Need Fast Advice About A Golden Tee Cab I Wanna Buy And Convert

[journeyfan1977]

Ok, so I looked at a Golden Tee Cab made in 2003 from a guy on Craigslist. Below is the link to the ad...

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/vgm/3351921709.html

I inspected the cabinet and it's in great shape. The monitor is enormous (think it's 29 inches). The monitor showed some static like pops while I was playing it. My questions are this:

1) Would this be caused by it needing a cap kit? I love the idea of a true CRT monitor...aren't they simply better looking than LCD monitors for these older games?

2) I assume I will need an Arcade VGA to hook the monitor up to a modern PC, but does this require the monitor to be discharged and removed from the cabinet? I am scared to death to muck around with a monitor and hope it doesn't have to be removed.

3) Moving the cabinet: This thing is an absolute BEAST! Weighs 500+ pounds. I don't think a normal hand truck will handle this. Where can I get a flat dolly big enough to move it to the truck? And is it safe for the cab to lay it on it's back on a dolly?

These are my most pressing questions before I buy this. Need some quick answers guys.

-Keith

[paigeoliver]

0. It is a 25" or a 27" monitor not a 29" (29" is just what they call 27" monitors in japan where they are allowed to lie about the size). Also, it is overpriced. That is a conversion machine listed for $500. Last 2 auctions I went to had the dedicated ones going under $200. Operators are dumping old golden tee machines left and right now.

1. Static could be a lot of things, but that cabinet is older than the game that is in it so it could indeed be cap time.. Older arcade titles look way better on tube monitors than LCD.

2. You don't have to remove a monitor or discharge it to install an arcadeVGA. You only have to discharge a monitor if you are going to work on the chassis. That is it. No other time, ever. The danger of all of that is also way overstated in the various FAQS. There is a change you might have a tri-mode monitor in there like a D9200, in which case you would not need an arcadeVGA, but you probably will need one. There are also VGA to CGA adaptors out there, which are cheaper than the arcadeVGA.

3. It does not weigh 500+ pounds. It will be more like 375-400 (I literally just sold one in that same cabinet style a few weeks ago, and didn't even need help loading the thing onto the truck to deliver it). You do not need a special dolly to move it. A normal one is fine (even the lowest rated one you can buy at harbor freight is rated for 550 pounds, which is way more than this weighs). Just make sure the tires are aired up to max pressure if they take air (they NEVER are). I have moved many hundreds of these things and it really isn't a big deal. I can load and unload one of those onto my truck by myself. It can lay on its back just fine (always check inside to make sure nothing is loose though).

[mgb]

I have seen those static like pops also simply be caused from the 5 volts to the game board being a bit low.

The danger of all of that is also way overstated in the various FAQS.

Agreed

[paigeoliver]

Also, make darn sure it is has the same game version inside as it says on the marquee. As that is a classic era golden tee cabinet, but the marquee says Fore. I have seen quite a few machines out there in home buyer's hands that had Fore series marquees and panels on them but were running older circuit boards. It was a common little operator trick when selling off old Golden Tee machines to label them as much newer machines (most operators had giant stacks of Golden Tee marquees due to all the annual upgrade kits they installed).

This matters because when you go to sell the cabinet guts a Fore setup is worth 3-4x what the older ones are.

[brad808]

After you check that everything inside is secure... double check I've made the mistake of not checking and I wrecked a pcb because of it.

If anything happens to be loose when you lay it down and start driving it's easy to wreck a game or monitor.

Sent from my Desire HD

[lilshawn]

I'm thinking more likely a k7500 monitor in there.