Timber CPO differences

mdeslaur

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Are there two different versions of the Timber CPO?

In the attached photo, the top is my original control panel, the bottom is the repro CPO by Phoenix Arcade.

Notice in the original, the chain links are brown, while in the repro they are the light beige color.

Most Timber photos I see online look like the repro.

(I'm not unhappy with the repro, I'm just curious if there are two versions...)
 

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I found another pic online with a control panel that has the brown chain links.
 

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looks like someone gave them a faded panel for reference and that's what they went with on the repo. go with the brown one as correct unless someone says theirs is original like the repo. The repo looks like all kinds of wrong..
 
That's what I originally thought too, but I don't think that's the case. The chain links are the same brown as the lettering. If the CPO had faded, both would have faded equally, but in the repo, the chain links are white and the lettering is dark brown.
 
Here's another picture I grabbed from an image search. The overlay looks original based on the fact that it's worn and seems to have more details to it than the repo, but it does have the repo color scheme.
 

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I have an original Timber #234 and my CPO is a rich brown like the one on your machine (not the repro).
I find it hard to believe that they would have had two versions of this CPO.
This is a very low production machine and IMPO and it makes no sense to do two separate printings of the CPO.

Original Timbers are made out of Factory converted Tappers.
I.E. the Timber side and front art are applied directly over the original Tapper side art (on non color side art Tapper cabs). There are some Timber conversion done latter out there, but I think you have to discredit those in this discussion as they are done later by someone who wants a Timber and not factory.
There are are still a few other differences on a factory Timber.

On the back of a factory Timber it should have the original Tapper serial number that was defaced at the factory. I.E. it should be a really high Tapper serial number as it was at the end of the run. That number should be defaced and stamped out. You can still read the number with a little work, but it should be crossed it out by stamping "XXXXXXX" over it. After that the factor stamped a new serial number to the side which is the correct serial number for the Timber.
As I mentioned, mine is number 234. Ive also looked at a handful of other timbers, as well and check the ones in VAPS where people list the serial number as well as the high-low list etc. In fact, every legit Timber serial number that I have seen is a three digit serial number.
Granted I have only seen a small sampling and need a bigger case study, but its pretty interesting.

I have a theory that I've been throwing around. It might be spot on, or I may be totally out to lunch. I suspect since all the serial number I can find are 3 digit, that they probably only made 1000 or so of these. Its not a big case study as I've only seen the serial numbers on a handful of games so it needs more data. Keep in mind that this game came out in 1984 at the end of the gold age right after the crash. People simply were not buying these. I would love to see pictures of peoples Timber serial numbers to either confirm my theory or prove it wrong. Right now its just a theory.
Anyhow, back on topic. Either way, its a relatively rare game that they didn't make a lot of. I don't see why they would have multiple CPOs.
 
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The back of my cabinet is too rough to make out the original Tapper serial, but I do have the serial tag on the inside. Mine is #205.

Could there be two different CPO designs based on the fact that there were two different control panels depending on whether the cabinet was originally a Tapper or a Root beer tapper? I just noticed the picture I posted in comment #5 was originally a root beer tapper, as it doesn't have the two black side blocks.
 
Could there be two different CPO designs based on the fact that there were two different control panels depending on whether the cabinet was originally a Tapper or a Root beer tapper? I just noticed the picture I posted in comment #5 was originally a root beer tapper, as it doesn't have the two black side blocks.

I guess thats one possible explanation.
It would be interesting to start at Timber registry where the serial number and other pertinent information was tracked. It would also be interested to note in each case what the original cabinet is/was.
Mine has the wood side blocks as well.
 
Did you mean this one?

http://zwackery.rotheblog.com/timber-registry.php

Or did you mean start a new one?

I had never seen that before, thanks for sharing.
Ill send him an email and add my machine to the list.
So I guess the highest serial number he has recorded is 1218, with all the rest being 3 digit numbers.
Still sounds like a pretty small production run.

Interesting that the rood beer tapper and bud tapper serial numbers are not sequential (at least in the 300-400 range).
I would have thought that one serial number run would be for one or the other and they would be in other. Seems like they were doing them both at the same time.
 
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Any idea on the ones he has listed as 0000 for the serial number?
Are they actually all zeros for the serial number? Or are those ones where you can't tell and the serial number is unknown?
 
The back of my cabinet is too rough to make out the original Tapper serial, but I do have the serial tag on the inside. Mine is #205.



Could there be two different CPO designs based on the fact that there were two different control panels depending on whether the cabinet was originally a Tapper or a Root beer tapper? I just noticed the picture I posted in comment #5 was originally a root beer tapper, as it doesn't have the two black side blocks.



Mine was originally a root beer rapper so your hunch may be correct
 
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