LE#169 has landed today and... what a game !

I love GnR, and this is why I pulled the trigger the day after the announcement for a LE. There was a lot of hype and buzz around the light show, how "amazing" it was, and this game was a Winner...

I can certify that this was NOT overhyped, and this game is blowing my mind since I installed it ! The light show is truly a new yardstick for the pinball industry ! HOMERUN for JJP !

I have 3 questions regarding the game:
- when the ball "drain" from the upper playfield, it goes to the right outlane 8 out of 10 times. Is it normal ?
- when the ball goes up the right ramp, it does not stay in between the drum sticks but between the right one and the cabinet, then hits the metal ramp wall and gets pushed onto the playfield instead of going down to the right flipper. Is it normal ?
- when the ball gets into the left lock of the center guitar, and gets released, it's 8 out of 10 times a SDTM. Is it normal ?

FYI, my game is currently setup around 7' (instead of 6.5' as recommended).

Back to https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-official-jjp-gnr-thread/page/88#post-6046120

I have (almost) fixed the drumstick behavior, but I am unable to fix the drain from the guitar lock (left side from player point of view is SDTM), and I think the rate of drain in the right outlane on a drop from the upper playfield is abnormally high.

I share 2 slo mo video in case someone has an idea. FYI, I leveled properly my game.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0h5n8hH4PHiPC

thanks for your help and Happy New Year !

I have that same problem for drains off the left side of the guitar lock. Consistently SDTM when released. The right side seems to push the ball away from the center while the left is straight down the middle.

From watching your videos it looks like the balls trajectory is changed once it falls down onto that step beneath it. After investigating the issue on my own machine I believe the ball is hitting the ramp support before it drops to the playfield. This is pushing it back towards the middle and causing the drains (at least on my machine).
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I will try to replace the rubber with a slightly larger one see if it makes a difference before trying to bend the rail guide. I would also prefer to not remove the left ramp as much as possible.

I have -slightly- raised the left of my game and it seems to have improved the SDTM. However, the ball is still going to the right flipper from the left guitar lock, which is interesting. I might try to add a pice of rubber on the left side of the guitar lock to push the ball to the center, which can help it falling onto the guide and pushes it to the left flipper and not the right one.

OK so in my case, ALL of my issues were coming from the left/right level: I thought it was leveled correctly, BUT it was not, the iPhone I used (PinGuy app) was not accurate enough due to the camera module, so I used an iPad mini and the game was slightly toward the left side, by a little less than 0.1'.

After a perfect level left/right, the ball coming from the upper playfield is correctly bouncing on the rubber and does not go anymore in the right outlane. Also, the center guitar lock is not SDTM anymore, ball is still going to the right flipper but enough to not drain.

FYI, I noticed on my game that the guitar lock diverter was moving by itself when the flipper bats or the pop bumpers were activated, and the balls were always going to the left side of the guitar. I checked the manual (page 122), and there is a tiny spring washer (wave disc spring, part 21) that is supposed to provide some resistance to the diverter. Mine was totally loose. So I (CAREFULLY, do not drop it!!!) unscrewed it, with 2 pliers I bent the spring washer, reinstall everything, and problem fixed !

Even if I have not read any problem like this, I think this information can be useful for the community.

Ok so this happened last night...if you can't lock 5 balls the correct way then here's another way!(: It started off as 2 balls with perfect bad timing jamming the drop hole, then each time I shot another ball up there to try and break them loose balls 3 4 and 5 just got stuck too.
This was the first time this happened in a week of play, however these other two spots also got stuck several times last night and have done so all week. At least on the pop if you wait for lost ball protocol it will kick it out, but the center guitar pick spot (and the fluke drain jam) require taking the glass off every time. This isn't a prob at home but I brought it to the pad first to dial it in before we put it in our tavern pin parlor, and on location we can't have mgr's taking the glass off frequently. I brought the pitch down to 6.5 but it just seemed worse and also threw off the trajectory of the inner loop/upper pf return so I bumped it back up a little, wondering how high ppl are pitching it or what's recommended?
I've also had two diverter spots where balls have gotten stuck, only once on the guitar lock right side pic included, but sev times in the middle of the two diverters leading down the middle lane on the bass - this one usually gives way after hitting the flippers a bunch. Not sure if there’s any recommended diverter tweaks?
Also on the left guitar lock (coil change from 3 to 4) after sev more hours of play we're getting about 2 out of 10 still sdtm which is way better than 8 of 10, but I went ahead and bumped the coil setting up to 5 and seemed good, will test it out more tonight. I guess if its still 2 out of 10 sdtm it won't seem too bad sitting next to our Ghostbusters!(:

