Quote from Randy
The 49-way stick used in a Sinistar machine (Williams style) used a ball pivot and had the rubber spider to center. While this does provide a different feel than the Midway variety (The one HAPP started manufacturing), the Midway / HAPP 49 stick is much, much closer to this feel than any spring centered stick can deliver. It should also be noted that the differing mechanical design of the two have as much to do with the different feel as the centering mechanisms do, but that's another discussion.
Both the Midway and the new HAPP manufactured varieties use rubber grommets. With a rubber grommet, just as with a rubber spider, the further one pushes in a given direction, the more resistance one will encounter. Whomever re-designed the HAPP variety made a very poor choice, IMHO, when selecting the grommet to use, so they should be replaced if you purchase a new HAPP version.
The fact that the HAPP / Midway 49's use a rubber grommet for centering (as the classic games all did originally) instead of a spring is why I personally won't use any other stick. The feel is just much better for the games I like to play. They are very different from spring centered sticks and shouldn't be lumped together with them in the context of this discussion.
RandyT
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