Andy Summers tribute T type
I’ve never been a huge fan of building clone guitars, slavishly copying every dent and scratch on an already existing guitar is not something I’ve ever particularly enjoyed, on the odd occasions in the past when I’ve done it, it has often felt like factory work...
So why this one..?, Well, I have been a huge Police fan since I saw Message In A Bottle on Top Of The Pops in 1979 when I was about 10 years old, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that experience shaped my life to an extent, I became a musician soon after and later a guitar builder, both of which may not have happened without the Police coming into my life...
I have been looking at pictures of this guitar for decades, in books, magazines, annuals, album sleeves, as a fan I knew a fair bit about the history of the guitar.
So one day...this thought popped into my head ‘I’m going to build an Andy Summers tribute guitar...’, I think it’s fair to say it’s an itch that had to be scratched...!!
I bought the replica brass bridge first (thank you Paul at Mole Sounds) and then set about gathering the rest of the parts. Although I knew a fair bit about the guitar, I took to the internet and scoured the pages for countless hours to obtain as much info as possible. There are numerous resources, people that have made their own replicas and recorded their adventure doing so....all very useful.
My version is based on the guitar as it was in the early to mid ‘80’s, as it was in the picture to the left. I have seen more recent pics of the guitar, apparently the boost circuit packed up, the boost switch is missing and the phase switch has been moved on the control plate for some reason.
The original and very cool fingerboard wear seems to have disappeared, probably due to an unsympathetic refret...?, Looks like the board was sanded before been refretted...and overall the guitar looks a little ‘shabby’ nowadays sadly...
A very brief history for those that aren’t familiar with the back story...Andy bought the guitar in the mid ‘70’s for $200 from a student when he was out in the US, he immediately fell in love with the guitar. He says that most of the mods had already been done to the guitar, but if you look at very early pics of the Police live, the guitar appears to have it’s original three saddle bridge and even the original tuners, a little later a 6 saddle pressed plate bridge appeared on the guitar, that seemed to be quite short lived before the brass bridge appeared...There is talk of the guitar having a brass nut, it’s certainly not brass in the above picture and I’ve personally never seen any other pic of the guitar with a brass nut.
Andy has often described the guitar as being a ‘61, although it is believed it is more likely a ‘63 with a ‘50’s neck. Indeed, when Fender examined the instrument for the Custom Shop version, they found no evidence of a body date due to the extensive internal routing and the neck appeared to have remnants of blonde lacquer on it’s heel. The sunburst is definitely a later style with the more ‘opaque’ yellow base coat, the serial number (L27595) might even suggest the body is an early ‘64...?, Guess we’ll never know...
Anyway, who cares...a classic guitar that in the hand of Mr Summers has given the world some amazing music that will live on for decades if not centuries...thanks Andy...
