Rails could be loose among other things. That will deaden the response. The subrail is just the face that the cushion glues to. Are the sr's cracked? Need to have a mech. check it out.
Talk to a mechanic via phone, rails can be shipped, a lot of people do it that way. I wouldn't rebuild the subrails myself having never done it or seen it done before.
A friend who's pretty handy did his a while back and they turned out great. He's a wood hobbyist. He asked around, took pics and took his time. If you don't have decent woodwork skills i wouldn't try it.
Best of luck to ya, hope they turn out great. Take some pics, I'd love to see them.
Your rail height may be off as the K55 profile cushions sold today (SuperSpeed) are not the same as what the table came with (Monarch). As a result, the sub rail bevel has to be adjusted to get the proper rail height and retain the true playing surface dimensions. What is the height of the nose of the cushion? To get an accurate measurement, don’t use a tape measure.
Please quantify.
Are you near San Jose? I can take a look at pictures, or in person, and offer some guidance
For very old tables that have been recovered countless times, many of those recover jobs pre 1970s when they were using tacks instead of staples, the subrails are likely incredibly chewed up / uneven. This makes it virtually impossible for the cushions to be installed dead straight and to play well, even if replacing with new top quality cushion rubbers, unless the subrails are first repaired/replaced.
Try lowering the nose of the cushion. I don't know the optimum height. The closer you go towards center ball, the quicker the balls leave the cushion. Downside is you may experience ball hop until you get it right.
