“It was the one guitar I used for everything.”
One guitar. Five albums. “Roxanne.” “Message in a Bottle.” “Walking on the Moon.” “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” “Every Breath You Take.” “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” The biggest band in the world at the turn of the 1980s, defined in large part by the specific sound of one beat-up Telecaster Custom through a Maestro Echoplex and an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress.
Andy Summers bought the 1961 Telecaster Custom in a guitar shop somewhere — accounts vary on whether it was London or the US — before The Police existed. He wasn’t even sure he liked Telecasters when he first encountered it. Then he played it. “It wasn’t just any Telecaster,” he would say later. “It had everything I needed in one.”
What it had: a maple neck, a single-coil bridge pickup in the standard Telecaster position, and a Gibson neck humbucker — the Telecaster Custom’s specific configuration, where Fender put a humbucking neck pickup in the guitar to appeal to players who wanted warmth on the neck without the brightness of a standard Tele pickup. This combination — single-coil bite at the bridge, humbucker warmth at the neck — gave Summers the tonal range that “everything” required.
Through the Echoplex tape delay’s single repeat, set with the echo volume equal to the dry volume, Summers discovered that one chord stroke became two — the original and its ghost, half a beat later, creating the rhythmic doubling that gives “Walking on the Moon” its floating, gravitational quality.
One guitar. One tape delay. The signature sound of post-punk’s biggest band.
He is now over eighty years old. He still plays. He has over a hundred guitars in his private collection. The Telecaster Custom, replicated in a 250-piece Fender Custom Shop Tribute run, is at the center of all of it.
Background: Poulton-le-Fylde, Los Angeles, Classical Studies, and The Police
Andy Summers was born Andrew James Somers on December 3, 1942, in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. He is the oldest guitarist in this entire series — born three years before the end of the Second World War, sixteen years before the birth of the electric guitar era he would help define. His musical trajectory is unusual: he played in R&B and pop bands throughout the 1960s (including a stint with The Animals), then stopped and went to Los Angeles specifically to study classical guitar and music formally. He returned to London having absorbed harmonic and technical depth that most rock guitarists of his generation never acquired.
This classical foundation is audible in everything The Police did. The specific chord voicings Summers uses — the way he implies jazz harmony within rock contexts, the way he creates large-interval leaps in his arpeggio patterns, the way he places notes in rhythmically complex positions — all reflect a guitarist who has studied music seriously rather than purely by ear and imitation.
He played in Strontium 90 with Sting and Stewart Copeland before The Police formed, which is how the trio assembled. The Police formed in 1977 and dissolved in 1984 — seven years during which they became, briefly, the biggest band in the world. Their albums: Outlandos d’Amour (1978), Reggatta de Blanc (1979), Zenyatta Mondatta (1980), Ghost in the Machine (1981), Synchronicity (1983).
The Police reunion tour of 2007-2008 — one of the highest-grossing concert tours in history — used the Fender Custom Shop replica of Summers’ Telecaster rather than the original. 250 replicas were made; all sold out immediately. He has since continued solo work, produced multiple albums, collaborated with Sting and Christian McBride, written books, and exhibited his photography.
Tone note: He went to Los Angeles specifically to study classical guitar. He stopped playing rock. He absorbed harmonic depth from the classical tradition that changed what his ears heard as possible. Then he came back and joined a punk band. The specific combination — classical harmonic sophistication applied to a punk-influenced reggae-new wave band — is what makes The Police’s guitar playing unlike anything else in its era. The classical education made Summers capable of the chord voicings; the punk context made them purposefully minimalist.
The Rig: Andy Summers’s Guitars, Amps & Gear
Guitars: The Telecaster Custom That Started Everything
1961 Fender Telecaster Custom — The Police Guitar
Andy Summers’s primary guitar throughout The Police’s career — used on all five studio albums and all tours from 1977 to 1984 — was a 1961 (some sources say 1963) Fender Telecaster Custom. The Police Equipment Wiki noted the uncertainty: “Andy Summers’ main guitar throughout The Police — 1963 Fender Telecaster custom (or 1961 Fender Telecaster).”
