I think they do the job of shedding light, Ive yet to seen any that are attractive as far as hving any style, but then again I like antiques..
Im thinking of constructing one with wood, mica , real brass and not fake brass , etc. One that effects the style of the antique atmosphere that a pool room deserves. Mine anyway.. It is personal.
I just sold a 3 lamp one for 50 bucks on the weekend it was all fake brass.. I thought it was ugly. It'll serve the purpose, the guy wanted it for a appartment building's poolrooom. he was going to move the lamps further apart.
on mine it is a 3 lamp but a 9 foot table ( 100 inches) the three lamp could be longer. it works ok but when people sit down it sort of hits them in the eye.. so its not perfect for me. some of us older guys might like a bit more light too, it could be stronger..
maybe some of the grow light setups would work if you want a lot of light, there are all kinds of new makers as the home grow ops have exploded in number now that prohibition ended for some areas, not all I know. they can mimic the changes of light through the day , for example in late summer you get a lot more red spectrum in the evening, that triggers plants to flower, as well as the number of hours. if you go looking at pot plants online you will see a lot now that are purple, mainly because their lights are shedding colored light. the growers of course aren't after the light for it's interior appeal, they serve a direct purpose.
I Put "sunlight" LED bulbs in mine, some might like the whiter light , like a drug store, I dont want that harsh light in my living room, it might suit a pool hall.. I found the off the shelf whiter bulbs annoying.
a friend just put up an LED strip light, people do like the light it sheds, its certainly not an attractive feature in a well thought out comfortable room. Some want to create more of an "english pub style" atmosphere and more appealing heritage styled lights might suit that better. Bars won't want bright white lights, it detracts from the comfortable warm atmosphere. they want people to be comfy and stay a while, not feel like they are inn an interrogation room.. fast food chains are the opposite, they create an uncomfortable place to get the customer out as soon as possible.
changing to LED bulbs is easy. Ive installed lots that are tubes and omit the ballast. I have two that have old ballasts, the new LED bulbs would not light.
many in box stores are made to replace fluorescent without removing the ballast.. If you look for them, careful because you can get both in T8. one needs the electronic ballast, the other you just wire 110 directly to the tombstones. I noted they seemed to drop the stock of the ones that you can wire without the ballast, I think the home centers didn't want homeowners doing wiring. electrical wholesalers can get them in for you and they deal more with proper electricians.
I spoke to an electrician yesterday he said our workplace won't buy the ones that dont need the ballast anymore, they were replacing them in great numbers before.. the concern is that having a mix was leading to confusion , someone can stick in the ones made for ballasts and then they see 110 rather than the high voltage, low amp power a ballast produces..
The public are not trained to recognize these differences but you don't need to be an electrician to change a light bulb so mistakes are more common now..
That situation became a bit of a safety issue.
so they had to be cut off. If you lost a transformer in this thing it would have went straight in the trash lol that would have been to much work to bother . In the end we ditched everything but the metal center piece to hide the wiring and power pack. Again I know I could do better but at 51 years of age there are things I own llike this that have survived now 5 houses and 5 pool tables so I don’t want to let it go.