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Had an issue where when the left guitar lock released, ball would go sdtm. Added a small piece of foam to slightly deflect the ball and now it falls to the right flipper. Posting in case others have the issue.

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I carefully bent(using a cloth on the metal and pliers) the left portion of the metal “platform” under the wood guitar headstock upward. I did this 6 weeks ago and have not had one SDTM from that left lock since. It feeds to the left flipper every time now. Others change the coil strength of that left lock release with varying degrees of success.

The ball is deflecting off the wireform ("catwalk") when it exits the left guitar lock. Bending the guide on the guitar lock itself won't help. A piece of foam adhered to the wireform helped mine go SDTM a lot less.

Another early adopter issue w/ fix.

For the past few weeks, my LE guitar lock was getting increasingly flaky. During gameplay, it would recognize locked balls but would not release the left lane. Sound effects would play signaling the ball was about to be dropped (funky drum fill), but then the lock wouldn't release. No visible movement/attempt. Rinse repeat. Once all other balls were lost, ball search would eventually trigger and then (10 seconds later) the lock would physically drop. Talk about anti flow.

Multiple sensor calibration attempts didn't help. When I did sensor tests, the front left sensor was doing RAPID on/off chimes. It turned out, the metal rail on the left side of the "headstock" was a bit askew. I bent it to the right and #voila. Consistent read of the sensor. I had to do some more adjustments to avoid #SDTM, but: looks like we're back to good.

Few questions for everyone.

#1. How do you qualify extra balls? I got some early on in my play and havent gotten one in quite some time....
#2 Is there anything I can do to impact where the guitar lock balls fall near the flippers? The left side balls always seem to drop sdtm....

Side note- So far my playfield is ok. Will have to check build date but probably April. I dont have a ton of plays yet as I got Stranger Things LE the same weekend as well.

All righty, I’ve had the game for 4 days now and I’d like to report in. It’s pretty incredible. I mean, I’m almost not ashamed of making such an exorbitant purchase. I kind of can’t believe how much fun it is.

July build with a June playfield, lotsa washers and posts with lock nuts, everything looks good through about 100 plays. I suspect there is pooling under some of those washers—I installed cliffys and found a pool at under the apron, just under the tilt warnings. I’ll see it again soon since I’ll have to go back in and adjust my screw up, as the odd ball will get hung up at the eject hole. Had to adjust the one way gate at the right ramp to keep balls from screaming back at me, and I’ve got to adjust the scoop angle (coming to the right tip of the left flipper) and the left lane of the guitar lock likes to go sdtm. But I suppose I’m ready for all this from following this thread from the beginning, thanks again everyone!

Other than those minor things and a couple of non-gameplay imperfections/omissions I’ve found that I’ll have to open a ticket on, it is a beautiful and well-made machine that completely steals the show in my four-pin gameroom. How many gameplay videos have I watched, and still I wasn’t ready for the gorgeousness of this machine and the stellar integration. It is a marvel, and so dang much fun it is killing me. I’ve crested ten million now… and lost so much more trying to pull some Karls with the pinball skill of a comparative squirrel

Getting there! Today I brought the slings down a couple of notches and I’m not getting slaughtered by volleyball. Oh, it still is dangerous but the murder percentage seems about halved. And finally my mini-bending of the guitar lock outs didn’t throw anything sdtm. We are making progress. My GC score of 22 mil hasn’t budged, but I see a brighter future… and it would have been amazing if I just could have found the dang scoop at the end of Sweet Child O’ Mine. Another day!

