:::I suppose a nice metal piece such as copper might look nice, too. But then you've got to deal with ground issues with the jacks.::::

hey... help me lobby SE for the copper. That's what I've been saying I want to do. The jacks are insulated if I recall right... so that should not be an issue.

glass shop told me that they could get special tooling (cutters) for glass... at some point we're just going to have to give it a try...
I ask SE to put up some pics of the glass samples...

shame on the plastic... easy to work with... and I keep thinking of al those acryllic turntable platters... or wanting that deep orange of a Parker Duofold fountain pen.

I thought you said in an earlier post about welding plastic... but I wasn't sure. Is that done simply with heat? Can you get really smooth seams?

msl