Pinball repair wizard has a supple wrist
If you are facing a nondigital repair in a digital age, there are a few local repairmen who still know how
The back of the vintage pinball machine had been removed, exposing its electro-mechanical innards. From the front, the script on the "back glass" reads "Hula-Hula," and the painted illustrations feature surfing and other beach activities.
Since Greg Nichols had it working properly, the little automated hula dancer in the center was able to wiggle again.
The Chicago Coin-manufactured "Hula-Hula" machine is the property of Jim Dunn of Hampton, N.H., a comedian, surfer, and former arcade rat who collects vintage surf and beach-themed pinball machines. Nichols is his Dr. Frankenstein, bringing the old machines back to life.
When he bought his first machine a few years ago, Dunn liked the look (the artwork on the "backglass" of machines was painted by talented artists, who built a following among collectors), but it didn't work well. Wanting to get the function to match the form, he sought advice from others. That advice led him to Nichols.
"I heard from a couple of people - the real diehard pinball freaks - who all said, 'There's a guy in Beverly,' " Dunn recalled. "That blew my mind, because I grew up in Beverly and had never heard of the guy."
Dunn found Nichols's shop - there's no sign, but it's called Gregg Music & Vending - in the back of a warehouse on Water Street. The room Nichols shares with the owner of the building is crowded with tools, cabinets full of parts, pinball games, boxes, and miscellaneous bicycles, change machines, a jukebox, an old clock, and more, all in various stages of disrepair. You almost expect Nichols to reach into one of the workshop's nooks and crannies and pull out a monkey's paw.
"You go to his place and it's unbelievable, like something out of the movies," said dentist Roger Wise, another of his clients, "He's also like the last of a dying breed because he doesn't overcharge you for things."
Chris Pechilis, , a longtime friend and president of Rowley-based AP Vending, has seen the shop and observed, "I don't think he's thrown anything away since 1960."
Nichols, who lives in Manchester-by-the-Sea, has had customers come from as far away as Rhode Island in one direction and New Hampshire to the other. He estimates that he works on about 30 machines a year ("because I'm retired"), charging about $45 per hour for work at his shop, more if he needs to travel.
"Here's what I do when they first come in: I don't plug them in or anything. I go through every single [contact] blade - and there's hundreds of blades," Nichols said.
"It's very time-consuming. If you don't check each and every one, there are going to be problems. When I get through overhauling them, 90 percent of the time, [the machine] will work."
At times, Nichols will fix only the mechanics of the machine, and at other times will do a complete restoration, including fixing light bulbs, waxing the "playfield" (area where the ball rolls around), and other aesthetic touches.
In many ways, this is a continuation of work that started when he was 12 years old, and Nichols would travel from site to site with his father, who owned jukeboxes. When the business became his, he added pinball machines, and at one time had as many as 85 machines in 35 locations - including Cape Ann Lanes, Ipswich Lanes, and the Beverly Bowl-o-Mat. The deal was simple: Nichols put his machine into the commercial establishment, kept it running, and they split the receipts, 50-50.
"These are called electro-mechanical, and they were used into the '70s. Then they came up with solid state, because these required a lot of work and maintenance," said Nichols. Many of the old machines were "retired" to home use, replaced by machines with solid-state parts. The pinball game eventually waned in popularity with the appearance of electronic video games like Asteroids, Pac-Man, and Golden Tee Golf.
Nichols retired gradually, selling off his machines over several years. Pechilis picked up many of Nichols's machines, including the last one in 2006. Many of Nichols's repair clients come in as referrals from Pechilis, and Pechilis said there aren't any other options.
"He's the man on electro-mechanical," Pechilis said. "I don't know of anybody else that can repair them."
Vintage pinball games appeal to owners on a couple of levels, the owners say. They bring on a sense of nostalgia, but they're also fun.
"I love games, and always have," said Richard J. Roberts, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist from New England Biolabs in Ipswich. "When I was a kid, that was probably one of the greatest games, but I never had the opportunity to buy one."
A friend's brother, who bought and restored pinball games, sold him the Chicago Coins "Cinema" game for $100 about 30 years ago. It has gotten good use from both Roberts and his children since.
Nichols has repaired it twice, and also sold Roberts a Ms. Pac-Man game.
"I've always found him to be an absolutely fascinating guy, just terrific," said Roberts.
Nichols fixes machines for pinball game collectors - like Dunn, who has a few and is always on the lookout for specific models - and others like Roberts who own just one or two games.
Frequently, people buy pinball machines because the opportunity presents itself, as it did for the folks who work at Wise's dental practice in Swampscott and Middleton. Nichols first sold Wise a "Dolly Parton" machine a few years ago, and also a Ms. Pac-Man table model machine and a jukebox that plays 45-r.p.m. records featuring a selection of 1960s and 1970s songs, "from Frank Sinatra to the Tokens," Wise said.
Wise's partner, dentist Jim Hanratty, wound up buying the "Dolly Parton" to set up in his own home, and hygienist Marsha Charleton followed by purchasing a pinball machine as well.
"My kids have [an] Xbox and this and that, but they love it," Hanratty said. "Their friends come over and say, 'What's that?' and all crowd around it. We can always hear it going in the basement." 