Fender’s own description of the guitar confirms it definitively for the Custom Shop Tribute replica: “A ’61 Fender Telecaster became the core of Summers’ rig for The Police, making for an ideal bedrock to build his effect-laden sound.” He confirmed it on his own website: “It was the one guitar I used for everything… I did start using a Strat later on, but this was the Telecaster that got used all the time, on all the records. It had everything I needed in one.”
The Telecaster Custom’s specific configuration (different from standard Telecaster):
- Bridge pickup: Standard Telecaster single-coil — the characteristic Tele snap and twang
- Neck pickup: Gibson humbucking pickup in a wider neck-pickup route — warmer, thicker, more like a Les Paul neck sound
- Controls: Three-way switch (neck humbucker / both / bridge single coil), volume, tone
- Neck: Maple — the maple-neck Tele Custom provides the specific bright, snappy character
Guitar World’s tonal breakdown of “Walking on the Moon” confirmed the guitar’s precise role: “GUITAR: 1961 Telecaster Custom with maple neck and Gibson neck humbucker (bridge pickup)”
The “bridge pickup” notation in that specification is important: Summers predominantly used the bridge single-coil position for the signature Police arpeggios — the brightness and clarity of the single coil allowing the Echoplex’s repeats to be heard distinctly rather than blurring together.
The guitar’s condition: “beat-up” is how it was consistently described. Not a museum piece in pristine condition — a working instrument that showed the wear of constant use. When Fender’s Dennis Galuszka built the Custom Shop replica, the replication of the specific wear pattern was part of the specification.
Tone note: He used it for everything. “Roxanne,” recorded in a single evening after the Echoplex was discovered in the studio by accident. “Message in a Bottle” — the arpeggiated intro that was a virtuosic display of the specific Telecaster-and-delay combination. “Walking on the Moon.” “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” “Every Breath You Take.” One guitar. Not because he didn’t have others. Because this one had everything he needed in one.
1961 Fender Stratocaster (Red) — Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity
Summers’s second primary guitar — used increasingly from Ghost in the Machine (1981) onward — was a red 1961 Fender Stratocaster. Ground Guitar documented: “He started using it more often than the Telecaster around the time of the 1981 album ‘Ghost in the Machine,’ and continued using it on ‘Synchronicity’ in 1983.” And Summers himself: “That was always with me. I started playing the Strat more than the Tele, which some people didn’t like.”
He told MusicRadar: “Back through the mists of time, I remember getting this in a guitar shop in Austin, Texas for about $400, if my memory serves correct. It would probably be worth about $40,000 now! It was a great guitar; I started using it a lot in The Police during Synchronicity period — there are a lot of pictures of me with it.”
He also used Fender Custom Shop replicas of this Stratocaster, built by Dennis Galuszka: “When Fender made that signature Tele, they also casually copied this Strat and gave me a couple more of those! And what they produced was wonderful… just fantastic. One of them is the one that sits there on the couch all the time; it’s my working guitar.”
The Stratocaster’s character complements the Telecaster’s: the Strat’s three single coils provide more tonal variety (especially the middle position and in-between positions), and the tremolo system allows different kinds of pitch expression than the hardtail Telecaster offers.
