Charming Pinball Museum saved after raising over $200k in donations

[tableplay]

I do notice that knocker is hitting a metal plate instead of wood.

Yes. So here is a fellow repairing a '73 Bally Circus knocker (and chimes) which has the traditional knocker sound (since it is an electromechanical game) we both enjoy. You can see the knocker in detail in this video. This will produce the original sound you heard in the bar with your father when an electromechanical machine pops a replay. I'm pretty sure you're correct about youtube not really being able to capture the sound. But regardless, the knocker in the link below will produce the traditional sound once installed back into the Bally Circus. I probably should have gotten into the tech stuff instead of only playing them all these years, but there we are. Below this I have linked a picture from a pinside.com forum knocker repair thread (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/to...-1#post-594013) which shows a knocker in its installed position
"https://youtu.be/NuJ8VSVH9gw?t=126"