Are you building a cabinet from scratch? or are you getting an old cabinet? are you installing repro artwork? or are you making artwork from scratch?
Not really clear on what your intention is...
Anyway, I was able to get an old Tempest cab and install an SVGA monitor in it (open frame arcade type monitor).
http://home.earthlink.net/~asumner/artsarcadelab/id40.htmlWorks and looks great, and my wife loves it.
I will keep it as a Tempest cabinet, even though it is MAME-driven and I could put more games on it ...(already have full MAME cab plus some other dedicated cabs)... It is really nice having a dedicated Tempest cab to play Tempest.
In my opinion, a Tempest would not look good with a joystick on it... some guy on Ebay put a 48-in-1 kit in a Tempest cabinet and here is the result...it is actually hideous...

Tempest is such a unique game that it really deserves its own cabinet... and if your friend is really a Tempest fan, I think he will more appreciate a dedicated Tempest cab than a MAMEd Tempest cab with a bunch of non-Tempest controls on it...
Just my opinion...
I know my wife would cut off MY... "joystick"... if I dare put a joystick on her Tempest cab that she loves so much...