Other Key Guitars
- Gibson ES-335 — Used extensively for solo work and jazz-influenced recordings; Summers described using it as his third-most-used guitar during The Police period. He owned at least two different ES-335s. The semi-hollow body’s warmer, jazzier character suited the more harmonically complex material
- Gibson ES-175 (1964) — The archtop jazz guitar; Summers’s jazz background made this a natural instrument for his more exploratory work
- 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop — Later albums period
- 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom — Used on Reggatta de Blanc sessions
- 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior — Slide guitar on “Next to You” and “On Any Other Day” from Outlandos d’Amour
- Hamer Sunburst Cherry (1979-80) — Used live alongside the Telecaster in the early Police period
- Hamer Custom guitars (1980-82) — Various custom models in the early 1980s period
- Roland G-303 (for Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer) — The Roland synth guitar; detailed below
- Guitarman custom electric 12-string (1983-84) — Used on “Synchronicity I” live
- Aria Pro II PE-1000 (1978-79) — Early Police period backup
- 1961 Fender Stratocaster — Also used during the 1979-84 period alongside the Telecaster
- 1954 Fender Stratocaster — “Always had this amazing bluesy sound” per MusicRadar
- Gibson Chet Atkins CE — Nylon-string semi-hollow; for classical and jazz inflected material
- 100+ guitars in private collection — Summers is an avid collector; MusicRadar: “well over 100 guitars in his private collection”
Complete Guitar List (Key Instruments)
- 1961 Fender Telecaster Custom (maple neck, Gibson neck humbucker) — Primary for all The Police; “the one guitar I used for everything”; all five albums; Fender Custom Shop Tribute (250 pieces) replica built by Dennis Galuszka 2007
- 1961 Fender Stratocaster (red) — Secondary from Ghost in the Machine onward; bought in Austin, Texas for $400; Fender Custom Shop replicas also used
- Gibson ES-335 (multiple) — Third primary; jazz and solo work
- 1964 Gibson ES-175 — Archtop jazz guitar
- 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop — Later period
- 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior — Slide on early albums
- Roland G-303 — Guitar synth input
- 1954 Fender Stratocaster — Blues-voiced vintage Strat
Amps: Marshall JMP through Various Configurations
Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead — The Core Police Live Amp
Andy Summers used Marshall amplification throughout The Police’s career — specifically the Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead 100-watt heads. Guitar World’s “Walking on the Moon” specification confirmed the specific amp and settings: “AMP: Early Seventies Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead (Input: I lower, Presence: 3, Bass: 4, Middle: 3, Treble: 6, Volume I: 5)”
This is a notably moderate setting — not the maximum-gain approach of heavy metal players using the same amp. The JMP at these settings provides a clean-to-lightly-overdriven character that maintains the clarity of individual chord tones — essential when the Echoplex’s delay is creating overlapping notes that must be distinguishable.
ZZSounds confirmed: “During his time with The Police, Andy Summers was known for using a pair of Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead heads with matching 1960A cabinets.” A pair of Marshall heads into matching cabinets provides the volume necessary for stadium performance while maintaining the tonal character of the specific 1959 circuit.
Fender Twin Reverb — The Early Period Clean Amp
In the early days of The Police, Summers used a Fender Twin Reverb alongside or instead of the Marshall. The Police Equipment Wiki noted: “In the very early days of Police, Andy was using just the MXR Phase 90 pedal, and a reverb” — and the Fender Twin Reverb’s built-in reverb was the natural choice for a guitarist who had played through Fenders earlier in his career.
The Twin Reverb’s extremely clean, neutral character suits the Echoplex approach — the delay’s repeats need to be heard clearly against the dry signal, and a lightly overdriven or clean amp ensures they are. The Marshall’s light drive was the live stadium choice; the Fender provided the studio cleanliness.
Roland JC-120 — His Stated Touring Preference
Equipboard documented Summers’s ongoing endorsement of the Roland JC-120: “If I am playing away from home and amps have to be supplied, my first choice is always the JC-120. It is a no-fail amp in just about every situation.” This is a characteristic JC-120 endorsement — the same amp that Ernest Ranglin called his favorite and that Danny Gatton used in his later career. The JC-120’s clean, transparent, reliable character makes it the natural choice when your tone is coming from your pedals and guitar rather than from amplifier saturation.
Pedals: The Echoplex, the Electric Mistress, and the Pete Cornish Board
The Maestro Echoplex EP-2/EP-3 — The Signature Sound
The most important single effect in Andy Summers’s signal chain — and possibly the most important single effect in The Police’s entire catalog — is the Maestro Echoplex tape delay.
Guitar World documented the “Walking on the Moon” settings precisely: “Echoplex EP-3 (Mode: Echo, Delay: 330ms, Sustain: single repeat, Volume: 50/50 dry/echo)”
The specific settings are the key to understanding what the Echoplex does in the Police context:
- Single repeat: Not the infinite repeating echo of psychedelia — just one repeat. One original note/chord, one ghost of that note/chord. Two overlapping events, not a cascade
- Echo volume equal to dry volume (50/50): The echo is as loud as the original. This is not a subtle delay that sits in the background — it is an equal presence to the dry signal. The sound is effectively doubled
- Delay of 330ms: Approximately one-third of a second — placing the repeat in the rhythmic space between the original attack and the next beat
Guitar World explained the result: “An Echoplex set to a single repeat, with the echo volume the same as the dry volume, creates a simple rhythmic effect with a characteristic feel courtesy of overlapping resonant sustain that can’t be duplicated simply by playing two strokes in quick succession.” The specific resonant quality of the tape delay — the slight pitch instability of the tape mechanism, the natural compression of the playback head — produces a character that digital delays cannot exactly replicate.
