic does not look like it is jutting out over the drops which, IMO, it is not a deflector but just for beauty.

Please tell me what I am not seeing.