Help me source or mod ball shafts for wico sticks

[rjarcade]

I recently aquired several used black base wico leaf sticks for project work.  The sticks still work well but the chromed shafts are somewhat ratty looking.

Does anyone have any experience locating NOS replacement shafts or identifying a suitable replacement that can be machined without too many steps?  Ideally, I am looking for red ball-tops, or a black handle style, but am open to other ideas.

I just read Rayb's fire-button balltop stick thread.  These are the same style wico sticks that he has pictures of.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=20914

These would have been an ideal solution, but as Ray sold out before I bought the WICO sticks, I am looking for a plan B.

Thanks Guys!

[Bgnome]

howbout this guy?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6118553901

[rjarcade]

That looks good.  I don't know how I missed them in my ebay search.

[RayB]

I see Wico ball-top shafts for sale on EBAY all the time. It's hit or miss on the condition though. Most are used.

[MinerAl]

The other thing to try first is polishing the ratty shafts you have.

An electric drill and some steel wool will do wonders for ugly shafts.

[spidermonkey]

http://www.arcadeshop.com/parts.htm

These guys have reproduction Robotron red balltop shafts for $25.00 a pair. Robotron sticks were Wico sticks so these will work with your bases.  Price is a bit steep but they are brand spankin new. All depends on how bad you want shiny new sticks. Only come in red though.

[rjarcade]

Thanks guys.

I ended up buying the orange ones that Bgnome pointed out, but am a little unsure whether the color will be okay with my plans.  I suppose if they don't work I will just have to put them back up for sale on ebay to recover part of my expense.

I had also seriously looked at the robotron sticks at arcade shop as a possible solution before, but these will go into a metal CP for a cocktail cab and the robotron shafts look a little longer than the standard WICO shafts so I am afraid I'll end up banging my hands into the top glass unless I machine them down.

In the meantime, I will have to break out the dremel and see how much of an improvement I can achieve with the existing sticks as MinerAL suggested.

Thanks for the info guys.