He used the EP-2 in the early Police period and the EP-3 on later albums. The two models have similar tonal characters; the EP-3 added some features but maintained the core tape delay sound.
Tone note: “Roxanne” was discovered by accident with the Echoplex. The band reportedly found the Echoplex in the recording studio where they were laying down tracks, plugged it in, and the specific delay-and-chord combination produced what became the recording. One repeat, equal volume, 330ms. The most identifiable Police guitar sound was discovered rather than designed. The accident is the invention. This appears in this series constantly.
Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress — The Chorus-Flanger Texture
The second essential Police effect: the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, a flanger/chorus hybrid that produces the shimmering, liquid quality of Summers’s arpeggios. Guitar World confirmed its settings on “Walking on the Moon”: “Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress (Rate: 6.5, Range: 8, Color: 3, Filter Matrix switch: flanger setting)”
The Electric Mistress’s specific character: a filter sweep that can be set anywhere on a continuum between chorus (subtle, slow, liquid modulation) and flange (dramatic, metallic, jet-plane sweep). At the “Walking on the Moon” settings — moderate rate, high range, low color — it produces a chorus-like effect that broadens the Telecaster’s single-coil sound into something more atmospheric and spatial.
The Police Equipment Wiki noted the “Walking on the Moon” specific confusion: “There’s been some confusion over what was used to create the distinctive, signature guitar effect on ‘Walking on the Moon.’ From Andy’s memory it was a ’63 (or ’61) Fender Telecaster Custom though a chorus pedal and a Fender Twin, with maybe a little bit of compression. However, this recollection doesn’t seem to be particularly reliable as reports from the time detail that he didn’t specifically have a chorus pedal at the time — it was merely the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger he was referring to, probably dialled to a chorus-like effect.”
The additional possibility: an Audio & Design Recording SCAMP S24 ADT rack delay/flanger unit, which assistant engineer Chris Gray specifically remembered: “No flange pedal ever gave the same glass-effect of the SCAMP.” The specific “Walking on the Moon” shimmer may be this studio rack unit rather than the Electric Mistress.
The Pete Cornish Pedalboard
As The Police’s commercial success grew, Summers commissioned a custom pedalboard from Pete Cornish — the British pedal engineer who has built custom switching systems and pedalboards for many of rock’s most gear-intensive musicians (David Gilmour among them). The Pete Cornish board, assembled in early 1979, contained:
- Musitronics Mu-Tron III envelope follower (the same Mu-Tron that Billy Corgan and Lee Ranaldo loved)
- Various wah pedals
- Fuzz boxes
- Electro-Harmonix Muff Fuzz distortion
- MXR Distortion+
- MXR Dyna Comp Compressor
- MXR Phase 90
- Other effects as needed for specific songs
The Cornish board organized these effects into a programmable system, allowing Summers to engage specific effect combinations with single footswitch commands rather than stomping on individual pedals.
The Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer
Summers used the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer during The Police period and into his solo career — the Roland G-303 guitar feeding the GR-300 synthesizer module. This system allowed Summers to trigger synthesizer sounds from his guitar, expanding the sonic palette beyond what conventional guitar effects could produce. Specific Police tracks feature the GR-300’s specific synthesizer-through-guitar character.
Complete Pedal List (Primary Police Era)
- Maestro Echoplex EP-2 / EP-3 — The core of his sound; single repeat at 50/50 dry/echo; 330ms delay; “Walking on the Moon,” “Message in a Bottle,” “Roxanne,” and virtually every Police signature moment
- Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger — Set to chorus-like effect; the shimmering spatial quality of the arpeggio tone
- MXR Dyna Comp Compressor — “Gives consistent body to each note in the chords”; confirmed at Output: 6, Sensitivity: 6 for “Walking on the Moon”
- MXR Phase 90 — Phasing; the earliest effect in his rig; used from “the very early days”
- Pete Cornish custom pedalboard — Organized all effects from 1979 onward; Pete Cornish-built switching system
- Musitronics Mu-Tron III — Envelope filter; on the Cornish board
- MXR Distortion+ — Distortion pedal; on the Cornish board
- Electro-Harmonix Muff Fuzz — Fuzz; on the Cornish board
- Roland SDD-320 Dimension D — Added later; Roland chorus/spatial enhancement
- Roland RE-301 Chorus Echo — Roland rack unit added alongside the Cornish board
- Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer (via Roland G-303 guitar) — Synthesizer sounds from guitar
- Boss CE-1 or chorus pedal (various periods) — Additional chorus beyond the Electric Mistress
Strings, Picks & Setup
Strings: Not specifically documented with the same consistency as Summers’s guitar and amp information. The Telecaster’s standard gauge strings of the 1970s-1980s — typically .010-.046 or .011-.052 — would have been appropriate for the bridge pickup’s single-coil snap and the Echoplex’s delay response.
