This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
46.09818° S, 168.94670° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
Gore calls itself New Zealand's country-music capital, and the 7.5-metre guitar is not just a sign saying so. It is a record.
The structure is the Hands of Fame. Construction began in 2004, and when it was erected all the handprints the Gore Country Music Club had previously collected were installed into it, with spaces deliberately left for prints yet to be taken. That is the thing that makes it unusual among Big Things: most are finished on the day they go up. This one was designed incomplete, to be added to as more musicians pass through – an object whose whole point is that it is not done.
The club is the reason it exists. Gore's country-music standing rests on the Gold Guitar Awards and the Tussock Country festival, which have drawn performers to this Southland town for decades, and the Hands of Fame is where that history gets physically recorded. Pressing a hand into it is the local equivalent of a star on a pavement.
It is still working. Gore tourism promotes the statue in 2026, and it went through a major exterior refurbishment in 2025 before returning in time for the festival – maintenance timed around the event it belongs to.
One point of confusion worth clearing up. There was an older, separate six-metre Gold Guitar promotional sculpture in Gore, later removed from public display. Photographs of the two are easily mixed up. The guitar you will find today is the Hands of Fame.
Gore's country music standing is not a marketing invention either. The Gold Guitar Awards have run here since the 1970s and are the senior country music competition in New Zealand, drawing entrants from across the country each winter, and Tussock Country has grown into a full festival around them. For a Southland town of around 12,000 people to hold the national event in a genre for half a century is a genuine achievement, and the guitar is its physical receipt.
Handprints, unlike a plaque, also date themselves. The structure is a record of who was passing through, and when.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
Gore’s current giant guitar is the Hands of Fame structure begun in 2004 to display the handprints of notable country musicians. Gore tourism still promotes the 7.5-metre statue in 2026, and it underwent a major exterior refurbishment in 2025 before returning for the Tussock Country / Gold Guitar festival. It is distinct from an older six-metre Gold Guitar promotional sculpture that was later removed from public display.
ACCESS
Public town-centre landmark beside the Gore central visitor/heritage precinct. The sculpture is independently mapped at approximately -46.09818, 168.94670 and can be approached via normal central Gore pedestrian access and parking.
