The Police's former guitarist Andy Summers has enjoyed a hugely successful career, but it's not been one without regrets, such as the day he sold a beloved - and now incredibly valuable - Les Paul guitar to his old friend Eric Clapton.
Summers tells the story in an interview with music industry expert and YouTube personality Rick Beato. He introduces the anecdote by setting the scene, telling Beato that, back in the mid '60s, he and all the other hot-shot young guitarists in London - Jeff Beck, Albert Lee, Clapton - would hang out together at The Flamingo Club, a jazz nightclub in London's Soho district, watching one another's bands. And it was at The Flamingo, while soundchecking with London blues king John Mayall, where Clapton first spotted Summers with a new guitar that he instantly coveted.
"I walked in with this beautiful sunburst Les Paul and he went, 'Where'd you get that?' Naively, I said, Oh, down the road, in [famous Denmark Street guitar shop] Rose Morris, they've got another one. If I had any brains I would have bought both of them - who knew? - as they're both worth about a million dollars each now. So Eric went and got it he got it."
Sometime later, as Summers tells Beato, Clapton's Les Paul was stolen, at which point, the guitarist began eying up Summers' guitar again.
"He knows I've got the other one, so he starts calling me relentlessly," Summers recalls. "I had moved over to a '58 white Telecaster and I liked it more than the Les Paul for some reason - I don't know pickup set up, whatever and he knew I had that as well. But he kept calling and calling, [and I said], No, I don't want to sell it...so I kept resisting it. Finally he called me so many times, that I actually agreed to sell it, with some misgivings. I didn't feel great about it, but he just really wanted it, so we agreed on a price."
Asked how much he sold the instrument for, Summers replies, "I charged him £200 for it: it's worth about two million now!"
Summers remembers bringing the guitar to Clapton while he was at Advision studios in London's West End, prepping for the recording of Cream's 1966 debut album, Fresh Cream.
"He was there with Jack [Bruce] and Ginger [Baker], and as I came out.. for some weird reason the studio room was coming through the PA in the foyer of the studio, and you could hear them all talking and he's going, 'Fuuuuucking hell, it's great! Wow! And I felt so terrible that I'd let Eric Clapton have my Les Paul."
You can watch the full interview with Summers below:
