email: roadarch@outlook.com

Giant Musical Instruments

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Grand Guitar [gone]
Bristol, TN
The Grand Guitar, modeled after a Martin guitar, was three stories tall and 70 feet long. It was built in 1983 and originally housed a music store. It was later used as a radio station and country music museum with unusual instruments and Porter Waggoner outfits. The building was vacant in 2001 and deteriorating. In 2004, it reopened briefly as the Joe Morrell Grand Guitar, a music museum. These photos are from 2007. In 2014, the building was sold and there were plans to restore it but nothing ever happened. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, it was demolished in 2019. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3.

South Austin Music
Austin, TX
 Fender Guitar
Austin, TX
South Austin Music opened in 1986. The rooftop guitar sign has been there since at least 2008. The other guitar was installed on a pole near the road around 2011. It revolves. For more, see this website. [map]

This Fender Guitar was modeled on a 1952 Fender Telecaster. It was built by Evan Voyles in 2015 for Austin Vintage Guitars. [map]

Strings & Things
Memphis, TN
2007: 2019:
The Strings & Things music store featured a Gibson Les Paul sign. The company was established in 1971. The store moved to a new location in 2008. A new, blue Les Paul sign was installed there. The store has closed by the sign remains. [map]

Sun Studio
Memphis, TN		 Martin Music
Memphis, TN		 Guitar
Bristol, TN
 Guitar
Monteagle, TN
 Guitar
Pocatello, ID
Sun Studio opened here in 1950 in a former radiator repair shop. It is most famous for producing the first Elvis Presley recording. Many other blues and rock-and-roll performers recorded here as well, including Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and B.B. King. Sun Studio is still a working studio and offers tours of its space. The guitar was installed in 1999. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

Martin Music opened around 2009. This guitar is installed on top of the shop's sign. [map]

The Guitar in Bristol was installed in front of the Bristol Tennessee & Virginia Chamber of Commerce in 2009. It is 20 feet tall. Bristol is known as the Birthplace of Country Music. [map]

The Guitar in Monteagle is installed at Jim Oliver's Smoke House. It was installed around 2018. [map]

The Guitar in Pocatello is installed above the Main Street Music store. The store opened in 1994 and this Guitar was probably installed then. [map]

Guitar
Bellingham, WA		 Guitar
Grand Junction, CO
The Guitar in Bellingham is installed on a pole next to Mojo School of Music (now B'ham School of Music). [map]

The Guitar in Grand Junction is installed above the sign at Big J Jewelry & Loan. [map]

Guitar
Lakeville, MN
 Guitar Neck
La Crosse, WI
 Guitar Neck
Riverton, WY
 Guitars
Harrisonville, MO
The Guitar in Lakeville is located at Hot Sam's Antiques. For more, see this website. [map]

This Guitar Neck in La Crosse serves as the sign for Dave's Guitar Shop. It has been here since at least 2006 and is lit at night. The sign cost more than $25,000 to build. For more, see this website. [map]

This Guitar Neck in Riverton was part of Mammoth Music facade by 2015. The store closed around 2018. Although new tenants have moved in, the Guitar Neck and business name remain. The keyboard canopy has been painted over. [map]

The Guitars in Harrisonville are installed at Butler Music. The sign on the left was installed by 2018 and the pair of guitars was there by 2021. [map]

Guitar
Santa Barbara, CA
This Guitar was installed inside MOXI, the Moxi Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, in 2017. It is 23 feet long and interactive Visitors can strum from the outside and climb inside. The capo is adjustable.

