Do you mind posting a picture of your scoop to show how it's sitting and the positioning of these washers?

hawkmoon77 told me he "cut a piece of sheet metal and bent it. The guitar is attached with double-sided foam tape."

Ha, and how you’re edging that screwdriver in there? I can’t find a good enough path! I swear you’re all warlocks. Don’t take the glass off on my account, I’ll figure it out eventually. But if you happen to be going in for something else and happen to have your driver in hand

Welcome to the jungle, @pinmonk!!

I've been waiting for this moment @pinmonk.
Looking forward to your journey's entries.
Great tip on the nylon washers...

Congrats Vic

Thanks. I've been bad and played one game that turned into four when I said I'd be bulletproofing first. But I have to get back to shipping, then I can bulletproof, THEN I can play more.

But wow, coil fade on this machine is no joke. Almost immediately obvious. Fortunately I have some connections to address that...

… so now, WE KNOW what to do Vic ….( Because I’ve been playing a bit too )

Here's a random rules question. Does anybody know what decides when the left ramp diverter opens or closes, when you aren't in any kind of special mode? I've noticed I'll have a ball cradled, then suddenly the diverter closes (blocking the upper playfield), or suddenly it opens (opening the upper playfield). There's got to be some kind of reason but it just seems random to me. Can somebody explain that to me?

Congrats Vic, finally you can enjoy the bliss that this game brings and i see you allready found out how addictive one more game is on this machine.

It is in the software setup to prevent the coil from overheating when the diverter is constantly active if not needed to be i think. That coil will run pretty hot if not done this way. I have seen pictures of coil which are quite darker on the outside than they originally were.

I'm considering buying a used le. What is the consensus of when the playfields are relatively safe from chipping and pooling? Thx,,,

Assume they're not safe even to date.

I would be more concerned with locking up a spare playfield for $500 that JJP only offers to the original buyer as far as I know. I'd make that part of the deal if possible.

Can someone post a video on how to install the official topper? Mine doesn’t seem to fit right, as it leans and the black knobs keep popping out. The included instructions are horrible.

Is this something games always had? What's unique about GnR or JJP games that leads to this issue?

When stage is lit (yellow insert beneath left ramp) then the diverter will be down.

When you start a game, the diverter will be up until you qualify a band member.

If you hold the ball on your flipper for too long, the diverter will go up to prevent the coil from burning up.

The topper instructions tell you to put the Led strip towards the back of the mounting. They fail to tell you the topper needs to sit directly above the led strip. Then you can put the 4 screws all the way in. Then cover with the plastic hole covers. There will be some light bleed on the ceiling with this topper design.

Makes perfect sense! Appreciate the answer. I'm learning!

Physics. So it's always been present. The longer a machine is played, the more likely it is to happen, but machines where you flip or hold more (except Sterns where only the flip counts) it happens faster. Electricity has a harder time flowing the hotter a medium gets, so the hotter the coils get, the softer the flipper action and harder the coil works, which makes it hotter, rinse, repeat.

Here's an animated experiment to help visualize electrical resistance:
https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/watch-play/interactive/heat-resistance

Ok, I get that, so then why was this never a general complaint I have heard for Bally/Williams games and why are your kits not selling like hotcakes for all those games also? And why would GnR be especially a problem? Is the constant multi ball and more cradling causing this?

PS - just bought your kit last week!

Sorry to segment my question but this comment suggests there is something unique with GNR

It's not unique to GnR, but the amount of multiballs seems to make it happen faster.

I don't have a kit for B/W machines (yet). And on older machines you basically only see it in tournaments where the machines are played a long time straight. My theory is the reason you see it more on newer machines is older machines have much less flipping overall since you don't see anything like the extensive selection of multiballs on jjPotC and jjGnR. Also, home ownership wasn't really common until the late 1990s early 2000s. There *may* be some difference with the way fliptronic boards drive the coils, but it doesn't eliminate the problem. Ask a tournament player for a late show fade story on a B/W machine. They have always been there.

