Good progress has now been made.  The top of the playfield has now been stripped of everything that can come off easily. It looks pretty bare now.

In the pictures to the right [click to see larger image] you can see the black back wood piece has been removed.  All the coils (yellow cylinders) that eject the ball around the playfield have been removed.  The metal rails are gone as well as the light bulbs and some light bulb sockets.

Removing the coils and light bulb sockets require firing up the soldering iron.  The wires connecting to them are not on plugs and require de-soldering to remove them from the top side.

If you wonder why the white pop bumpers are still there, that is because those are very complicated to remove. I have to start on the underside before they can be removed.  The truth is, the pop bumpers are the single most annoying thing to have to remove.