The Police guitarist's new Fender signature model combines his two biggest passions
(Image credit: Fender)
The Police guitarist Andy Summers has never been shy about integrating his acclaimed work as a photographer into his music - often, during his recent solo shows, performing against a backdrop of his photographs.
We've never seen him combine his twin artistic passions quite like this, though, as he teams up with the Fender Custom Shop and Leica Camera for the Fender Andy Summers Monochrome Strat, and boy is it a visual doozy.
Crafted by Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilder Dennis Galuszka, the Strat is custom-wrapped with a collage of monochrome photos taken by Summers with his Leica M cameras.
Specs-wise, the guitar has a two-piece select alder body with a NOS urethane finish. The one-piece riftsawn maple neck has a 63 C- shaped profile, and a 7.25”-radius fingerboard with 21 medium-vintage frets, plus a nifty red camera dot inlay at the 15th fret.
Sonically, the Strat packs three hand-wound Custom Shop ‘60s Strat pickups with Vintage Modified #2 wiring and Leica-style volume and tone knobs.
Elsewhere, the guitar features Summers' signature engraved on the neck plate, a custom Clear pickguard and back plate, an American Vintage synchronized tremolo, bone nut and wing string tree. It also includes a deluxe hardshell case, custom strap and Certificate of Authenticity.
As you might imagine, the Andy Summers Monochrome Strat is no budget electric guitar, ringing up at $12,500.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.