Stings Police Arsenal

[The Mighty 'V']

Yes, Volker, I love all 3 of the first albums; all different in many ways, you can really see the time restraints and stresses they had or did not have on these. Outlandos is simply a recording of what they had been doing for a couple of years. Regatta was an upgrade in their sound, finally finding their niche. Zenyatta was a further evolution of this. By the time of Zenyatta, they had more stresses; they only had 3 weeks to record, they did not have enough songs, they played 2 big gigs during the recording, and you can see that Sting was starting to really become the major mover in the band. Maybe see the cracks starting. However, I find it be be a strong album. I find several of the songs on Regatta to be weak, almost afterthoughts. Like "Its alright for You", "Contact", and "Does Everyone Stare (Copeland)" Seems like if they had more time to refine these songs, they would have been better. It is all personal taste, I still love all these songs.
I find I have more trouble with Ghost. A real change in direction, this is Sting and the sidemen starting here. Andy and Stewart's influence is strong, but it is a Sting album.
Anyway, I love the music of The Police. Happy listening !!!

Thanks, you too! Might be on the next 'Police trip' before long!

"It's all personal taste" - It must be! Like, personally I like 'Does Everyone Stare' a lot! Already for the difference in sound thanks to the piano. I tend to skip 'Bring On The Night' most of the time, though - The studio recording never really did it for me, as opposed to later live versions.

I share your sentiments towards 'Ghost...'! I remember putting the LP on for the first time; Started off with the 3 hits ('Spirits', 'Magic' and 'Invisible Sun') - Yay, cool stuff! When all off a sudden, after those, it's all saxophone!! What the ...!? This 11-year old was so, so disappointed!! Especially after 'Zenyatta...'. Luckily, towards the end, Andy Summers cuts all that cr*p with 'Omega Man', and there's the great 'Secret Journey' and 'Darkness'. I did come to like 'One World' and 'Rehumanize Yourself', but still, that album's middle third?! *shakes head*

There was some delayed gratification though, when reading Andy's book 'One Train Later', and he's saying: "...Personally, I like about half of the album and hate all the un-Police saxophone sh*t." - Yusss!

Cheers
V.

 

[The Mighty 'V']

ZM was the very first Police LP I bought with some allowance money.

Great Peter Sellers avatar, peledog!

I also love(d) 'Zenyatta...' for its cover art, the back cover and inner sleeve made up of loads of little band snap shots. Shame you can hardly recognise anything on the CD's cover (as opposed to the original vinyl release).

Also interesting to find out (more than 30 years later) that the bass on 'Behind My Camel' was actually played by Andy Summers! Sting didn't like the piece and refused to play on it, and it probably only made it onto the album for lack of material.

 

[The Mighty 'V']

Thanks for the correction on the Ibanez, it is hard to find info on these, and Sting and Danny Q are not to forthcoming with info on his older gear. It would be great to have a page dedicated to the gear of The Police, for all 3 members, for gear geeks. I guess Sting was just experimenting with new gear as it came out, and decided to go with the Ibanez basses and retire the Fenders. Wonder if he still has all these basses?

Maybe you weren't entirely wrong about the MC940! The one in the clip below looks like one, only it's blonde with a maple fingerboard (I think it's actually the same bass as in the 'Zenyatta...' pics that had been discussed early on in this thread). Sting had another, similar-looking Ibanez; There's a pic of each one in post #149 of this thread: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/ibanez-musician-who-owns-one.127947/page-8#post-8079423
And I'd seen one before, but I can't seem to find a photo of Sting playing the 8-String Ibanez anymore!

 

[andreaska]

That was my post. There were about 5 Ibanez basses in his career.
Here's another pic with the 8-string:

That "famous" natural 1978/79 fretless Precision got changed tuners (I have a pic somewhere) and later a red coloured body. That was told in an old thread.

Interesting is about the mid/late 60s sunburst Precision here:

This belongs to Andy Summers and it is actually used in his band Circa Zero with Rob Giles.
That bass is not that one used by Sting while the TST tour with a Modulus graphite neck and later with the original fender neck but still the black Gotoh bridge. That pic below is from a concert in Moscow 2012:

Look out for the photo book "Police confidential" by Danny Quatrochi. Great pictures with that basses around 1979 until 1983.

