Glass or no Glass? - need help deciding

[TucsonLawrence]

By the way, nice guitars and nice cases too


Lawrence

[jteneyck]

Unless you have a seal dust will get in even with glass. It does in a glass door cabinet in my house anyway. I think the dust/no dust issue is completely secondary to what the OP is trying to decide anyway. Does glass make the guitars look better? Personally, I think glass doors would elevate them as art forms, but also tell the viewer not to get too close and definitely do not touch. No glass invites the viewer to come close and look at me, and even touch me if you want. Just depends upon what message the OP wants to send.

With my cats who like to jump up on everything - pretty easy answer.

John

[daddo]

Wooden slide outs. On the face of the wooden cover have professional pictures done to scale and glue them on the fronts. Then everyone can see what is in the box without handling them.

My guitars hang on the wall, lean against the wall, sit on the chair, lay across a table and sit in my lap. Never had dust hurt them. Just quick and extreme temp/humidity changes.

[Cooler]

TucsonLawrence said:

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It is more expensive, but there is low-glare glass out that looks really nice and doesn't detract from the items below.

I've used it for some shadow boxes.

There is one "flaw" though and that is that the low-reflective glass sometimes doesn't function perfectly if the items are a distance away from the glass (there is a visual distortion that sometimes happens) At a couple of inches though, I don't think it would be a problem and it almost looks like the glass isn't there at all after you use it.

Your local framing shop should be able to help you source it

Lawrence

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There is anti-glare glass which is glass with a slight texture that minimizes reflections. It kills detail and color saturation. It has the advantage that it is relatively cheap.

There are glazing options that have anti-reflective coatings on them. They work very well. But clean them infrequently and with care as the coating can scratch rather easily.

It can be a pricey option and a little harder to cut because of the film coating:

http://www.framedestination.com/Picture-...hgodvm4C0g

[FrankAtl]

TucsonLawrence said:

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By the way, nice guitars and nice cases too


Lawrence

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Ditto. Very nice!

[FFRock]

Great job, I like them how they are, beautifully done. On an unrelated note, I misread the title and thought is was going to be another post about a SawStop. That never gets old.

[TomFromStLouis]

No glass. As mentioned above, glass is more formal and puts more distance between the viewer and the object. If accessible display is your goal you might make the case sides narrower too. Putting something behind glass gives the whole thing more of a museum feel, kinda over the top for home display IMO.

[loosetoe]

I appreciate all of the input.
I still have mixed feelings about what i wish to do.

I will note that I have ruled out anti reflective glass or acrylic.
I received a sample of each from the respective supply houses and they obscure the interior far too much. They seem to only allow something sitting extremely near to them to show through. While this is perfect for a picture, the guitars sit about 1.5 inches behind the glass and become somewhat obscured. The name plates become completely unreadable with the anti-glare.

Since the weight of glass (about 25 lbs per unit) IS a concern, i may try a 1/4 piece of acrylic on one and see what i think. It would be a cost effective test piece.

Thanks again,
Wayne

[bandsaw]

I'm in the display business. Forget non-glare - it's blurry and dull. There are premium reflection control glass and plexi that are coated like a camera lens to absorb reflections but pricey and probably not the best in this case. If you want glass the only and best way to eliminate reflection is by getting the light right. Get a piece of 1/4 inch plate glass and put in place - just tape it in. Now play with lights probably from the ceiling. The goal is to make the display case the brightest element in the room. You should be able to get the lights so the glass is invisible. You may need to add "barn doors"to the lights to avoid spill light to the walls around the display cases. I don't think your puck lights are going to help.

[loosetoe]

Thanks. This is really good advice. It pretty much verifies what I was thinking. This, of course, is what originally lead me to second guess the glass.

Btw, the pucks look great....at night. More of a nightlight than a spotlight. Not my original intention, but I do like the effect.