James Honeyman-Scott

According to an interview by Jas Obrecht for Guitar Player magazine, conducted January 29, 1981, Honeyman-Scott used bandmate, Chrissie Hynde's white telecaster often:

"She's got two Telecasters - a little white one and a metallic green one. And the white one is just one of the most fantastic guitars ever made. I love using that. I use it as much in the studio as possible."

The full in-depth interview is quite fantastic and can be found here:

http://jasobrecht.com/james-honeyman-scott-the-pretenders-qa/

Honeyman-Scott can be seen playing his pink three-pickup Gibson Firebird at the 1:35 mark in this Top Of The Pops video for the Pretenders song, "Kid." In his 1981 Guitar Player magazine interview with Jas Obrecht, Honeyman-Scott stated that he also owned a '63 single-pickup Firebird.

Honeyman-Scott can be seen playing a Zemaitis at the 0:39 second mark of this video of the Pretenders performing "Talk Of The Town" live in 1980. At the time of his interview with Jas Obrecht of Guitar Player magazine, conducted January 29, 1981, Honeyman-Scott owned three Zemaitis guitars and a fourth was "on the way." These guitars were custom builds by Tony Zemaitis. Honeymoon-Scott was quite excited about the guitars. Obrecht's interview is quite fantastic. Here is the link:

http://jasobrecht.com/james-honeyman-scott-the-pretenders-qa/

I'm not sure if the year is correct, but the model appears to be. Honeyman-Scott can be seen playing his Gibson ES-335 at the 1:45 mark of this Pretenders live performance for "Brass In Pocket." In his 1981 Guitar Player magazine interview with Jas Obrecht, Honeyman-Scott stated he acquired a 335 when he was 16. According to statements in the interview, during recording sessions for The Pretenders' debut album, Honeyman-Scott multi-tracked the solo bridge on "Mystery Achievement" with his 335 and Chrissie Hynde also "borrowed" his 335 to track her guitar part for the song, "Kid".

Honeyman-Scott can be seen playing a Rickenbacker throughout this video for The Pretenders song, "Message Of Love." In his 1981 Guitar Player magazine interview with Jas Obrecht, Honeyman-Scott lists "a Rickenbacker 12-string" among his guitar collection.

The staccato sound heard at the end of the solo on the Pretenders’ “Tattooed Love Boys” is a direct descendent of Townshend’s trick, and it was performed with aplomb by the late James Honeyman-Scott on his Les Paul. Meanwhile, his Hamer Sunburst had the switch behind the bridge, but Honeyman-Scott carried on regardless. (This effect, accomplished by quickly moving the selector, requires that one pickup is turned off.)

James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders is pictured with a Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar, as seen in a photo shared by Ken Thorn on Pinterest.

JHS can be seen playing this guitar throughout this rare video. One of the only times he appeared to use it live.

The guitar can be seen from 0:34. Another model rarely seen in live performances.

Used for the outro of "Up the Neck", as mentioned in this 1981 Jas Obrecht interview.

On “Up the Neck,” who’s strumming and who’s picking?

Chrissie is doing the strumming, and I’m doing the single-note stuff.

Did she use a Telecaster on most of the tracks?

Yeah. The only cut she didn’t was on “Kid.” She borrowed my 335.

Did you use her Tele for the solo?

Yeah, I used her Tele for the solo. Very observant! Christ, you got that well. She’s got two Telecasters – a little white one and a metallic green one. And the white one is just one of the most fantastic guitars ever made. I love using that. I use it as much in the studio as possible.

The end of that tune almost sounds like a harpsichord.

Oh, yeah. That was done with a Gibson Dove guitar, and the bottom three strings were replaced with top three strings again – a real high tuning, you know? It was high strung. We laid all the picking down like that. Then we did it at half speed and doubled that to get the top notes again. That’s why it sounds like a harpsichord. It’s really difficult to do that, when you’re playing half-speed on a number. It’s done very slow and you have to get each note right on. It’s very difficult, but it turned out great.

In the video titled "THE PRETENDERS - Live Chorus, French TV 11th June 1979," James Honeyman-Scott is seen playing a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Standard Wine Red throughout the performance. This video was uploaded by MrHbsauce on YouTube.

In the video titled "Pretenders Brass In Pocket Live Rehearsal 1979 HD 720 X 720" on YouTube, James Honeyman-Scott is seen playing a Gibson Flying V throughout the performance.