Ed O'Brien

In this Fender video interview with Ed O’Brien, Ed O’Brien talks about his first guitar, a 1986 Squier Stratocaster electric guitar, black finish with a white pickguard. He says, “I got my first Strat - it was a Squire Strat - and it was 1986. This Squier Strat was about £180 and I saved up, and I got it. It was black with a white pickguard, and I don’t think it was the nicest neck [laughs], but I loved it, I didn’t give a shit. And I had that [guitar] all the way through until 1995 when all our gear was nicked in the yellow Penske van. So I played it on Pablo Honey, and on The Bends…” (1:43)

Ed O' Brien can also be seen playing the guitar with On A Friday some time in the late eighties. http://piemerica.org/tired/88c.jpg

In this photo of Ed O'Brien's rig, his white Fender Jaguar can be seen. The guitar is incredibly similar to Johnny Marr's signature model, and a signature can be made out on the end of the guitar's headstock, surely meaning that Ed is playing the Johnny Marr Fender Jaguar.

If you look at the upper horn controls, standard Jaguars have a switch & two rollers where as this guitar has two switches faces different axis' from one another. Only the Johnny Marr signature model has this feature.

Featured in this September 18, 2020 Instagram post.

This is my new baby ... a Yamaha SG1000.. it’s a beauty, plays fabulously and I’ve wanted one for a long long time. Thank you to @yamaha_guitars for sorting me out .. it’s so great to play.... been playing some of my favourite Siouxsie and the Banshees riffs on it. John McGeoch was the guitarist at the time of my favourite Banshees albums... the man responsible for some of the greatest riffs ever .. Spellbound, Christine, Happy House to name a few. He was also the guitar player in Magazine and PIL (for a while). A wonderful player.... his riffs are so elegant and once you learn how to play them there is almost a zen like quality to the sound and movement of your hands.. it reminds me of the beauty in @johnnymarrgram’s playing. Photo overleaf of McGeoch in his Armoury Show days. Stuart Adamson was another player of these @yamaha_guitars .. great musician too. Both missed. #yamahasg1000 #johnmcgeoch #siouxsieandthebanshees #stuartadamson #theskids #yamahaguitars

Ed used this Rickenbacker 360 12-String Electric Guitar for performances of "Staircase", as seen in this video. The best shot of guitar is at 0:15. This was performed on "Austin City Limits festival" on March 6, 2012.

Ed also used it for a song "How to disappear completely", on this peformance of Radiohead in Montreal, Bell Centre, on June 15, 2012. Since camera is focused only on Thom, and Jonny, and Phillip ocassionaly, best shot of him with this guitar was at 0:22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM-Q9g0-7J8

Ed can be seen playing blonde Rickenbacker 360, at 1:15 in this video.

"A custom guitar built by Ed and the band’s guitar tech Plank. This original Plank had only one f-hole. Stolen along with the rest of Radiohead’s gear in the 90’s." - King of Gear. In this transcribed article from Guitar World, they also mention this guitar saying "Ed O'Brien's guitar setup includes a '67 Gibson ES-335, two Nineties Rickenbacker 360's (one six-string and one twelve-string) and a guitar handmade by Plank."

Here Ed can be seen playing with an Eric Clapton Signature Strat.

From 1964, acquired by Ed in May, 2007. Used live for Where I End and You Begin, Go Slowly from 2008-2010, Talk Show Host in 2008, and Weird Fishes/Arpeggi in 2010. Thom also borrowed the guitar live, in addition to using his own Casino, for some songs in 2012. Thom may have bought the guitar from Ed, as Thom also used it for the 2013 Atoms for Peace tour.

Ed uses a Fernandes Native Pro in this video of all "All I Need," by Radiohead. There is a clear view of him playing the guitar at 2:35.

"I got my first strat, it was a Squier strat. And it was 1986...I played it on Pablo Honey and The Bends," Ed O'Brien says, at 1:40 in this video. Ed is pictured here with his Squier Stratocaster.

I used different guitars. I used my Sustainer Strat that I did with Fender. I used one acoustic a lot—this Martin 000-18 I've got, I think it's a 1959—all the acoustics are that. I had a really nice Custom Shop Tele and a really nice Custom Shop Les Paul, like mid-'90s, that I used. That's about it.

In this video, Ed O'Brien discusses his signature model Fender EOB Sustainer Stratocaster (EOB short for Ed O'Brien). The details appear to match, specifically the Fernandes Sustainer neck pickup.

Ed uses this guitar on "Scatterbrain" by Radiohead, which can be seen at 1:43 & 2:09.

In this photo, one can see O'Brien playing a Fender Stratocaster.

This guitar is a semi-hollow body guitar made by Ed and Plank in 1994 to serve as a backup to the Plank-Ed #1. This one has two f-holes instead of the Plank-Ed #1 (which had only one f-hole; it was stolen in Denver in 1995) and it can be heard distinctly in the studio version of Climbing up the Walls as it is the only electric guitar played on that song.

"To whoever ends up with this Tele... It was bought in the summer of '98, just prior to us going into record the albums which came out as Kid A and Amnesiac. It was pretty much the only guitar I used at that time. It's also been gigged a lot, up until and including the In Rainbows tour. Hope you enjoy it - all the best," says Ed, in the description section of his Telecaster's eBay auction page.

A Tele was used by Ed for a few songs on Radiohead's 2012 The King of Limbs tour and the from the basement sessions, including "Morning Mr. Magpie". The guitar can be seen at 0:06.

Ed has used the Gretsch Panther for Creep, My Iron Lung, Karma Police, Climbing Up The Walls, Optimistic, You and Whose Army?, Nude, and The Daily Mail on Radiohead's 2016 tour.

In this photo, Ed O'Brien can be seen with a Les Paul Goldtop.

Used on Radiohead's 2012 tour for "The Daily Mail". Can be seen at 2:52.

In this Instagram post, O’Brien is seen playing a Martin D-28. He confirms the model in the comments.

Someone asks, "Beautiful perspective of your guitar, Ed! Is that one a Martin?"

To which he replies:

Yes a Martin D-28

Ed O'Brien is confirmed to use the Fender American Acoustasonic Telecaster, as evidenced by an image of him playing it during a performance of "Brazil" at LPR in New York on February 10, 2020.

In the provided image, Ed O'Brien is clearly seen playing a Gibson SG Standard With Maestro guitar.