Slik Stik - Any Word

[CheffoJeffo]

Well I'm certainly not. I am however comparing it to a traditionally built screw and glue construction as opposed to outrigger\cam construction. It just doesn't hold up. Now, if you don't move it ever, and it's not used on location, I don't see a problem with home use only. A disclaimer should be mentioned however, especially in an objective review. Me, I prefer something a little more durable, just in case. Back in my apartment hopping days I can't count how many pieces of cheap particle board cam construction furniture didn't make it to the next place...

Safe to say we're on the same side ... I was just surprised to see Shoegazer try to make such a comparison -- I've seen some 20+YO HUO/NIB cabs and authentic cabs certainly don't start off looking like the way they do after years of abuse in a corner in a movie theatre.

[Shoegazer]

Cheffo has a good point, but in my case, I was commenting on things like wood thickness and the melamine in the arcade cab vs. the formica on my SS cab.  That has nothing to do with wear-and-tear.  Not that it matters to the quality of the cab itself, but I also noticed the buttons they used in the arcade cab were nowhere near as high quality as the Happ buttons SS chose to include on my cab - and that also had nothing to do with the fact that they were pressed 10 billion times more than mine.  

Having said all that, I feel very badly that some of the folks on this thread got as screwed as they did.  I guess I'm lucky in a sense that I actually got my cab, but I still feel as screwed as any customer in a more "normal" situation would when they spend a lot of money on a product and the company they bought it from goes belly up overnight.  I'd love to send my panel back to SS to have a flush mount Trackball installed in place of my original, but now I know that'll never happen, especially since I don't have the tools needed to do it myself.

Shoegazer

[CheffoJeffo]

Cheffo has a good point, but in my case, I was commenting on things like wood thickness and the melamine in the arcade cab vs. the formica on my SS cab.  That has nothing to do with wear-and-tear.  Not that it matters to the quality of the cab itself, but I also noticed the buttons they used in the arcade cab were nowhere near as high quality as the Happ buttons SS chose to include on my cab - and that also had nothing to do with the fact that they were pressed 10 billion times more than mine.  

Other than my Nintendo cabs, all of mine are 3/4" either plywood or particle board. That is pretty much standard. Are you suggesting that Slikstik built cabs with thicker material (they might have ... I don't have one) ?

As for buttons, pretty much the lowest quality buttons I have ever had on a cab were Happ buttons (and they were crap because they were worn). The 29 year-old buttons on my Asteroids cab are in better shape than some Happ buttons that I bought new less than 5 years ago. I have 20-year-old NOS Wico buttons that look and feel better than any new buttons I have bought.

Yeah, some operators swap in cheap parts when the convert cabs, but they definitely don't come out of the factory that way.

FWIW, I get your point (SS built some good stuff ... I bought stuff from them in the past), I just don't think that the comparison you make is valid.

[Ummon]

I think the standard for wood cabs has always been 3/4" playwood...um, plywood/particle board.

 I'd love to send my panel back to SS to have a flush mount Trackball installed in place of my original, but now I know that'll never happen, especially since I don't have the tools needed to do it myself.

Shoegazer

You just send it to Mameroom or ArU, instead.

[Shoegazer]

Well, I beg to differ with you.  My comparison was perfectly valid.  Apparently SS made their cabs of thicker material, at least from some of the ones I've seen.  The cabs I saw that day specifically were at least 1/2" thickness, and definitely thinner than my SS cab, especially around the control panel. 

I personally love the Happ buttons, and they're some of the highest quality of those I've used.  Sure they aren't as sturdy feeling as Asteroids buttons (Atari used different buttons in Asteroids than most other cabs of the day; Gyruss also comes to mind) but they're clearly above industry average.  Also the buttons I saw on the cabs that day didn't look like they were swapped at all - their color matched perfectly fit the motif of the cabinet art. 

Shoegazer

[CheffoJeffo]

I beg to differ.  I have a SlikStik cab and love it, and it's definitely of higher quality than most arcade cabinets. I was at a movie theater a few weeks ago and they had a few standup fighters etc.  It was amazing to me how much higher quality my SS cab is than those cabs. 

Emphasis mine -- you appear to base your assessment of your SS cab being better than most arcade cabinets on a few standup fighters that you saw in a movie theatre.

*I* don't have any clue what those fighter cabinets were or what condition they were in. You say that they were made of 1/2" -- I can't argue. I can only point out that, except for the 9/16" Nintendo cabs, I have never once seen a wooden cabinet made of material less than 3/4" (doesn't mean they don't exist). Perhaps the ones you saw are homebrew cabs. 

There are a number of different types of "Happ buttons" -- some convex, some concave, some with vertical switches, so horizontal, some are good, some no so much. I don't think any of them age well. Hey, *I* use Happ horizontal buttons.

At this point I am just being pedantic ... everybody I know of who has a SS cab is happy with it.

 

[Shoegazer]

I think we're picking too much nit here.  My SS cab is definitely of higher quality than the cabs I saw, without a question.  The wood was definitely thinner, especially around the lip of the control panel.  I examined them for quite a while, and I remember checking to be sure they weren't some hack or homebrew job.

Anyway, I guess we can let this rest now.  At least we're both in violent agreement that SS cabs are high quality.     I just wish I had the option of getting another one if I wanted it.  Again I feel badly for those on this thread who never even got their FIRST one.  That still amazes me.   

[Ummon]

Yeah, I like the 'Simpsons' type cab with slant monitor. Man, I looked at Arcades R Fun and they have no products at all. What's with that?

[Justin Z]

That's odd, and a pity if it's intentional.  Jack does really good work.