Picks: Standard picks for the arpeggiated technique; the specific pick-angle-to-string relationship that produces the clean attack of each chord tone in the Echoplex arpeggio requires consistent pick technique.
The Arpeggio Technique — The Most Important Setup Element:
Summers’s approach to the guitar in The Police context was not about chord strumming but about arpeggiated voicings — playing the notes of a chord individually in sequence rather than simultaneously. This technique produces a melodic, harp-like quality from the chord voicings, and when combined with the Echoplex’s single repeat, each note of the arpeggio has both its original statement and its delayed echo co-present in the sonic field.
The chord voicings themselves are sophisticated: Summers uses extended voicings (7th chords, 9th chords, sus4 chords) that imply jazz harmony while functioning within a pop-rock rhythmic context. His classical training made these voicings natural; his punk-influenced context made him use them with economy and purpose rather than self-indulgence.
Playing Style & Tone Philosophy: Less Is More, Space Is the Instrument
Andy Summers’s guitar philosophy is the most explicitly minimalist in the post-punk/new wave tradition: the space between notes is as important as the notes themselves; effects are texture not decoration; the rhythm guitar’s job is to define the harmonic and rhythmic space that the bass and drums inhabit, not to fill every frequency.
The Space Philosophy
In The Police’s specific configuration — the three-piece of Sting on bass, Stewart Copeland on drums, and Summers on guitar — the guitar’s role was to provide harmonic context without cluttering the rhythmic conversation between bass and drums. The Echoplex’s delay created the illusion of more notes than were actually being played; the Electric Mistress created space and shimmer without adding frequency content. Together, these effects allowed Summers to play sparsely while the sonic landscape appeared full.
This minimalism was not conventional rock guitar playing. The conventional approach would be to fill the space with more notes, more chords, more lead lines. Summers found that the Echoplex’s repeat created enough frequency and rhythmic presence without additional playing, and that the Electric Mistress’s modulation created enough tonal interest without additional guitar parts.
The Reggae Influence
The Police’s earliest records drew explicitly from reggae — “Roxanne,” “Message in a Bottle,” and many other tracks have reggae’s offbeat rhythm guitar approach embedded in them. The reggae guitar tradition — sparse, rhythmically precise, often playing on the offbeats rather than the downbeats — influenced how Summers thought about the guitar’s role in the mix. The guitar provides rhythmic punctuation, not harmonic wallpaper.
The Classical Harmonic Vocabulary
Summers’s years studying classical guitar gave him a harmonic vocabulary beyond most rock guitarists. The chord voicings in “Message in a Bottle,” “Every Breath You Take,” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger” are not the standard barre-chord vocabulary of rock; they are specific, chosen voicings that imply complex harmonic movement while remaining playable in a live context. The “Message in a Bottle” intro — the rapid arpeggiated 9th and sus4 chords — is a technically demanding piece of rock guitar that requires both chordal sophistication and picking precision.
“It’s All Mythology”
Summers has been candid about the mystification around vintage gear. MusicRadar quoted him: “It’s all mythology: sometimes old guitars are great but not always.” This is the counterpoint to the mythology that dominates vintage guitar culture — the assertion that vintage instruments are inherently superior. His experience: some are, some aren’t. What matters is whether the instrument has the specific qualities you need for the specific music you’re making.
He also acknowledged the contemporary golden age: “I think we’re in the golden age of guitar pedals. It was never like this before. When I started, pedals were like a novelty, almost like a joke to make funny sounds. Now pedals are very serious, there are millions of pedals.” A musician who used a vintage Echoplex and Electric Mistress to define a sound recognizing that the current abundance of well-designed effects represents genuine progress.