Hard Rock Cafe
Chicago, IL		 Hard Rock Cafe
Nashville, TN		 Hard Rock Cafe
Biloxi, MS		 Hard Rock Cafe
Catoosa, OK

Hard Rock Cafe
Tampa, FL		 Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, FL
This Hard Rock Cafe location in Chicago opened in 2004. [map]

The Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville opened in 1994. [map]

The Hard Rock Cafe in Biloxi was built in 2005. Just days before opening, the casino was demolished and the resort was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The guitar sign survived. Hard Rock was rebuilt and opened in 2007. [map]

The Hard Rock Cafe in Catoosa opened in 2009. This 65-foot-tall guitar was installed in 2021. It was designed and produced by YESCO of Las Vegas and shipped to the casino in four pieces. It has multi-colored, programmable LED tubing that can be synced to music. [map]

The Hard Rock Cafe in Tampa opened in 2004. This guitar was installed in 2018. [map]

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood was built in 2004. The Guitar Hotel with 638 rooms was built in 2019. It is 450 feet tall and covered with LED tubing which is used for light shows. [map]

Many of the company's other locations feature these guitar signs including these in: Sacramento, CA, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, Cleveland, OH, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Stateline, NV
This 26-foot-tall, metal acoustic guitar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was installed in 2015 when the business opened. It was created by Terrence Martin when the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency objected to Hard Rock's standard neon, electric guitar design. For more, see this website. [map]

Guitar House
Fayetteville, GA
The Guitar House was built in the 1970s by a country western music fan. The simulated guitar lays on its back and slopes from the body to the neck. It's difficult to tell the shape from the ground or from these photos but it is most evident from the air. [map]

More Guitars:
Waterford, MI
Clarksdale, MS
Memphis, TN
Nashville, TN [map]
Nashville, TN
Nashville, TN
Seattle, WA: 1, 2
Sydney, AU

Saxophone
Houston, TX
2011:
 2019:
This 60-foot-tall Saxophone sculpture is entitled "Smokesax". It was built in 1993 by Bob Daddy-O Wade. It is made of Volkswagen parts, beer kegs, a surfboard, room service trays, and other recycled items. The saxophone was originally painted blue but was red for many years. The sculpture was located in front of "Billy Blues Bar & Grill" and later moved to the "Cabo Restaurant" which closed in 2006. The business was later known as "The Horn Bar & Grille". The saxophone was repainted the original blue. In 2014, the saxophone was disassembled and moved to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art's storage facility. There are plans to reassemble it and install it on the Orange Show property. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.

Kazoo
Eden, NY
 Cornet
Galveston, TX
The Kazoo is located behind the Kazoo Gift Shop and Museum. For more, see this website. [map]

This 26-foot-long Cornet is installed in Old Galveston Square. It was created by David Addickes as a stage prop for use at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. It was later installed at a jazz club in Galveston named "Trumpets." [map]

former Brook Mays Music Co.
Houston, TX		 former Brook Mays
Music Co. [gone]
Katy, TX		 Alamo Music Center
San Antonio, TX
The Brook Mays Music Co. location in Houston features a neon-outlined grand piano sign. This store later operated as the Fort Bend Music Center. The building is now vacant but the piano remains. [map]

The photo above of the Brook Mays Music Co. location in Katy is from 2006. The piano was still there in 2011 but it was gone by 2015.

I don't think this Alamo Music Center was ever a Brook Mays Music store. [map]

I don't believe that this store in Amarillo, TX was ever a Brook Mays but it had a piano on top of its sign until around 2013.

Cooper Piano
Atlanta, GA		 Aeolian Harp
Algodones, NM
Cooper Piano's piano sign is visible from I-85. Cooper Music was founded in 1906. This sign was built in 1983. It probably had neon originally but it is now outlined with LED rope tubing. [map]

This Aeolian Harp is 24 feet tall. It is a wind-driven, kinetic harp. It was built by Bill Neely and Bob Griesing in 2000. The harp was installed at Traditions, a New Mexico Marketplace, which closed many years ago. I believe the harp was still there in 2017. [map]

More Musical Instruments:
Fiddle (Fiddletown, CA)
Banjo & Fiddle (Branson, MO)
Piano (Durham, NC) [gone]
Piano (Durham, NC) [gone]
Piano (Tacoma, WA)
Piano, Guitar, & Drums (Milwaukee, WI)

Fiddle (Harvey, NB)
Fiddle (Upper Coverdale, NB)
Fiddle (Sydney, NS) [map]

Giant Things
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