GC2 refurbish advice

S

Savage

New member
I am in the process of refurbishing a 9ft GC2 (not 100% sure it's a 2, but fairly confident) with my FIL. All the wood has been sanded down and stained or painted and I decided to powdercoat the metal (leg levelers, pockets, trim, etc) in black. It's coming along nicely but I need some advice on the next steps.

1. I need to select cloth. I want a tournament blue color and I was originally thinking about Simonis 860 but started reading about Champion 30/30 and that it plays faster. I was recommended to get a fast cloth because of the 9ft table. I am not an avid player but have always wanted a table. This is my first one and I want it to play nice. If I'm not a serious player, should I save a buck and get the 30/30 or is Simonis the only way to go? If I do go with with Simonis, what should I get for the 9ft? 860HR? 720? 720HR? I've read many threads about them but didnt get any feedback about the 9ft.

2. I need replacement drop pockets. The one's that came with the table are broken and beat up pool hall pockets that smell like smoke. Can someone reccomend a good replacement? It's $125 for new ones from bruswick but I've seen them for much less (low as $35) elsewhere, just curious what is a decent quality option. The super cheap ones make me nervous without a personal review.

3. The rail counters are a bit beat up. Is it easier/better to just replace them or should try to fix them? the metal spring tabs that make each number click and hold in place have broken in a few spots. I imagine I would have to fabricate something. Can someone recommend a good replacement? They are the chrome trim version.
 
Paul Schofield had a good idea for repairing scoring markers on an early GC.
You could do a search for his name to see a picture of how he did the repair.

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Perfect. I found the thread and it seems super simple. I will definitely try to fix my counters. I'm not sure if they are original, but if they are, it's always cool to keep the vintage stuff when possible.
 
I would like to commend you on your choice of a "starter table" My GC is my first table also. You will find several of the members here love the Gold Crowns!

Anyhow, when I rebuilt my counters I bought the replacement counter springs from Ken Hash at Classic Billiards. He had new ones made up, they seem to be an exact reproduction of the originals.

http://www.classicbilliards.net/html/AntiquePoolTablePartsProducts.cfm?img=a_c_spr.jpg&item=A/C/SPR&price=$14.95&Shipping=$3.00&Desc=Spring for Anniversary/Centennial Rail Counters

That being said, the weak link in my opinion is that the spring flexes under the screw head. There isn't very much spring material on each side of the spring, that's where mine broke.

To remedy this, I put thin stainless washers that fit the screw snugly, but the outer diameter of the washer was about 2 times the diameter of the screw head.
That supports the spring in that area and causes the flex point to be further up the spring toward the counter wheel. The spring now flexes where it's stronger at full width.
 
Thanks for the input. I had poked around classic billiards but didnt see the springs when I looked. I might do one of these cheap fixes and see how that is just to save time and money.

My buddy used to be a mechanic and hooked me up with the table when a pool hall closed down. I've been sitting on it for 6 years and finally getting around to refurbishing it. So far so good!
 
Cloth

I just had my 9 ft Gandy reworked by JZMechanix (Jack Zimmerman) He did all the rail work and I covered the bed. I looked at several different cloths and since I don't have the almighty stroke,I went with the Simonis 760.
I'm super glad that I did,it makes it alot easier for me to go 3 rails. The only thing that I would change about how I did all this is, I'd have Jack Z. come and set the table up for me as well. Great mechanic and person!

Get the 760 ,you'll be glad you did. Get in touch with Jack and I think he can also help you with pocket replacements
 
Colormegone2002 said:
I just had my 9 ft Gandy reworked by JZMechanix (Jack Zimmerman) He did all the rail work and I covered the bed. I looked at several different cloths and since I don't have the almighty stroke,I went with the Simonis 760.
I'm super glad that I did,it makes it alot easier for me to go 3 rails. The only thing that I would change about how I did all this is, I'd have Jack Z. come and set the table up for me as well. Great mechanic and person!

Get the 760 ,you'll be glad you did. Get in touch with Jack and I think he can also help you with pocket replacements
Click to expand...

Seems like your table would play pretty fast with 760, I have 860 with re-calibrated rails and current profile Artemis cushions on my GCII and I can get 9 rails around the table, same as the 9' Diamond at the bar.
 
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