You’ve seen the photos. Usually, it’s a grainy aerial shot of a backyard in Tennessee or a glitzy resort in Florida where the water isn't a rectangle or an oval, but a full-blown Les Paul or a Stratocaster. It looks cool. It looks expensive. But honestly, building a guitar shaped swimming pool is a logistical nightmare that most sane contractors would run away from. It's one of those "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" projects that somehow became a status symbol for country music royalty and eccentric millionaires alike.
Kinda weird, right?
The obsession didn't just start with Instagram. It goes back decades. We’re talking about a time when Webb Pierce, the country music legend, decided his Nashville estate needed something a bit more... melodic. That pool—the one shaped like a Gibson—became a literal tourist attraction. People would bus in just to look at the concrete "strings" and the bridge. It wasn't just a place to do laps. It was a statement. And since then, the trend has popped up everywhere from the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, to private backyards where the owners clearly have more money than they know what to do with.
The Engineering Headache of a Guitar Shaped Swimming Pool
Let's get real for a second. Most pools are boring for a reason. Hydraulics. When you have a standard rectangular pool, moving water around is easy. You put a skimmer here, a return jet there, and the water stays clear.
But when you decide your pool needs to have a "neck" and a "headstock," you’ve basically created a stagnant water trap. The curves of a guitar shaped swimming pool create "dead zones" where the water doesn't circulate properly. If you aren't careful, the "fretboard" section of your pool will turn into a swampy mess of algae while the main "body" stays clean. It requires a crazy amount of custom plumbing. You’re looking at multiple pumps and a grid of return lines just to keep the water moving in the right direction.
Then there’s the shell. Most pools use shotcrete or gunite. Spraying that into a perfect guitar silhouette is an art form. You can’t just use a standard form. Contractors have to hand-sculpt the curves of the bouts and the sharp angles of the headstock. It is labor-intensive. It is slow. And yeah, it is incredibly pricey.
Why the Liner Matters More Than You Think
If you’re going the vinyl liner route—which some people do to save a buck—you’re in for a world of hurt. Liners hate sharp corners. They want to pull away from the walls. In a guitar shaped swimming pool, especially one with a detailed headstock, getting a liner to sit flush is basically impossible. Most high-end versions you see are tiled or finished with pebble tech. Tile is the gold standard here because you can use different colors to simulate the strings, the pickups, and the frets.
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Imagine laying thousands of tiny glass tiles to make a Fender logo at the bottom of a 30,000-gallon hole in the ground. That’s the level of obsession we're talking about.
Iconic Examples That Actually Exist
You can't talk about these things without mentioning the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. While the building itself is a massive guitar, the pool area continues that theme with insane scales. But that’s a commercial project with a commercial budget.
The real stories are in the residential world.
- The Webb Pierce Pool: This is the OG. Built in the late 1960s, it cost a fortune at the time. It featured a bridge that crossed the "neck" of the guitar. It’s a piece of Nashville history, though it's changed hands and faced various levels of upkeep over the years.
- The Canadian Masterpiece: There’s a famous private pool in Canada designed to be an exact 1:1 scale replica of a Les Paul guitar. The owner was a massive guitar collector. He didn't just want a "guitar shape"; he wanted the sunburst finish. They achieved this using meticulously colored tiles. It’s arguably the most accurate guitar shaped swimming pool ever built.
- The Elvis Myth: People often think Elvis had one. He didn't. He had a kidney-shaped pool at Graceland. It’s a common misconception because the "guitar pool" aesthetic fits the 1970s Memphis vibe so perfectly, but the King stuck to a more classic (though still custom) shape.
The Cost of Being a Rockstar in Your Own Backyard
How much?
That's the question everyone asks. A standard inground pool might set you back $60,000 to $100,000 depending on where you live. For a guitar shaped swimming pool, you can basically double that as a starting point.
- Design Fees: You aren't using a template. You need an architect or a high-end pool designer to draft custom blueprints.
- Permitting: Some local municipalities are weird about non-standard shapes. They worry about structural integrity and drainage.
- Specialized Labor: You need a crew that has worked with freeform concrete before.
- The Details: Do you want the strings to light up? LED strips at the bottom of a pool are a maintenance nightmare but they look incredible at night.
Honestly, the lighting is where these pools really come alive. If you just have a guitar-shaped hole with blue water, it looks like a blob from the ground. You need the "strings"—usually lines of contrasting tile or fiber-optic lighting—to make the shape readable. Without those details, you’re just swimming in a very strangely shaped pond.
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Maintenance: The Part Nobody Tells You
Cleaning a guitar shaped swimming pool is a chore. Automatic pool cleaners (those little robot vacuums) are designed for simple shapes. They get stuck in the "cutaway" of a guitar body. They can't navigate the narrow neck.
This means you’re going to be doing a lot of manual brushing.
The chemistry is also trickier. Because of the uneven depths and those pesky dead zones I mentioned earlier, you might find that your chlorine levels are fine in the deep end (the body) but non-existent in the shallow neck. You have to be diligent. You have to be a bit of a chemistry nerd. Or, more likely, you have to pay a pool service double the standard rate to deal with the headache for you.
Is It Actually Good for Swimming?
Sorta.
If you want to swim laps, a guitar shaped swimming pool is garbage. You can’t get a straight line longer than maybe 15 or 20 feet unless you have a massive yard. It’s a "lounging" pool. The neck usually serves as a long, shallow entry point or a "tanning ledge," which is actually pretty functional for families. Kids love the narrow parts. Adults tend to hang out in the "body" where the built-in benches and jets are located.
It’s a social space. It’s a conversation starter. It is absolutely not a training facility for the Olympics.
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What You Should Know Before You Dig
If you’re actually crazy enough to want one of these, you need to go into it with your eyes open. It's a permanent decision. Unlike a "normal" pool, a guitar pool can actually hurt your home's resale value.
Think about it.
You might love the Gibson SG, but the person buying your house might not even like music. To them, it’s just a weirdly shaped liability that's going to be hard to cover in the winter. (Finding a custom safety cover for a guitar shaped swimming pool is another expensive adventure).
But hey, if you have the cash and the passion, there’s nothing quite like it. It’s the ultimate tribute to a craft.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Guitar Pool Owner
- Find a "Freeform" Expert: Don't call a volume builder. Look for companies that specialize in "luxury outdoor living" or "custom concrete environments." Ask to see their portfolio of non-geometric shapes.
- Prioritize the "Strings": Use dark, contrasting tiles for the strings and frets. This is what defines the shape. Without this, the visual impact is lost.
- Over-Engineer the Filtration: Demand a circulation system that includes "in-floor" cleaning jets. These will help push water out of the tight corners and toward the main drains.
- Think About the View: A guitar pool looks best from above. If your house has a second-story deck or is on a hill, the visual payoff is huge. If your yard is flat and you only ever see the pool from ground level, the shape won't be nearly as impressive.
- Budget for a Custom Cover: Unless you live in a climate where you never close the pool, you will need a custom-tacked safety cover. It will likely cost three times what a standard cover costs because it has to be anchored at dozens of unique points to follow the guitar's perimeter.
At the end of the day, a guitar shaped swimming pool is an emotional purchase, not a practical one. It's about capturing a specific vibe and making your backyard the place everyone talks about. Just make sure you’re ready for the maintenance and the "strings" attached to such a unique design.