Kansas City, Kan., booksellers may want to stock up on the next edition of the Guinness World Records. There are 1,721 guitarists who just might want a copy.

In June radio station KYYS got a ballpark full of guitarists together to play "Smoke on the Water" in an effort to break the world record for the largest guitar ensemble. Now they've gotten a certificate from Guinness that makes the world record official.

The Guinness certification was in doubt early on because of paperwork issues, but the matter has been resolved. "We have the certificate, and we have the letter," said Tanna Guthrie, KY's morning drive-time radio personality who conceived and organized the event. "We posted the certificate and the group photos on our Web site (kyys.com). Everybody (who participated) is going online. They can download it and frame it, then brag to their friends that, yes, they did set a world record."

Guthrie even talked to Guinness head Marco Frigatti. "He said we'll be in the record book, but not this year because it was too late to meet the
deadline," she said. "But it will be in next year's. I would kiss him had he been in town. I was so happy to get the news."

As it was, she went screaming through the hallways at work, showing everybody she could. "We had our doubters, and we proved them wrong," Guthrie said.
The event was a lot of work, but it was worth it. "It was just so incredible," she said. "Everybody was on the field, and for a brief moment, all of them were rock stars. And when they raised their guitars spontaneously to the heavens it gave me cold chills." The guitarists appreciated it, too. "My family attended the record breaker," Sheila Ford, of St. Joseph, Mo., wrote Guthrie. "I have to tell you what a blast we had. ... My 14-year-old daughter enjoyed it as much as her dad. And I was really impressed with all the families that came and played together from 5 years old to 60. It just goes to show that rock 'n' roll is a perfect genre for bringing people together."