Here's a quick mod for the few EM types that frequent here. Gottlieb bells and chimes are known as the high water mark in electromechanical "music". After hearing the soothing bells/chimes on a Gottlieb wedgehead, your aural senses will be spoiled for all other EM noise. That's exactly what happened when I got Williams Spanish Eyes up and running in the gameroom. The game has a single chime located in the back of the cabinet that triggers at 100s and 1000s scoring (the 10s have no chime associated, so you just get the clunk of the advancing score reel as per usual on cheap-o WMS games from the era.) The chime bar is built inside of a luan or other thin ply wood box and sounds like complete shit. I rebuilt the chime with new rubber spacers and tried to adjust it every which way, but it still sounded clunky, sick and dead.
In the EM Hangout on Pinside, I got the idea of replacing this chime with a bell. Bell assemblies are available from Pinball Resource and come in a few different types. I went with a plated 10s/100s point bell, originally used in 1950s and 1960s Gottlieb games. If you tell Pinball Resource that the bell will be a replacement for something other than a Gottlieb game, they will pre-install the proper coil for you! Turns out, the Spanish Eyes chime coil was compatible with the stock one installed on the PB Resource bells.
My PBR Bell:
I disconnected the wires from the chime coil, and added lengths of wire to reach into the backbox. I suppose I could have installed the bell in the cabinet, but it was much easier on my back to install it in the backbox, and will probably make for better acoustics in the long run as well. I zip-tied the new wire lengths to the Jones plug harness and added quick connects on the end of the wire for easy disconnection in case the game ever needs to be moved. Viola. The game sounds 100% better. It is not stock, but makes for a more pleasant playing experience.
Another Pinside member suggested that the game could also be wired to have bells for each of the 10s, 100s and 1000s, by adding PB Resource's plated ones bell for the 10s, using the one I installed for the 100s, and then getting the big 5-inch bell for the 1000s. It would require some extra modification, as you'd have to wire these directly from the points relays in the backbox, not an impossible job, just a lot more wire. You'd also have to plan space for all the extra hardware in the backbox, and if there isn't room, it would have to be transplanted back down into the cabinet.
I've added before and after pictures of the install. If I can figure out how to add a video, I'll do that, too, for the complete sensory experience (wish I had a video of what it sounded like before, but trust me, it was horrid).
The original cruddy chime box. Notice the litany of shit I tried attaching to it to try to make the sound a bit more appealing (to no avail). You can see the two newly installed yellow wires running with the harness for the new bell in the backbox:
The bell installed in the backbox:
My son, official play tester, gives the new sounds a whirl.
In the EM Hangout on Pinside, I got the idea of replacing this chime with a bell. Bell assemblies are available from Pinball Resource and come in a few different types. I went with a plated 10s/100s point bell, originally used in 1950s and 1960s Gottlieb games. If you tell Pinball Resource that the bell will be a replacement for something other than a Gottlieb game, they will pre-install the proper coil for you! Turns out, the Spanish Eyes chime coil was compatible with the stock one installed on the PB Resource bells.
My PBR Bell:
I disconnected the wires from the chime coil, and added lengths of wire to reach into the backbox. I suppose I could have installed the bell in the cabinet, but it was much easier on my back to install it in the backbox, and will probably make for better acoustics in the long run as well. I zip-tied the new wire lengths to the Jones plug harness and added quick connects on the end of the wire for easy disconnection in case the game ever needs to be moved. Viola. The game sounds 100% better. It is not stock, but makes for a more pleasant playing experience.
Another Pinside member suggested that the game could also be wired to have bells for each of the 10s, 100s and 1000s, by adding PB Resource's plated ones bell for the 10s, using the one I installed for the 100s, and then getting the big 5-inch bell for the 1000s. It would require some extra modification, as you'd have to wire these directly from the points relays in the backbox, not an impossible job, just a lot more wire. You'd also have to plan space for all the extra hardware in the backbox, and if there isn't room, it would have to be transplanted back down into the cabinet.
I've added before and after pictures of the install. If I can figure out how to add a video, I'll do that, too, for the complete sensory experience (wish I had a video of what it sounded like before, but trust me, it was horrid).
The original cruddy chime box. Notice the litany of shit I tried attaching to it to try to make the sound a bit more appealing (to no avail). You can see the two newly installed yellow wires running with the harness for the new bell in the backbox:
The bell installed in the backbox:
My son, official play tester, gives the new sounds a whirl.
