Co-founders
Mark Elliott, Bonnie Elliott and Uriah Spencer

 

 

Mark Elliott's training and passion for woodworking started as a boy in the cabinet shop of his great Uncle. He then went on to receive in-depth training by a Swedish woodworker at the Feather River Door Co. in California. Mark became foreman there and in time, four other cabinet shops. He went on later to own Elliott Mountain Furniture in Montana. In his twenty six years of professional experience he has produced fine custom cabinetry and entry systems for some of the nicest homes, business, public buildings and churches in the US., including historical restoration for the Old Sacramento Train Station Museum. He has also built boats and decks. Marks woodworking can be found in the homes of Hank Williams Jr., Jason Newsted, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Carl Best, Les Schwab, James Wolfenstein, Charles Schwab and the Sierra Nevada Brewery in California. He builds with love and it shows! Mark Elliott is Designer/Production Manager.

 

Bonnie Elliott has thirteen years of experience in business and general management. She is knowledgeable about wood, cabinetry, shipping, advertising and customer service. Bonnie Elliott is General Manager and also handles Marketing & Sales.

 

Uriah Spencer has experience in magazine advertising and business web design. He is co-designer and producer of ads as well as webmaster for accessnsight.com.

OUR COMPANY

Access N Sight began in 2001 with twenty one years of high-end wood working experience and a desire to produce something entirely new.  While deciding on what type of wood product to offer, we were also trying to manage and maintain our large collection of guitars. We realized there was a cabinet for just about everything but guitars, we then decided we would fill this need.

As guitar players we have a personal understanding of the importance in keeping guitars in easy access, visible, yet stored in the best environment possible. Our guitar case designs compliment the shape and style of the guitar with rounded edges, smooth finish and a new innovative look. All of our cases seal and come with gauges for monitoring humidity and temperature. We use only the best select hardwoods, quality hardware, laminated and tempered safety glass with 90% UV protection and soft attractive interior. We build in small batches with great care to detail. All of our guitar display cases are fine furniture, fully assembled and finished in our shop.

Shipping and crating are also of great importance to us. Our crating is quite substantial and second to none. The shipping companies that we deal with provide excellent service.

At Access N Sight we believe in friendly customer service. We do our best to meet or exceed the highest standards with every aspect of our business from precision craftsmanship to respecting the environment. With this in mind, we continue to design, manufacture and sell our exclusive and expanding line of guitar display cases.

 

 

 

 

As the designer and builder of Access N Sight guitar display cases, I would like to convey the thought process and mindset behind them. I personally build every case made by our company. It’s great to have the quality control from selecting the wood to adjusting the doors. Along the way each case becomes personal. I know when you put your guitars in one of these cases it becomes personal to you. They kind of come to life and as I build I anticipate that moment.

Back in 2001 when I first designed our guitar collection case we were formally Guitarmount and busy making and selling guitar wall hangers on the web. We couldn’t seem to get enough humidity in our house when it got really cold outside, and our guitars were getting dried out hanging on the wall. We didn’t want to put them back in their cases so the idea of making an airtight display case with easy access was born. I found an art nouveau violin display case made in 1900 by Alexander Charpentier in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, very beautiful but very over the top. I liked the roundness of the case and it inspired me. I also barrowed from the guitar and made the edges of my case the same radios as guitar necks. I wanted the case to reflect the sleekness and smoothness of guitars with raise panels like arch tops. I wanted to make a case that was undeniably for guitars with a look of fine furniture rather then cabinetry. I think all great designs incorporate style, function, perfection and simplicity.

After I built the case we tested it. We put four sticks of incense in it and closed the doors. The case filled with smoke but none escaped. We experimented with lights inside the case and found even the smallest amount to heat lowered the humidity. That is why we use a thick glass top to separate light and heat. We put the case across the room from the wood stove, put in a couple of small passive guitar humidifiers along with our guitars and shut the doors. The humidity rose to around 50% and in time our old Alverez stopped buzzing. My guitars have been there for years now and are doing great.

As a woodworker and guitar player for more than a quarter century I highly recommend our display case as a great way to enjoy and protect your guitars. It protects because it isolates the climate. It seals so well that adjusting the humidity is simple and gentle on guitars. Guitars are born with environmental conditions of around 49% humidity and 72 degrees. That is where they would like to stay. Unfortunately for them they must leave the comfort of the factory, get sent all over the world and live at the mercy of their owners. Only a select few receive the cush life in one of my cases. As I say," if it doesn’t seal its not real." The safest way to preserve guitars inside of a case is with passive constant humidity. Using an active humidifier, i.e. spray, steam, fans etc. in a guitar case or piano is like turning the case into a room humidifier or treating it like a cigar humidor. You can smoke a warped cigar, but you can’t play a warped guitar. It would be much better for a piano or guitars to just humidify the room. However, I can understand piano humidifiers for pianos in large auditoriums where it is impossible to control humidity. To build active humidifiers into a case I think is extreme and dangerous for guitars. Guitars are like pets they need water avalible to them and they will drink what they need. You don’t want to force feed them.

I know my cases work well because they have the time behind them. After building over 400 cases there is a perfection I have reached and when I’m done building there will be no more. These cases are found in fine homes of serious guitar players from Hawaii to Porter Rico and all over North America. They are protecting guitars in every climate. I have only received encouragement and would like to thank all my customers over the years for their kind words of appreciation. God bless you all.

Mark Elliott

   Access N Sight™

 P.O. Box 85 Stevensville, MT 59870

406-961-3158

E-mail