World's largest playable guitar on show

World's largest playable guitar

If you find larger-bodied guitars a bit of a handful, you'll definitely struggle to play this one: New Jersey's Liberty Science Center has unveiled the world's largest playable guitar - a humongous Gibson Flying V - in honour of its new exhibition, Guitar: The Instrument That Rocked The World.

Certified by Guinness World Records, the guitar weighs in at 2,255 pounds, measures 16 feet across, and is 43 feet long - check out our gallery above to get an idea of the scale, not to mention scale length, of this beast.

Elsewhere, the exhibition celebrates the history of the guitar with more than 60 instruments, including the Rock Ock, the world's only playable eight-neck guitar; a PRS Dragon inlaid with 238 pieces of gold, red and green abalone, mother of pearl and woolly mammoth ivory; plus early Fender, Gibson, Ovation and Martin models dating back to 1835.

Guitar: The Instrument That Rocked The World - a touring exhibition from the National Guitar Museum - is on view at the Liberty Science Center from 4 October 2014 to 4 January 2015.

Small hands - big guitar

This Flying V's wide string spacing makes extended chords somewhat tricky.

Hop on the headstock

Making your way up and down the fretboard is more of a struggle than usual…

Sizeable strings

…Although upper-fret access is good.

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com (opens in new tab), in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe (opens in new tab).