How to Sound Like Andy Summers: The Police Guitar Tone
The Summers tone is more achievable than the vintage-equipment association suggests. The core elements — Telecaster (or Telecaster-style single-coil guitar), Echoplex-style tape delay, Electric Mistress-style flanger, Marshall at moderate settings — are available at multiple price points.
The Guitar
Fender Telecaster or Telecaster Custom (with neck humbucker). The bridge single-coil position for most of the classic Police sounds.
- Fender Custom Shop Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster — The authentic replica; 250 made, all sold out; original is the only one available
- Fender American Professional Telecaster — Current production with appropriate single-coil character; for the Telecaster Custom character, add an aftermarket humbucker to the neck position
- Any vintage Telecaster Custom (1959-1972) — The authentic model configuration; maple neck preferred
The Amp
Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead at moderate settings. Or Roland JC-120 for maximum transparency.
| Control | Marshall JMP Setting | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Presence | 3 | Low — the effects provide enough high-frequency content |
| Bass | 4 | Moderate bass — the delay repeats can get muddy with excessive low end |
| Middle | 3 | Slightly scooped — the Electric Mistress adds midrange modulation |
| Treble | 6 | Present — the Telecaster bridge single-coil needs treble expression |
| Volume | 5 | Clean to lightly driven — articulation of the Echoplex repeats requires clarity |
The Essential Effects — The Echoplex Settings for “Walking on the Moon”
- Maestro Echoplex (vintage) or quality tape delay emulator — Set to single repeat (not multiple), delay around 330ms, echo volume equal to dry volume (50/50). In the absence of a Maestro Echoplex: the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, T-Rex Reptile, or EHX Deluxe Memory Man can approximate the character
- Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger — Set Rate: 6.5, Range: 8, Color: 3, Filter Matrix: flanger setting — this produces the chorus-like shimmer rather than the obvious flange sweep
- MXR Dyna Comp Compressor — Output: 6, Sensitivity: 6 — provides consistent note body across the arpeggiated voicings
- MXR Phase 90 — For additional modulation texture
Budget vs Authentic
Budget:
- Guitar: Fender Player Telecaster or Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster
- Amp: Marshall DSL or Roland JC-120 (used)
- Tape delay: Boss RE-20 Space Echo or EHX Memory Man (approximates tape delay character)
- Flanger: Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress (current reissue)
- Compressor: MXR Dyna Comp or Boss CS-3
Authentic:
- Guitar: Fender Telecaster Custom (1960s vintage, maple neck, Gibson neck humbucker)
- Amp: Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead (early 1970s) at Guitar World’s documented settings
- Tape delay: Maestro Echoplex EP-3 (vintage tape delay)
- Flanger: Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress (vintage, pre-1981)
- Compressor: MXR Dyna Comp (original or reissue)
The Arpeggio Technique
Practice arpeggiated chord voicings — playing the individual notes of a chord in sequence rather than strumming. Start with simple shapes (A minor, D major, G major) in the first position, picking each string individually in a consistent order (low to high, or high to low, depending on the passage). Add the Echoplex delay and the Electric Mistress after the technique is solid — the effects should enhance precise arpeggiation, not hide imprecise technique.
Then learn extended chord voicings — 7th chords, 9th chords, sus4 chords — in positions that allow arpeggiation with single-coil pickup clarity. The “Message in a Bottle” intro is the essential Andy Summers technical study: rapid arpeggiation of extended voicings with the delay creating the doubled-note texture.
Influence & Legacy: The Sound That Defined the 1980s
Andy Summers’s influence on guitar playing is the influence of the textural architect — the guitarist who showed that effects could replace density rather than add to it, that a single guitar in a three-piece could sound like an orchestra without distortion, and that minimalism and sophistication could coexist in the same guitar part.
