What Does It Take to Build a $100,000 Guitar for Keith Urban?
A $17 glass cutter, tedious concentration and a lot of sleepless nights. That's what I found out from Yuriy Shishkov, the senior master builder at the Fender guitars custom shop. He's the one who made Keith Urban's "Shattered" Telecaster.
After I'd blogged about the guitar, I got a lot of e-mails from guitar geeks wanting to know more about how it was made. So I hunted down this Shishkov guy, and here's what he told me:
• Urban's favorite Fender Telecaster guitar was flown to Shishkov so he could duplicate the neck and measure all electronic components.
• Urban didn't want small square mirrors, but rather he insisted on the shattered pattern.
• It took about three months to build the guitar, which has about 160 pieces of mirror on it. (But to make that many perfect pieces, Shishkov had to cut about 600 to allow for mistakes. He told me, "It was all cut by hand, but to cut exact curved lines that you have drawn on the glass is like trying to follow the curvy line on the ice when you are ice skating. If you're slightly off, you're already wrong. Glass is an unforgiving material.")
• And, he said, the true enemy in the process was that the weight of the glass is heavy. So he had to use the thinnest but strongest mirrors that money could buy: 1/16 of an inch glass, which is about as thin as a nickel.
• The elliptical sphere surface top has a slight arch to further disperse the reflections of the mirrors. And the light ash wood for the body was milled to reduce the thickness and weight. "When the guitar's body was ready for the glass work, it weighed under 2 pounds," Shishkov said. "It was the lightest body I had ever held in my hands."
• Shishkov told Fender execs, "If anyone will ask for another one like this, tell them it's $100,000."
But my favorite part of his story is how, after staring at the light reflections for hours at a time, he realized, "It was making your eyes ask for sunglasses by the end of the day." I wonder if Urban fans would say the same thing after watching him play it.
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
Ken Ed says:
Great story, Alison. Thanks for sharing the process with the rest of us.
cher says:
Can’t wait to see/hear Keith play his new guitar next month!
nancy says:
it is AWESOME i saw him play in charlotte and the guitar was amazing.
Sheree says:
Saw this guitar in one of KU’s posted pics, was thoroughly amazed by the flash, thanks for the inside scoop, Alison, that’s so cool!
lioness says:
Hope to see those 2 babies(Keith & the guitar)in August when Keith plays Nashville’s Sommett Center!! Can’t wait! I think he has another one that lights up too!!
Jan says:
This guitar is awesome. It is very interesting to watch in concert.
While I prefer to just watch Mr. Urban, I couldn’t help but take a few peeks at that guitar–it is beautiful.
His light up guitar is fun, too. But I prefer Keith without the bells and whistles. He is the best guitarist without gimmicks. I’d love to see him with a worn out, old guitar on a stool just playing for the love of it. That’s what he does best!!
Ashleigh says:
Keith you have a cool Gutair there !!!!
S says:
Can’t wait to see Keith for the 1st time in Tacoma in September.
karen says:
He deserves the best, most fantastic guitar around, because he’s the best, most fantastic guitarist AND singer/songwriter ever. :) I saw him in Raleigh - great show, great music, great time!
Redmaz says:
I find it hard to believe…no, check that, I don’t believe “guitar geeks” were e-mailing you about this. Shishkov is the senior master builder at Fender Guitars Custom shop. Guitar geeks already know who he is without any help from you.
Kim B. says:
Such a cool guitar, for the best cool singer, songwriter,entertainer, performer, musician, and multi-instrumentalist ever!! I will have to agree, Keith is the best at what he does, and Keith deserves the best!! Everyone needs to see him live because he can do so many things and play so many different instruments. He is the best in country music and rock!!
Kim
trogg123 says:
When those spotlights hit the guitar, they sure can blind ya but it’s worth every second of blindness. Hahaha! Keith rocks on his shattered Fender and his fans love it! Can’t wait to see many more shows with his shattered Fender included!
m8mustang says:
that guitar is sweet
Jennifer says:
Keith rocks every guitar he tends to play , would love to own one of his guitars ! I am a BIG fan of his ! Been to only one concert that i happen to catch in south ga , only because saw him on the schedule !
Anita says:
Keith rocks!!!
Chandra says:
I love it, I am a fender person. How heavy is that guitar.. Great piece of work builders
jess says:
Awwwwww he is just that GOOD!
kittysoul says:
Keith Urban is the hottest human alive! This guitar is so cool! And keith needs to come back to Atlanta Georgia!!!!!
Sheila says:
That is “WON AWESOME GUITAR”
Thank-You for sharing your time and
Story with us!!:)
GOG-BLESS WITH SO MANY HUGS!!:)
Michelle R says:
loooooove the guitar, loooooove Keith Urban! I’ll get to see him play it in August live!!! cannot wait!
Aggie says:
Can’t Wait to see him play this Guitar when he plays his “2″ shows in Edmonton in Sept….whooo Hoooo (this will be my 5th and 6th times seeing him LIVE)There’s NOTHING better
Keith Urban- BEST GUITAR PLAYER/SINGER EVER!!!!!!
YOU ROCK MY WORLD KEITH!!! see ya in Edmonton
Penny says:
Woo-hoo I get to see that new guitar tonight in Dallas. Although I’m curious to see it, I agree with Jan. I prefer Keith without all the foo-foo, just him, an old guitar and his beautiful music. Nothing better!
Teresa says:
That’s one AWESOME…. guitar you have Keith, can’t wait to see ya play it!!! just know you’ll rock the house down, you always do…. please keep the great tunes coming…
JoAnn says:
I SEEN KEITH PERFORM AT SUMMERFEST IN MILWAUKEE, WI AND OF COURSE HE WAS AMAZING AS ALWAYS BUT TOWARDS THE END OF THE SHOW HE BROUGHT OUT A GUITAR THAT LOOKED LIKE FROM WHERE WE WERE SITTING TO LIGHT UP IN RED WHITE AND BLUE COLORS SIMILAR TO A LIGHT BRITE TOY, IS THIS THE SAME GUITAR? NEVER WOULD’VE GUESSED IT WAS DONE WITH GLASS MIRRORS, HOW TOTALLY COOL, THANKS FOR THE BACK STORY BUT WOULD LOVE TO KNOW IF THAT IS THE GUITAR AND THAT’S HOW IT LOOKS WHEN HE PLAYS IT?
FAN 4-EVER, JOANN
Rita in Kansas says:
Saw Keith play the mirrored guitar in Wichita and you can tell he loves it and the crowd response he receives from his fan’s when they see it.The show was great! see ya in Tulsa, OK
Julie says:
Can’t wait to see that guitar and Keith in action this Friday (7-17-09) in Fresno, CA!!
raymond says:
nice guitar there keith like to see you in action
GuitarMan says:
The article doesn’t mention where Keith got the idea. Paul Stanley from KISS has been playing one like this since the 70’s.
There’s another interview out there where he talks about seeing Paul play one and always wanting one. The process is even more tedious than the article mentions, as each piece of glass has to be offset to send the reflections all around the arena, rather than just one spot. It’s tough to do that without having sharp edges where you can get cut. Paul Stanley’s original Ibanez Iceman from the 70’s cut him up all the time.
It’s a great idea, I’m glad to see Keith carry on the tradition, and I can’t wait to hear this guitar next month!
Matt says:
what pickups is he using in the tele?