Andy Summers, The Police guitarist talked with Music Radar about why he is selling his “57 Gibson Les Paul”.
Read what he said:
“I sold the original for a great deal of money because Gibson gave me another Goldtop that was even better than the 57! It’s all mythology: sometimes old guitars are great but not always. When I realized the new Custom Shop Goldtop was the better guitar, I thought, ‘Fuck!’ and switched over.
“There’s another Les Paul I own, a red Custom that I bought just walking past a store in Frankfurt. I walked past about five times and thought I just had to buy it because I’d never seen one like it. I probably used it a lot on Circa Zero – sometimes with a project like that, you need a Les Paul to rip one out! It’s a different sound, but great for rock.”
Andy also explained how he regrets selling his Martin D-28 acoustic, saying:
“I don’t have the acoustic I wrote a lot of songs on any more – I sold it to somebody and deeply regretted it.
“At one point I had so many guitars, I just needed to let some go. No idea why that had to include the D-28! Though I actually have another D-28 – it’s not even Custom Shop; it’s what they call an Authentic Series reproduction of a 1945 D-28.
“And it’s a fantastic guitar. I think it needs to be played for another 25 years to really get to where it could go, but it’s amazing already. Authentic is one more than Custom Shop: everything is cut by hand. They use animal glue, not synthetic glue, which makes a huge difference – you’d be surprised how much of a part glue can play. I have one of the few ever made.”