Thanks for the support!

Next question is why don’t they fix the problem at JJP?

Because on JJP’s, flipper fade is

D1014D4F-7701-4AFE-B3FD-FF4E44BC5B1D (resized).jpeg

Active cooling or superconductivity are the only current solutions. Superconductivity is too expensive, and I'm assuming that manufacturers are just leaving it to individuals to decide if they want to spring for active cooling. Believe it or not, there are a lot of pins that go into homes that aren't played for more than 30 minutes at a time when the fade would start to get obnoxious, so they're essentially unaffected. Those homes don't need active cooling like the Tibetan Breeze, but pretty much everyone else is a candidate.

And the coil heat problem is not unique to JJP. Spooky has it, too (even on their new pinotaur board, although Ben has said he will be subjecting his vintage furby collection to ritual sacrifice to the old gods and the new to help find some kind of solution to work around the limitation). Spike is also subject to the issue, although less so because of their microsecond duty cycles in hold. Ultimately, JJP, Spooky, AP, Multimorphic, etc (everyone not Stern, basically) needs to just implement flipper coil hardware that can do microsecond duty cycle pulses. Stern's Spike board set is the only one I'm aware of that can go below 1ms pulses, and it makes a huge difference in heat management, especially for trap players.

Yeah, what PinMonk said.
Any more questions?

Will there be a quiz? I have to brush up on my physics.

It’s finally here after a year! The only issue as of now is the record not being level. Caused a stuck ball on the first game. Any easy way to level it?

0A59FA8C-D2F4-4E0E-BAE9-98F1973AA798 (resized).jpeg

Gorgeous!
Cool room!
What LE# did you get?

Thanks! This is just a temporary spot until Jurassic Park leaves.

LE#2668

A79DE289-9F11-4994-8733-9EC4A5F245D1 (resized).jpeg

That's a tight lineup.

How is everyone hooking up their subs? Is there a RCA line out or just hooking to the sub in the cabinet?

My NIB GnR LE (#2657) showed up yesterday – sharing some initial impressions of the game. This is my first JJP purchase. My first extended session with it was at a friend’s place last weekend – let’s just say after that I was now more anxious than ever for mine to show up. You could imagine what a pleasant surprise it was getting the call on Monday that mine had arrived and was going to be delivered during the week.

Overall, this is an amazing pinball machine. I’m completely enamored.

What am I liking? Well, pretty much everything. But, more specifically:

Visuals: The cabinet and red powder coating are gorgeous. Playfield is packed with striking features that pull you into the GnR world. Large monitor is fantastic, as are all the visuals displayed on it. Top notch programming here.

Shots: Great layout with variety of shots. The orbit is butter. Upper playfield is cool and I love locking balls on the guitar headstock. I played a song recently where the right ramp return dropped the ball in front of the upper right flipper to hit the inner orbit, rather than return it to the right flipper – I had no idea that mechanism was in there. I could go on….you get the gist.

Music: Easy. I’m a heavy metal/rock guitar slinging guy (grew the hair long, played in bands, blah…blah….blah) so when this new pinball hobby I’m now apparently addicted to meets my music style, watch out. Sound quality is OK – I put a PinWoofer in my Zep LE and leaning that way here.

Effects/Callouts: Really, really like them including all the little guitar riffs. Just find myself immersed and really like the callouts telling me what shots to hit next. Also, if I suck, somebody should tell me - I respect that.

Rules: Wow, they are brilliant. I’m just scratching the surface, but they are relatively easy to understand and there is so much to think about while playing. Risk/Reward is amazing on the jackpots.

JJP touches: This blew me away. I have purchased 4 NIB Sterns within the past year (and really like them), so some of these touches were a very pleasant surprise……external vol/headphone jack standard on LE, power supply inside the cabinet in case it is needed, modern menu system – so easy to navigate and find stuff (including the manual in it is really thoughtful), WiFi for updates, ball blocking mechanism so you don’t have to take the balls out when you lift the playfield, pull away monitor attached magnetically, and the playfield being set to 6.5 degrees right out of the box (wow). I’m sure there are some I’m missing.

