Glossy guitar lighting

[tmj41765]

Hi everybody!

A family member of mine has a large guitar collection that we are going to photograph again. Last November I shot a some of them (he's bought many, many more since then) and I thought they turned out just ok. I made a very small iPad photo book in the iTunes bookstore (free- "Guitars 2013") and he had also printed 50 large calendars and gave them to family, friends and business pals of his. Now that was the first time I ever shot that type of photos, and this time we're going to start early summer so we don't have to rush for the calendar and I can take the time to add guitar info to the photos (type, brand, color etc).
When I shot the guitars last time I had a lot of problems with glare off of the glossy surfaces. I set up 4 500 watt halogen lights bounced off the white ceiling (the room was cooking from the heat of those lights), used a tripod for most shots with my D700 & a Nikon 28-300mm lens (polarizer didn't seem to help much), and a D200 with a Nikon 105mm macro for some of the close up shots. Black table cloth and that's about it.
I did invest in a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G but I need advice on brightly lighting these guitars without producing spotty glare (i do like the even shine that shows the contours of the guitars) would probably have constant light but its not a necessity. Any ideas? Soft boxes? Umbrellas? Low cost would be great as I have pretty much spent my coin on that lens which I didn't buy just for this type of shooting.
Thanks in advance!
Some pics from my iPhone library-

 

[tirediron]

Two things: Diffusion and angles. This book will tell you everything you need to know about this fairly complicated topic; much more than can be included in a forum post, but in general, you need to diffuse your lights, and you need to have them at the correct angle to the guitar with respect to the angle of the camera to the guitar, known as the family of angles.

If I were shooting this, I'd probably start by suspending the guitar several feet above a flat black backgound, and place one, low-powered speedlight underneath/behind to provide a rim light, and then one large (say 48" soft-box) overhead/in front and move my camera around (or the guitar) to acheive a suitable, glare-free angle.

 

[tmj41765]

Thanks for the book recommendation! And I never thought of putting a light behind the guitar- brilliant! Do you think I could get away with a large softbox like that and 2 of the cheaper yongnuo speedlights? Would 1 speedlight be bright enough for a 48" softbox? Thank you very much!

 

[Ballistics]

Do you think I could get away with a large softbox like that and 2 of the cheaper yongnuo speedlights? Would 1 speedlight be bright enough for a 48" softbox? Thank you very much!

Yes. OR, you can use use a large object to bounce flash off of. Like a big piece of styrofoam.

 

[tirediron]

Yep, that or white cardstock will work well.

 

[tmj41765]

Thanks for the tips. The more I think about it, I'll probably find some continuos lights so I can see see the light reflections in the glossy finishes. With all the different body shapes I think I would have to be chimping a lot on each guitar with flashes.