Regards
Andreas

 

[The Mighty 'V']

Cool thread contributions, as always, Andreas! Thanks! So you're saying, the natural fretless P-Bass (from the 'Roxanne' video) and the red one (as seen in the 'Rockpalast' gig clips from 1980) are one and the same instrument?! Cheers, V.

 

[andreaska]

Yes, Volker, I say that. And to be correct - I have no firm prove only a few circumstantial evidence:
1. You can find no picture with both basses
2. You can find no picture with that natural esh body bass after mid 1980
3. The natural esh body bass got those "aftermarket" non fender tuners around mid 1979 - can be seen clearly in that clip below from the pinkpop-festival
4. The red body bass also has those non Fender tuners (pic below)
5. In an old thread (not sure if talkbass) told someone, that the bass was recoloured in red to fix to the other red guitars or basses

The only way to be sure would be high res pictures of these basses to compare the fingerboards. On that you can compare the wood grain/lines which are on every instrument unique.

Regards
Andreas

P.S. hope my english is good enough

 

[The Mighty 'V']

I understand everything you say, so there's nothing wrong with your English, Andreas Just, where do you get all those cool photos from? Are they from the Danny Quatrochi book you'd mentioned?

Yeah, well possible that Sting had asked the guys at Hamer to give his natural Precision a new coat of paint as well, while they were making his red 8-string 'Standard' (along with Andy Summer's original red 'Prototype' guitar)! Definitely an improvement - Cool-looking bass that one was

Cheers,
V.

 

[andreaska]

Thank you.
The photos a mostly found by accident in the www with a famous search machine, just by words as 'the police' and a certain year, e.g. 1980

 

[bluesdogblues]

2 unit of Avalon VT737SP tube preamp in there

---------------------------------------
Behind him are his Custom Cabs by Clair Brothers, 2 of 18" and 2 of 12", First time I see Sting uses them was at 1986 Amnesty International concerts with The Police.

 

[bluesdogblues]

I'm sure Sting has many basses that we might haven't seen before too...

Here is very rare occasion of him not using his iconic bass, and the first time I see him using that white Jazz Bass

Sting slaps hands with country singer Toby Keith after performing a duet at the Country Music Association Awards Show in Nashville, Tenn. in 1997. - See more at: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

edit:
I'm sorry, I just realized and read the word "Police" on the title of this thread LOL..I hope you don't mind

 

[andreaska]

@bluesdogblues: don't mind, it's the same bassplayer

Of course he have many basses, but I'm not sure if some of them, like those jazz in your last pic, are only loan for just one gig. Lately I found pics, dated 1981, "posing" with a late 70s Precision, sunburst, rosewood neck, black pg, never seen before that bass. Or in his early days in Newcastle with a Rickenbacker.

The Clair Bros cabinets first appeared in 1991. Also the custom Pete Cornish Rig was bigger:

 

[bluesdogblues]

@bluesdogblues: don't mind, it's the same bassplayer

Of course he have many basses, but I'm not sure if some of them, like those jazz in your last pic, are only loan for just one gig. Lately I found pics, dated 1981, "posing" with a late 70s Precision, sunburst, rosewood neck, black pg, never seen before that bass. Or in his early days in Newcastle with a Rickenbacker.

The Clair Bros cabinets first appeared in 1991. ....

#Probably, what I know is - especially in the Police era - sometime he used 'Andy Summer's' basses. Yes, Andy Summers is a guitars & basses collector. I read this somewhere in Andy Summer's web or something (about Sting used his basses, one of them was the Steinberger, although Sting himself also own it,..maybe he bought it later after 'tried' Andy's Steinberger (?)..).

#The Clair Bros cabs.. look here pal..

looks familiar, right?
I used to have the clearer video of that Conspiracy of Hope Concerts, but still searching for it LOL. In that video it's more clearly seen, that the cabs he used at that 1986 concerts were the same cabs he uses until today.