Here’s one thing I keep failing at: my bottom pop bumper’s skirt keeps getting stuck, flat against the pf, which obviously sticks the switch and it won’t fire again until I dig my fingernails against it and pull it back up. I thought it might be some mylar it was getting shoved under, but it’s not. When I un-stick it, sounds like some plastic scrapes up over whatever is holding it down, and I can’t make it stick by pushing it around with my finger. Haven’t had this problem before with a pin. Anyone have experience with such a thing?

pinball_keefer Updated code today.
Had a few rounds and on my last game, had mr brownstone going and managed to lock both balls i had going into the guitar power chord. Then one of them dropped back onto the playfield and SDTM. Which is when the sound turned off, flippers stopped responding but everything else carried on as if I was playing the song. The other ball remained in its lock position and there was no ball search.

Turned the game off and rebooted. Now it’s searching for that ball. I’ll do the calibration and hope that works, but thought I’d check if anyone else had anything like that? Made a video of the whole thing but o guess I can only upload images here

Having a problem with SDTM drains from the left guitar lock. It started after I installed the scoop Cliffy. Not sure why, because all connections are tight and both Playfields are level. I did record the ball in slow-mo, and it is careening off the left catwalk as others have noticed. Not sure why it wouldn’t do it before, I can’t recall a single SDTM during prior to the Cliffy install. I did increase the lock release duration to maximum which helped (I think the coil was releasing too soon and shooting up against the ball as it was being released which made it worse) But I still get one in five or so SDTM. Any ideas? I know some people have used bumpers to cushion the catwalk impact but I feel like that would be a last resort, and I’m not sure why it worked fine before the Cliffy install without a bumper being needed.

Tried to link slow mo video prior to adjusting the coil:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4xmxPJjJ2y3LwGtp6

Agreed, also:

1. It should have a 1-2 second ball save built in when you complete each stage through the guitar locks, sometimes those balls rolling right through the guitar lock without having to stop have a mind of their own SDTM.

2. It should be harder to qualify, make it after you progress at least 3 songs in the game, then it's like a real concert, you're not seeing Slash soloing so early on in the set, and if I'm getting lucky hitting the record, sometimes it comes up way way too soon

3. I think everyone agrees the risk vs reward is completely off. Too much risk with a very high probablility of draining doesn't make it worth the effort. Now give me some patches and some huge Jackpot then we're on the right track

4. At least give the option to cancel the solo or postpone/pass

I have a Rush Pro and the only issue I can remember having is a screw coming off of one of the plastics. I’m over 700 games in and I’ve only taken the glass off 2-3 times. There is are a bunch of machines that are having node 10 board issues but that is only on Premium/LE. It is challenging but a great shooter. I think you will love it.

My GNR has been a love/dislike (never hate) relationship. I’ve had problems with SDTM from auto launch, SDTM from center scoop eject, SDTM from guitar lock, and straight down right outlane when coming out of inner loop after dropping from upper playfield. When something like that is off it ruins the game for me and I stop playing until I finally get around to fixing it. But when everything is dialed in, I remember how much I love this game!

As for what I'd like to see in a code update, such as a version 2.0:

Score balancing. Make difficult songs worth more. Make easy songs worth less. Make album modes worth more, especially completion bonus.

Do something cool with Slash Solo. I don't think it should be stacked since its a unique mode and should be played as such. It should be worth more points and should add to song level, especially during the victory laps. I saw GnR live and was second row back standing right in front of Slash doing his solo and it was awesome. The crowd was fired up. That mode should boost the song level up a good amount. Rather than it being limited to 60 seconds, I'd like to be able to extend the solo by hitting victory lap shots. It's a shame to have to trap up and time it out when I care about points.

Make sure Band Frenzy is possible in every song. Some songs I'm waiting for a band member shot to light and it never seems to and I cant get a Band Frenzy going. For example, Patience doesn't seem to show drums or keyboards. I have gotten Band Frenzy before with some patches and luck, but other times even with patches I get stuck waiting on one thing that doesn't come up.

Add a short ball save for when a ball is released from the guitar lock. I hate when the ball releases and bounces weird and goes SDTM, especially when its in single ball play.

Integrate the shaker better in the songs. Some songs the shaker works great and others I don't think it works at all.

