The newly restored, re-electrified Hard Rock Café guitar sign was illuminated for the first time during a private event for museum donors and VIPs. The sign was divided into six pieces in order to be transported to the Neon Museum Boneyard from the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO).
Prior to restoration by YESCO, the sign had been located in front of the Hard Rock Café for 27 years. In its new Boneyard home, it joins many other historical Las Vegas neon signs where its history can be shared with guests and visitors from around the world.
- The restoration took approximately 1,650-man hours to complete the rebuild and install.
- The Hard Rock letters comprise up to 1,538, 10-watt clear incandescent light bulbs, spaced out three inches on center.
- Neon colors used on the guitar were ruby red, clear red, 3500K white, and gold II.
- There are approximately 4,110 feet of neon tubing on the sign, equating to more than three-quarters of a mile and more than 700 individual neon units.
- The footing of the sign required 648 cubic feet of concrete.
- The area of the face of the sign is 800 square feet.
- The largest of the six sections of the sign that had to be transported from YESCO to the Boneyard is the head, which measures 13-feet-six-inches; a special permit was required in order to transport the sign due to its height.
- The neck section is 23-feet tall, and the body sections are between eight and 10 feet tall.
Founded in 1996, the Neon Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment.