#about the racks, yes, the picture you and I attach are what I get too from googling, but since I also use Avalon 737 (which I really love), I like to see the pic I attached (so I chose to share here that one instead), more than the other one

 

[andreaska]

You're right - that was 1986. Sorry, never had an eye for the cabs at this concert.
By the way, great pic with the Avalons.

You can see Andy's guitar collection on his website.

In the years before (1980 - 1984) he used a similar system. Here is an excerpt from the Musician Magazine 1/1981:

Sting, perhaps the best known fretless bassist this side of Jaco Pastorius, reported that lately he's gotten back into using frets. "The big problem I have on-stage is that I sing, I play Moog pedals and I play bass, so I've got to do three things at once. So I've gotten back into using frets, because it's one thing less I've got to do." At the moment, he's using a standard Fender Precision bass, which is on loan from Andy Summers. The fretless basses he most commonly uses are by Fender and Ibanez. The band records with Oberheim OB-Xa's.

His favorite instrument, though, is a custom-built doublebass that has been fitted with a pick-up just between the bridge and the body. Since it's essentially an amplified instrument, the body has been removed "It still has a streamlined body, but it doesn't have this great, huge woman-shape that's so cumbersome." Nonetheless, its rather unorthodox appearance can be puzzling; so Sting introduced the instrument at the Liberty Bell Park concert. "A Iot of people ask me what this is called," he said. "It's called Brian."

As for his amplifiers, all Sting could say was, "It's like a PA system. It's big and extremely Ioud." Danny Quatrochi, the band's guitar roadie, was able to expand on that, though. The speakers are two 12" folded horns in cabinets for the Iow midrange; six 12" speakers front-loaded for the high midrange; two Gauss HF4000 drivers in Gauss difraction horns for the highs. Driving all that are Crown amps. There's a PSA II for the low bass and low midrange, a DC300 mono amp for the high midrange, and a D75 mono amp for the highs.

Sting's effects rack consists of an Ashley single-input preamp for Brian-the-doublebass; an Ashley four-input preamp; two KIark Technic equalisers; a one-third octave mono and an octave stereo; two dbx 160 compressor/limiters and a Roland Space echo. He also uses harmonisers and echo to thicken his vocals on-stage.

 

[JimmyM]

Sting's not overrated by any means, but I lost interest in his music after his second solo album and didn't care a whole lot for the first. Sure did love the Police, though, except for half of Synchronicity.

 

[HomesickBob]

Sting is like Keith Richards, no matter what axe, they sound all same or similar... years ago i saw a movie with Keith presenting his arsenal (does anybody know about?).
He showed off Teles, LPs Standards and Juniors, Dan Armstrong Plexi a.s.o. and all sounded same in his hands, so i wonder why he has to change gear in every song.
Just to show how rich he is or because he can't get no satisfaction?

 

[JimmyM]

Different tunings, too. But of course a lot of that is about showing off your stash, and why not?

 

[Sonicfrog]

This is a great thread!

I'm FINALLY doing the Police tribute band... Actually, this is the fifth go around trying to get this project on stage during the last ten years (we kept losing our drummers before we were ready to be stageworthy). I know I'm gonna play some fretless on stage, and I'm researching which songs he used them on. Thing is, he played a fretless like a fretted bass. Very few slides, and made the thing sound more like a fretted one. Hell, because his ability to hit the notes so perfectly right on the button, I didn't even know he played fretless on a lot of songs until I saw some vids of him doing so!

 

[Rich Summoner]

Good for you Sonicfrog. I am currently in a Police tribute band, and the hardest thing to find is a drummer who can play the Stewart Copeland parts, AND not be too busy to play. All the drummers we have tried out are either not good enough, or they are great, and already busy. We have a drummer who is great, and will fit the bill now.
As for basses, I am using a natural Jazz bass, like Sting's old 1962, a fretless P Bass, similar to his natural fretless, another fretless P Bass that is sunburst with ebony fingerboard, and a black fretted, maple neck P Bass. The black one is going to get a new, natural finish body on it, to look much closer to what he actually used. My fav out of the bunch so far is the sunburst, a $300.00 Fender, but SO GOOD.
I have noticed also that he really kept the steady note, even on the fretless. I think he really just wanted more challenge, being as accomplished as he was/is on bass.
It is hard to tell on the recordings, as they were pretty precise. Probably some on Zenyatta, and some on Ghost, maybe some on Regatta, but I doubt it. For Outlandos and Regatta he was still pretty tight with his great old Jazz.
You can look for my band The Outlandos on the web.