The specific documented influences:
- Every post-punk and new wave guitarist — The Echoplex-and-Electric-Mistress approach became a defining texture of the early 1980s; the “shimmer and delay” aesthetic runs through virtually every successful guitar band of 1978-1985
- The Edge (U2) — The most directly descendant guitarist; The Edge’s delay-defined approach to creating texture from sparse playing is the Summers tradition extended into the arena-rock context
- Johnny Marr (The Smiths) — The jangly, arpeggiated, effects-laden approach to guitar in an otherwise minimalist rock context has Summers as its post-punk ancestor
- Every guitarist who uses a tape delay for texture — The Echoplex’s single-repeat approach to rhythmic doubling became a fundamental post-punk and indie guitar technique
- U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, Interpol — The atmospheric, delay-and-reverb-based guitar approach that defines a specific aesthetic strand of rock music has the Telecaster-and-Echoplex combination as its origin
Fender’s tribute: 250 limited Custom Shop Telecasters based on Summers’s guitar, sold out on announcement. The Police reunion tour of 2007-2008 was one of the highest-grossing tours in concert history. “Every Breath You Take” is one of the most-played songs in the history of radio broadcasting.
He studied classical guitar in Los Angeles in the 1960s. He joined a punk band in 1977. He found a beat-up Telecaster Custom that had everything he needed in one. He discovered the Echoplex’s single-repeat trick. He played sparsely, allowing the delay to create presence and the Electric Mistress to create shimmer. The space between notes was the instrument.
He is still playing. He has over a hundred guitars. The Telecaster Custom remains at the center.
Tone note: “It’s all mythology: sometimes old guitars are great but not always.” He used one of those old guitars on every record that made The Police famous. Both things are simultaneously true: the mythology is overstated and individual instruments are specifically real. His ’61 Telecaster Custom was specifically real — specifically right for what he was doing. Not because it was old, but because it had the right single-coil bite, the right neck humbucker warmth, and the right everything for one beat-up guitar to be on all the records.
In a guitar shop somewhere — London or the US, accounts vary — Andy Summers found a 1961 Fender Telecaster Custom. It had a maple neck, a single-coil bridge pickup, and a Gibson humbucking neck pickup. He was skeptical of Telecasters at first. He played it. He bought it. “It wasn’t just any Telecaster. It had everything I needed in one.”
He plugged it into a Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead at moderate settings (Presence 3, Middle 3, Treble 6, Volume 5). He ran the signal through an MXR Dyna Comp, into an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress set to a chorus-like effect, into a Maestro Echoplex tape delay with a single repeat at 330ms at 50/50 dry/echo. He played arpeggiated chord voicings using jazz-influenced extended harmonies he’d learned studying classical guitar in Los Angeles.
The result: “Roxanne.” “Message in a Bottle.” “Walking on the Moon.” “Every Breath You Take.” Five albums. The biggest band in the world.
“It’s all mythology: sometimes old guitars are great but not always.”
His was.
If Andy Summers’s Telecaster-and-Echoplex sonic architecture — the single repeat, the Electric Mistress shimmer, the classical arpeggiated voicings, the space between notes — has you exploring the post-punk and new wave guitar tradition he helped define, check out our complete guide to John Frusciante’s guitars and gear — whose RHCP vintage Stratocaster through Marshall approach inhabits a different tradition but shares the same fundamental insight: the tone is in the playing, and vintage single-coil guitars through clean-to-crunch amps reward precision and punish imprecision equally.
And for the guitarist who extended Summers’s delay-defined texture approach into U2’s arena-rock context — using the same Echoplex-derived single-note delay as a compositional foundation — don’t miss our breakdown of The Edge’s complete gear guide.
FAQ: Andy Summers Guitars & Gear
- What guitar did Andy Summers play with The Police?
- His primary guitar throughout The Police’s entire career (1977-1984) was a 1961 Fender Telecaster Custom (some sources say 1963) with a maple neck. The Telecaster Custom differs from a standard Telecaster in having a Gibson humbucking pickup in the neck position rather than the standard Telecaster single coil — giving Summers both the snappy single-coil bridge sound and warmer humbucker neck sound in one guitar. He described it: “It was the one guitar I used for everything… this was the Telecaster that got used all the time, on all the records. It had everything I needed in one.” Fender built 250 Custom Shop Tribute replicas in 2007 for the Police reunion tour, all sold out immediately. From the Ghost in the Machine album onward, he increasingly used a red 1961 Fender Stratocaster alongside the Telecaster.
- What created the guitar sound on “Walking on the Moon”?
