Frispel
sedan 2001
What kind of wood are CPR's playfields made from? **NEW**We have traditionally used seven layered 17/32" plywood from American Hardwoods Inc (formerly Weber Inc.), which was the supplier for Stern and many other playfield makers since the sixties. However American Hardwoods, in an effort to stay liquid in the downturn a few years back sold off the equipment needed to make plywood of the quality we had been using. Instead of looking at this as a negative we looked at this as another opportunity to yet again improve our Playfields.American hardwood had been using Maple veneers and sweet gum wood cores. While the Maple veneers are hard at a density of 46lbs/cuft the Sweetgum cores were fairly soft with a density of only 33lbs/cuft. We think this low density core wood was a contributing factor to the rapid dimpling noticed in all new playfields. So we took this opportunity to get rid of the cheaper Sweetgum cores and introduce White Ash which with a density of 41lbs/cuft makes for a much denser and tougher wood and consequently a tougher Playfield. How much denser? Well, the weight of a blank Playfield went up by almost five pounds! Our Playfields now are much tougher than any playfield ever made before and much more resistant to dimpling from ball hits. Yes, it's more expensive BUT why settle for second best?
