I am specifically looking at the wood panel long shaft models. Are these all supers? I just installed my first true 4way, a GGG gold leaf Leaf-Pro, and love the response to it. 4 way games are soooo much easier.
I seem to post this often, but I'll do it again anyway
9 times out of 10, long sticks = reduced response. This is why you see such short 4-ways on the Pac-type games and others. With a 4-way stick, you need restriction, which adds another level of complexity to the mechanical equation. The Leaf-Pro sticks use leaf switches which can easily be tuned to provide the sensitivity desired, but making them more sensitive comes at the cost of being able to actuate more than one switch at a time, which partially defeats the mechanical restriction. Making the restriction smaller to accommodate increased sensitivity is also very difficult, if not impossible, as it would severely shorten the throw of the stick.
Short shafted sticks will almost always provide better control. Mounting these types of sticks below a thick wood panel results in a short exposed shaft. For that reason, it is necessary to route out a pocket a bit larger in size than the base of the joystick assembly, in the underside of the panel. If using carriage bolts to mount it, 1/4" of material is enough to leave at the top. They can also be top-mounted, by making a pocket in the upper surface of the panel, and covered with an overlay. These methods reduce the shaft length a bit, but nowhere near what the full panel thickness would. Another option is a metal mounting plate, which replicates the metal panel for which short shafts are really designed.
RandyT