Episode 13 - Ashley Ludwig (Pinball Restorer) / RIP Matt Keil
This episode is dedicated in loving memory of Matt Keil. Matt recently passed away after a battle with ALS. You can donate here to help his wife and 3 children:...
Highlights
- Ashley Ludwig found her pinball restoration job on Craigslist in 2013 as a sign painter with no prior knowledge of pinball machines
- Ludwig has been working in pinball restoration for nearly 10 years (as of the recording) and has worked on hundreds of machines
- Early production runs of pinball cabinets show crisper stencil art than later production runs due to cumulative paint buildup creating air gaps
- Matt Kyle, a Nudge Magazine music reviewer and Comeback Kid musician, has recently passed away
- You are 100 times more likely to be in the NBA than to be an American Pinball restoration artist
- Surface preparation is the most critical part of pinball restoration; poor prep cannot be overcome by quality paint alone
Notable quotes
“It doesn't matter how good of a painter you are, if you're painting on a rough, bumpy surface, there's never enough paint to cover that up. So I think it boils down a lot to paying attention to prepping your surface and filling areas that are gouged out and sanding corners and getting everything level.”
“I can match colors like 99 and a half percent of the time. There's like a half percentage that has a weird kind of like pigment thing going on that makes it difficult.”
“The sleek beeps and boops of pinball savant slash DJ Scott Danesi's Total Nuclear Annihilation dropkicks the listener into an ideological battle between a future where mankind's technological advances have surpassed his ability to control them and a past where he is still dicking around on guitar.”
“When some washed up stiff like Elvis wants to criticize all the cool shit you're into, like Bobby Pickett, put together a fucked up rockabilly band full of goblins and hold a grudge forever.”
“Currently, um, in my closet, you know, it's 95 degrees, lots of motorcycles zipping outside, so I had to shut all the windows, but we had kind of a quiet place, so I had to pull all my clothes out of the, out of my closet, and I made a little, a little nest in here.”
“It's almost like the human element matters in art, you know, amazing. 100%, I mean that essentially is what art is. It's, you know, nothing is new these days. It's just, it needs to be interpreted through your eyes and your hands.”
Entities
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Williams· company
- Dipsy Doodle· game
- Foo Fighters· game
- Monster Bash· game
- Road Kings· game
- Royal Flush· game
- Total Nuclear Annihilation· game
- White Water· game
- X-Men Pro· game
- Buffalo Pinball· organization
- Comeback Kid· organization
- Mad Pinball· organization
- Nudge Magazine· organization
- Silverstone· organization
- Ashley Ludwig· person
- Ian Jacoby· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Matt Kyle· person
- Scott Danesi· person
- Shane Told· person
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