joystick recommendations

[ericball]

I'm working on a vertical MAME barcade. I've got the basic hardware (RPi0w & Dell 2007FB) and software (RetroPie 4.71 w/ lr-mame2000) working so I'm going through the games to see which are playable and which are worth playing. The plan is to have basic controls - center 8 way joystick with 2 buttons on either side. (My wife is a southpaw.) I'm currently using a SNES style USB controller for testing, but in the final build I plan on using a true arcade joystick & buttons.

Does anyone have any suggestions on joysticks and where to buy them? I'd love to have some classic leafs, but I'm also trying not to spend a lot.

Also, does anyone have suggestions on making a metal CP (or having one made)?