Hopefully a populated playfield? Of all the games I have ever had WOZ is the one I like working on least. Swapping an unpopulated playfield in WOZ would suck even for me, I can't imagine a novice trying his hand at this task (not to say the OP is a novice).

Obviously this is chipping and not wear. A sign of poor quality control by JJP on a limited number of machines. Most WOZ owners should not worry, just as most ACDC owners should not worry about theirs looking like the defective one above. And yes, a manufacturer is just as responsible for the quality of supplier's products as they are for in-house product (read ISO-9000).

Exactly. Eliminating a vendor is potentially great for future products assuming the new vendor is any better than the old one. What eliminating the vendor does not do is "resolve the problem". I know it might sound like splitting hairs but this is something you learn in the first week as a Quality Auditor. This is the type of supplier quality control that leads to something as simple as LED boards being defective three years into the project.

What "lazy" person is going to spend the dozens of hours is would take to strip the playfield down, install the protector and put everything back?

Wow! Thanks for posting this. Even after looking at all the pictures in this thread it never dawned on me that a new pinball machine could come without mylar in the pop bumper area. Sure enough, I just went in and looked at WOZ and there is no effen mylar there. I see a few squares of mylar in drop spots around the playfield, but not a single custom cut piece. I will have to cut a piece and put it in the pops. Just one more corner cut at the factory that supposedly does not cut corners...

Looks closer. Its there, it goes all the way up to the inlanes. If not, Stern will send you a precut piece because it is supposed to be there.

A few dollars of mylar could have saved a lot of heartache. Even if the playfield was defective the mylar could have held chips in place and hidden the defects for many years. Hard to believe any game, let alone one as expensive as these would come without mylar in the pops.