Don't allow a mystery award to start song. I think it'll say light song and it starts anyway. That's fine if it lights the song, but don't start it. I'd like to be able to disable the song like I can for album modes.

Add song level to the status screen before playing the song so you know what the song level at.

Move the "Jackpot Increased" animation out of the way during a song. Often times I look up to see what the jackpot value is and its blocked.

Add a high score for "Jackpot Lost". I wont feel as bad about loosing a 100 million + jackpot if I can put my name in for it. I'd also like to know what the jackpot was at after draining out of a song.

I'd like an alternate game where you choose any song and play it from the start. Kind of like the Escape Nublar Challenge on Jurassic Park where you can play just that mode instead of the normal game. This would be fun for non-pinball people. They'll have fun rocking out and flipping the ball around instead of spending most of the time in a building stage they don't understand only to get play the start of a song on ball three and having it end once the short ball save expires. I'm thinking unlimited ball save for the entire song, but you can still get booed off stage. I'd like to be able to choose how many balls would be in play for this. One would be good for the non-pinball people because all six is pretty chaotic even for advanced players. Another way it could be done is starting with one ball with a starting ball save, and a person could add a ball by completing stages or power chords, but without unlimited ball save. Completing a stage would add to the ball save or restart it. There are many ways this feature could be implemented, but I would like some form of a single song alternate game mode.

Me? I’m a first run OG . I’ve fixed more spotlights than we have fingers and toes.

I’ve seen it all:

Playfield pooling, washers, PETG washers, ironing the damn playfield to fix pooling, owners fault! (That was priceless), larger posts, flipper angles (is backhanding the left ramp to collect patches cheating?), blue nubber replacement, terrible scoring imbalance, SDTM from guitar lock, Mylar peeling on drumsticks, magnet coil thermal switch failures, constant tweaking of orbits and scoop, weird communications error pop ups on screen... I think that covers almost all of the hot button issues over the years. Oh yeah, there was a time when their code update broke Wi-Fi and freaked people out. Good times.

I was really hoping this last code update would have fixed what everyone complained about code wise. Unfortunately naming it 2.0 means to me they have put this code to bed.

Oh well. Great light show and a blast for guests to play

Ok, so what's the guitar neck lock release SDTM fix, playing last night, I had so many balls release and basically just go straight down the middle, I looked through the sticky and couldn't really see anything that identifies this issue.

Any ideas ?!

cheers

Ok guys that are working on GnR code.Please change code to give back an air ball that jumps ship and also SDTM from guitar lock please!

This would be properly addressed as a mechanical, or setup fix, right?
Otherwise you're just using software to fix more unique per game symptoms instead of the owner's finding and addressing the root cause of those issues that don't exist in the majority of games.

I'm not saying I have your answers on how to fix your specific pin, but I'm also wondering how the code logic would know the difference in the ball or balls coming off the guitar lock vs any other ball on the playfield that drains during that 1 or 2 seconds.

So basically you are asking for a timed ball saver activated /triggered by the guitar lock mech.

You can simulate that now with the coin door ball saver enabled in settings, and when you feel you've been slighted by a sdtm, just reach down and open the coin door and save your own ball.
Ask me how I know this works?

Forgive me fellow owners, for I have sinned.... I have a confession to make....

I have my coin door ball saver enabled and I use it any time I want when I'm playing for fun and want to keep going in the game. It's a relatively recent change in settings for me (6 months or so I think) and it wasn't always available in the GnR code,iirc. (Edited for clarity)
I've had this game since November 2021 and at this point I am about as good as I am going to get so I empower myself to be able to play it how I want and as long as I want. The coin door ball saver option gives me this optional ability to keep going if I do choose, but aside from that you can use it to save your sdtm situations. I enjoy being able to get to applause jackpot in civil war or estranged for example, and rock the entire song, if I so choose.
There i said it.

Judge not, lest ye be judged. Judgement is the Lord's.
Let's have a great Sunday y'all! Rock on!

Cancel Song: Game Settings > Song > Cancel Song Start Option Time

Guitar Lock SDTM Ballsaver: Game Settings > Devices > Guitar Lockup Release Ballsaver