 

[Sonicfrog]

Good for you Sonicfrog. I am currently in a Police tribute band, and the hardest thing to find is a drummer who can play the Stewart Copeland parts, AND not be too busy to play. All the drummers we have tried out are either not good enough, or they are great, and already busy. We have a drummer who is great, and will fit the bill now.
As for basses, I am using a natural Jazz bass, like Sting's old 1962, a fretless P Bass, similar to his natural fretless, another fretless P Bass that is sunburst with ebony fingerboard, and a black fretted, maple neck P Bass. The black one is going to get a new, natural finish body on it, to look much closer to what he actually used. My fav out of the bunch so far is the sunburst, a $300.00 Fender, but SO GOOD.
I have noticed also that he really kept the steady note, even on the fretless. I think he really just wanted more challenge, being as accomplished as he was/is on bass.
It is hard to tell on the recordings, as they were pretty precise. Probably some on Zenyatta, and some on Ghost, maybe some on Regatta, but I doubt it. For Outlandos and Regatta he was still pretty tight with his great old Jazz.
You can look for my band The Outlandos on the web.

Rick... Are you guys a three piece?

"Synchronicity 3" just had its first practice on Wednesday. In the previous incarnations, we were going for the 4 piece version, as there are a number of song where the absence of guitar layering or added studio instruments like sax or piano when played live would make some of the songs seem lacking. But with this new 3 piece line-up... It freaking ROCKED!!!!!

Our current drummer was our drummer about six years ago, in the second version of this band. He was the best, but had to bow out because his fine band Motel Drive suddenly got hot. He's back in the fold and better than ever. One of the big no-no's I have seen concerning drummers trying to play Stew is their work on the kick drum. Since the Police put out their last album, the use of double kick drums or speed pedals are the norm for drummers. Stews busyness is all above the waist; on the snare, hi-hat, toms, and all the various cymbals. His kick is his metronome. It's solid and measured on pretty much every song i can think of. So many drummers trying to play his stuff just don't get that.

The other challenge that is often overlooked is replicating the Andy Summers sound. Once I reconnected with my old / current drummer, I started putting this version of the band together. The guitarist is a guy in his late 20's. We've been in a couple of different projects together. Good guy. He's never played Andy Summers before, and I knew he was very good, but Andy is pretty technical, and I wasn't sure how well he'd be able to latch on to this stuff.... He FREAKING NAILED IT!!!!!!!! e blew the socks of me and the drummer! They impressed each other!

I'm not sure if I've ever had a first practice where things clicked like this. It had some real magic moments! If tonight is any indication, we should be able to at least open for someone by December at the latest!

 

[Rich Summoner]

Yes 3 piece. We are recreating the later songs based on what there is live, mainly the versions that are from 2007/2008. The 1981 Ghost tour had the horn section, and 1982 and 1983 tours had the background singers, leaving the footwork for some synth stuff to Andy, on top of his parts. Both Sting and Andy had 2 Moog Taurus pedals, and at least 1 keyboard for each. Must have become more like work and less fun by then.
We are going to use floor bass pedals, mine will be for bass notes, and my guitar player will get his for some of the background notes in some of the later songs. But everything from Outlandos to Zenyatta, we are doing 3 piece. Except the beginning of "Don't Stand".
My guitar player has worked out some amazing parts for the songs, he is capable of the classical fingerpicking, creating sound sheets, and has a guitar synth as well. Need more gear than you think to do this right.
Tea in the Sahara is going excellent, love how my guitarist has created the lovely echoey sounds and chords.
We are just ramping up, website is up, and are going to do a promo video soon. Looking to get hooked up with a good agency and gig every so often.
Sting certainly had some complicated parts, as I have found learning the parts. I get a buzz when the songs come off right, they do sound great.