- Guitar World documented the original gear and settings precisely. Guitar: 1961 Telecaster Custom with maple neck, using the bridge pickup. Amp: early 1970s Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead (Presence: 3, Bass: 4, Middle: 3, Treble: 6, Volume: 5). Pedals: MXR Dyna Comp (Output: 6, Sensitivity: 6), Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress flanger (Rate: 6.5, Range: 8, Color: 3, set to chorus-like rather than dramatic flange effect), Maestro Echoplex EP-3 (single repeat, 330ms delay, echo volume equal to dry volume at 50/50). The Echoplex’s 50/50 single repeat creates the characteristic floating quality — one original chord and one equal-volume echo, overlapping rhythmically. Some accounts suggest an Audio & Design Recording SCAMP S24 ADT rack unit may have contributed the specific “glass” shimmer quality.
- What amplifier did Andy Summers use with The Police?
- Two Marshall JMP 1959 Super Lead heads with matching Marshall 1960A cabinets for live performances. The JMP 1959 is a 100-watt Super Lead — the same basic Marshall circuit used by many hard rock guitarists, but Summers ran his at moderate settings (Volume 5, Presence 3, Treble 6) rather than maximum gain, producing a clean-to-lightly-overdriven character that maintained clarity for the Echoplex delay repeats. In the early Police period, a Fender Twin Reverb also appeared. For touring situations where amps must be supplied, Summers named the Roland JC-120 as his consistent preference: “If I am playing away from home and amps have to be supplied, my first choice is always the JC-120. It is a no-fail amp in just about every situation.”
- What is the Pete Cornish pedalboard?
- Pete Cornish is a British guitar electronics engineer who has built custom pedalboards and switching systems for major guitarists including David Gilmour and Andy Summers. As The Police became successful, Summers commissioned Cornish to build a custom board in early 1979, which included: Musitronics Mu-Tron III envelope follower, various wah pedals, fuzz boxes, Electro-Harmonix Muff Fuzz, MXR Distortion+, MXR Dyna Comp compressor, MXR Phase 90, and other effects. The Cornish system organized these into a programmable switching system, allowing specific effect combinations to be engaged with single footswitch presses rather than stomping on individual pedals.
- What pedals are essential for Andy Summers’s Police tone?
- The two essential elements: the Maestro Echoplex tape delay (single repeat, 330ms, echo volume equal to dry) and the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress flanger (set to chorus-like effect rather than dramatic flange). The MXR Dyna Comp compressor adds consistent note body. The MXR Phase 90 was present from the earliest Police period. The Echoplex is the more difficult to source authentically — vintage EP-2 or EP-3 units are expensive and require maintenance; quality tape delay emulators (Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, EHX Deluxe Memory Man) can approximate the character. The Electric Mistress has been reissued by Electro-Harmonix.
- What made Andy Summers’s guitar playing distinctive?
- Several elements: first, his years studying classical guitar gave him a harmonic vocabulary that extended well beyond standard rock chord vocabulary — his use of 9th chords, sus4 chords, and extended voicings reflects genuine harmonic knowledge. Second, his reggae-influenced minimalism — using the Echoplex to create the illusion of density from sparse playing rather than filling the frequency with additional guitar parts. Third, the arpeggiated approach — playing chord voicings as sequences of individual notes rather than strummed chords, which combined with the Echoplex single repeat to create a melodic, harp-like texture. Fourth, the specific effects combination that created a sonic environment without cluttering Sting’s bass lines and Stewart Copeland’s highly individual drumming.
- How do I replicate Andy Summers’s “Message in a Bottle” guitar tone?
- Fender Telecaster (bridge single-coil position; Telecaster Custom with neck humbucker if available). Marshall JMP 1959 or equivalent at moderate settings: Presence 3, Bass 4, Middle 3, Treble 6, Volume 5. Maestro Echoplex EP-3 or equivalent tape delay: single repeat, approximately 330ms delay, echo volume equal to dry signal. Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger set to chorus-like effect (Rate: 6.5, Range: 8, Color: 3). MXR Dyna Comp compressor at moderate settings. The most critical element is the arpeggiation technique — practice the specific extended chord voicings used in the song (C#m9, A9sus4, B9sus4) as individual-note arpeggios, picking from low to high through each voicing cleanly. The delay creates the doubling; your precision creates the clarity of each doubled note.
