Song Wei Ming, MD Swee Lee Music (L) with Fender master builder Yuriy Shishkov. Photo courtesy Swee Lee Music
If you think the man on the left is real happy, that’s because he’s posing with Fender master builder Yuriy Shishkov with a one of a kind guitar – the US$90,000 (S$114,000) Midnight Opulence – that he’s just won.
The man is Song Wei Ming, MD of Swee Lee Music and he’s managed to outbid Fender distributors all over the world just to bring the guitar to Singapore. It’s now being stored at the Swee Lee HQ at Sims Drive, so if your pockets are feeling deep enough, this is your chance to grab it while you still can.
The story behind this is that each year Fender will showcase up to five pieces of custom built guitars at an annual tradeshow called NAMM in Anaheim. Each guitar will be different and one of a kind – the Midnight Opulence is not different, having taken 9 months to build. Now, usually each guitar will cost US$15,000 and above, but the Midnight Opulence wants to do things differently, and now it’s the most expensive brand new Fender customshop guitar ever released.
Song Wei Ming, MD Swee Lee Music (L) and Mike Eldred, Manager Fender customshop with the Fender Midnight Opulence. Photo courtesy Swee Lee.
The price is quite deserved – other than it being a Fender custom to begin with, it’s covered with diamonds and other gems, not to mention having pickups and other metal parts made out of rose gold. It’s been built by hand by master builder Yuriy Shishkov, who even had the strings hand hammered – and yes, the strings are made out of silver and gold.
For some close ups of the guitar, check out the video below.
