Could Orlando Become the Guitar Capital of the World?

By Susan Clary
Published: December 12, 2011
Last Updated On: December 13, 2011

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A popular exhibit at the Orlando Science Center ends its run in January, but the Central Florida destination is a contender as the permanent home for the guitar museum.

As a little boy growing up in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Luis Alfredo Garcia was a bundle of energy and curious. He liked to take things apart often destroying them in the process.

But it was his aunt’s small, plywood guitar that he handled gently. He spent hours plucking the strings and touching the smooth neck. His aunt would yell at him to leave it alone, fearful it would end up a pile of toothpicks.

When Garcia was nine or 10 years old, his mother gave his aunt $40 and bought him the guitar. He played and played and played – listening to musicians on the streets and in concerts and eventually attending the conservatory.

"This is Nirvana for guitar enthusiasts. It functions on so many different levels and makes science cool." – Jeff Stanford, Orlando Science Center

"I tell people if you shake a tree anywhere in Puerto Rico, 10 to 20 guitar players will fall out," Garcia said. "Music was everywhere, in every home and part of every gathering."

Today, Luis, 39, is a well-known Spanish classical guitarist in Orlando. He plays regularly at the popular Mi Tomantina Paella Bar on the brick streets of Winter Park, but he is in high demand to perform for events all over town.

His love affair with the guitar is reminiscent of many musicians around the globe. By far the most popular instrument in the world, the guitar is an enduring symbol of the history of music.

Now an exhibit honoring the musical instrument that combines history, science and art has taken the road with the first stop at the Orlando Science Center through Jan. 2, 2012. It is entitled "GUITAR: The Instrument that Rocked the World."

The 5,000-square-foot exhibit explores the history and evolution of the guitar – from lutes and lyres to modern high-tech instruments – to show how it became a cultural symbol.

Music Trades, which provides an annual census of the music industry, has released data that shows in 2010 in the United States almost 3 million new guitars were sold. That number is up from 1 million in 2001 and 680,000 in 1992. This doesn’t include the millions of used guitars sold and handed down.

"All these years in music and I realized nowhere in the world is there a museum dedicated to the most popular instrument in all of history," said HP Newquist, the brainchild behind the museum several years ago. He is executive director of the National Guitar Museum and former Editor-in-Chief of GUITAR Magazine.

As you step into the exhibit, it appears like a page out of an art museum with dozens of beautiful instruments encased in large glass display cases. They include the acoustic and electric, the historical and unusual, vintage and modern. Guitars used by Paul McCartney, Vic Flick, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Angus Young, Pete Townsend, Chet Atkins and Chrissie Hynde are represented.

Displays include precursors to the guitar, such as the tanbur from Persia, the oud from Mesopotamia and the lute from Europe. Modern guitars are on display like the Gibson, Fender and Rickenbacker alongside those on loan from well-known musicians Edgar Winter, Adrian Belew, Steve Vai and Joe Bonamassa.

Engaging educational and interactive displays include historic artifacts, models, photos and video screens to explore the science of sound, including how vibrating strings create sound to the electromagnetic properties of an electric guitar.

Rock stars in timeless poses hang on the walls as giant photographs. The exhibit features the World’s Largest Guitar, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, at 43.5 feet long and 16 feet wide.

The exhibit is geared to kids, teenagers and adults with the idea that every age group has its own connection to the guitar, from classic rock songs and concert memories to film soundtracks and video games. Almost every form of popular music features the guitar – folk, classical, country, jazz, rock ‘n roll, blues, punk, flamenco, bluegrass, progressive, fusion, metal and grunge.

"This is Nirvana for guitar enthusiasts," said Jeff Stanford, Public Relations Director for the Orlando Science Center. "It functions on so many different levels and makes science cool."

After Orlando, GUITAR will tour the United States for five years before becoming the basis for "The National Guitar Museum," a permanent standalone attraction. At the completion of the 15-city tour, one U.S. city will be chosen as its location. Orlando is in contention.

Garcia, who has an 11-year-old stepdaughter and a four -year-old daughter, plans to take his kids to the Orlando Science Center over the holidays. He owns several classical guitars, including one handmade by a luthier in Puerto Rico, and he recently purchased a Flamenco guitar.

"I am not a rock star and I don’t go fill arenas with thousands of people," Garcia said. "I like to play good music and people always enjoy good music."

If You Go

The Orlando Science Center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday - Sunday, except for Wednesdays. The Center is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but open New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Admission is $17 for adults, $16 for students and seniors, $12 for youths three to 11 and free for children two and under. Admission includes access to all exhibit areas, unlimited screenings of IMAX films and planetarium shows, live programs and demonstrations, and observatory visits. "GUITAR: The Instrument That Rocked the World" will run through Jan. 2, 2012, and features live musical performances on select Sundays. For more information, call 407-514-2000 or 1-888-OSC-4FUN, or visit the website at www.osc.org.