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  1. Guitars

World's largest playable guitar on show

News
By Michael Brown ( Total Guitar ) published 6 October 2014

Liberty Science Center hosts 43-foot long Gibson Flying V

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World's largest playable guitar

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.

Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4
Small hands - big guitar

Small hands - big guitar

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

Page 2 of 4
Page 2 of 4
Hop on the headstock

Hop on the headstock

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

Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4
Sizeable strings

Sizeable strings

…Although upper-fret access is good.

Page 4 of 4
Page 4 of 4
Michael Brown
Michael Brown
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Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, 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.

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Kane Hibberd, the photographer behind the Scale exhibition in London, poses in front of his photographs – guitars features will include Kerry King of Slayer's BC Rich and Tom Morello's Arm The Homeless S-style.
Exhibition featuring life-sized photos of 100 legendary artists' guitars to open in London
On the left, a Gibson Les Paul Standard Double Cut, solid-bodied, in Vintage Cherry Sunburst, it looks like the archetypical singlecut. On the right, the new Les Paul Parlor, a guitar that applies the LP aesthetic to a small-bodied acoustic.
Gibson has just unveiled a new Les Paul like no other
A still from Back to the Future's Enchantment Under the Sea Dance where Marty McFly performs Johnny B. Goode on a red Gibson ES-345.
Gibson teams up with Back To The Future cast to launch global hunt for Marty McFly’s lost ES-345
“The most talked-about guitar of the summer is coming to the Gibson Garage London”: P-90s, Light Aging from the Murphy Lab, handwritten Oasis lyrics… The Gibson Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard has been unveiled and is here photographed in the Gibson Garage, with a variety of close-ups to show every detail.
Gibson unveils Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul: hand-signed, limited run – the ultimate Oasis guitar?
The Gibson Les Paul Music City Special – 50th Anniversary is a limited edition hybrid that combines the old Marauder and Music City Junior, and offers them in wine, tobacco sunburst and ebony finishes.
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Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) takes to the air with the Gibson ES-345 that has been missing since Back To The Future wrapped in 1985. On the right, a teaser of a forthcoming Gibson replica of the guitar.
Cesar Gueikian teases Gibson Custom Shop replica of Marty McFly’s “1955” Back To The Future ES-345
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