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From Paul McCartney’s Höfner to Dave Grohl’s Trini Lopez and Joan Jett’s Melody Maker – a 1:1 scale photography exhibition of famous guitars is heading to London

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Masterminded by Australian photographer Kane Hibberd, Scale invites attendees to see some of the most famous guitars in the world up close and personal like never before

Scale Exhibition
(Image credit: Scale Exhibition / Kane Hibberd)

Multi-award-winning photographer Kane Hibberd will bring his intimate exploration of artists and their instruments of choice to London next week. Featuring over 100 life-size images of guitars steeped in history and import, his collection of photos, designed to feel like the subject is in the room with the viewer, will be displayed at Unlocked in Shoreditch.

All images are 1:1 scale, meaning shots of everything from Paul McCartney’s iconic Höfner bass to Dave Grohl’s Gibson Trini Lopez, Joan Jett’s embattled Melody Maker and Keith Urban’s Fender Broadcaster are all displayed in life size format, presenting them in exacting, like-for-like detail.

Hibberd wants attendees to witness the chips, dents and scratches on these guitars in painstaking detail – to get up close and personal with an instrument they’d otherwise never have the chance to see and inspect like this.

The Scale Exhibition also explores the stories behind the instruments, such as Nile Rogers’ time-beat Fender Stratocaster. He had accidentally left it on a New York Subway once with the guitarist “lost in the moment after a difficult phone call,” resulting in a race against the clock to get it back.

Kane Hibberd with images of Tom Morello’s Arm The Homeless guitar

Kane Hibberd with images of Tom Morello’s Arm The Homeless guitar (Image credit: Kane Hibberd)

A psychedelic Rickenbacker that has forged a reputation as big the man who plays it, Tame Impala's trippy multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, and one of Ed Sheeran's acoustic guitars also feature.

Beyond that, you can see Jack White’s madcap and crazily customized Fender Triplecaster Tele, plus axes belonging to thrash metal god Kirk Hammett, and indie maestro Johnny Marr.

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“It feels like a lot of photography is now created and consumed within a short amount of time,” says Hibberd. “I wanted to work on something that took years, rather than days or weeks, and keep it all offline.

“The people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard, and the places I’ve wound up in have been an absolute odyssey and I’m so glad to be finally sharing it .”

Ready to reveal itself unto the world after 12 years of working away in secret, the Scale exhibition runs at Unlocked in Shoreditch from 12 June - 31 August.

Head to Scale Exhibition for more.

Phil Weller
Phil Weller

A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.

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