Quality: I have not had any issues (knock on wood). Had a ball get hung up a few times in the upper right playfield area next to a pop bumper and post, but I could nudge it back into play. Looks like I have the latest playfield protection items (black washers were below the posts). I didn’t scour the playfield looking for any defects – that’s just not me. And if some show up due to extended play, unless it’s egregious in nature, it won’t bother me. I started playing it immediately – don’t plan on adding anything for additional protection. I bought it to play it, not preserve it for a museum. I do understand though, why folks may get upset over certain issues - it’s no fun if something this expensive doesn’t meet your level of expectation – no doubt about that. I’m hoping all of you experiencing issues get things sorted out for the best.

Add-ons: My PinMonk coil cooling fans showed up on the same day! Thanks PinMonk! I don’t want to lose playing time installing them right now. Ha ha. I’ll get them on shortly though. I wasn’t even watching/looking for flipper fade because I was totally engrossed in the game. I’ll see how some upcoming extended sessions go though.

Favorite Moment Thus Far: When Civil War kicks in (about the 1:20 mark), lights going off, balls flying around trying to find their intended target. Unreal. If there ever was a pin to enjoy while drinking beer, I think this is it.

Finally, shout-out to KingPin Games. Christopher showed up with his Dad and they easily moved the machine into my basement, set it up, and walked me through all the features. During the course of this, he discovered the shaker wasn’t working. A quick look through the menu to find the fuse/connector associated with it and after tracing it around inside the cabinet, he reconnected a connector and it started working. Problem solved. I can’t tell you how cool it was to see a Father/Son working together in a family business and providing world class service – just really, really impressed with them, including making sure I knew I could contact them if I needed ANY help with the machine. Also, shout-out to Christopher’s brother Eric for designing such a top-notch machine.

Cheers - I hope you all are enjoying your GnR as much as I am.

Haha you are overthinking it! Pics of screwdriver in each side and the zoom on scoop showing washer under left screw. Scoop comes right out. 100 fix on SDTMs.

20211001_182249 (resized).jpg

20211001_182301 (resized).jpg

20211001_182326 (resized).jpg

Love that number, congrats

Is this your step dad?you really don’t seem to like him very much

Lol

So an update on this. It was not mechanical. Seems the bottom left ball lock sensor has become flakey and this must cause the game to not release balls during gameplay. This is the third sensor to fail on this game in the 5 weeks I’ve had it. It started with auto plunging because of a flakey sensor in the skill shot. This was right out of the box!
Starting to get annoying now. I love playing the game but if I keep getting problems I can see me ending up hating it.

So the topper sits on top of the led strip?

Flippin' awesome.
Amazing, great news jjp is creeping up on #3000

Great write up! How did you ever manage to take time out from playing to write all that That's what I want to know?

Big congrats!

Finally moved it to the rec room.

E3C4ABAE-5A31-4ECE-94EF-69015863E210 (resized).jpeg

Yes

I overthink everything, brotha! Aight now that I’ve got photographic proof I’ll make it happen. Thanks!

Oh and I gotta say that Dan the man PinWoofer sent me the tweeter replacements for the pinwoofer system, and everyone is right, it makes the game a lot better. I ended up deviating quite a bit from the suggested settings (maybe because I have an external sub hooked up too), and DAYUM it sounds really really really good. I’ve only played a few games on it so far, but it feels like an all-new machine and I am happy/impressed!

Thanks for helping push me over the edge. Especially punkin !

It wasn’t easy…..but I was very motivated to share my excitement. Plus, I knew I’d get some minutes tonight (Friday evening) - I’m playing right now….and drinking beer.

This game is epic. To think I was actually on the fence at one time.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Gunna be a schill, mayaswell be a goodun'.

Not sure how the right ramp diverter got loose but I'm having a hard putting this thing back. It stays down. The magnet coil work but it's not staying in its back tracks.

20211001_174111 (resized).jpg