Andy Summers is a Strat fanatic, yet his chart-smashing career with The Police was also partly defined by a heavily modded and rule-breaking Tele – but he was hesitant to adopt the guitar at first.
He calls the Tele and his red 1962 Fender Stratocaster, for which he is most widely known, “major historical items” today. The Tele was bought in California in 1972, the year before he relocated to London, and the peculiarly modded electric guitar is steeped in mystery.
