Paul Banks

Paul Banks of Interpol can be seen playing a black Les Paul Custom, one of his primary guitars. This photo of him is from their Coachella 2011 performance (originally sourced from rock.about.com).

His Les Paul Custom differs slightly from a completely stock version, since he has removed the humbucker covers.

Closeup photo: http://i.imgur.com/rnzZVJ0.jpg

He says:

"I’ve owned my Les Paul Custom ever since high school, all those years ago. It’s been my setup since day one and it’s all I pretty much use to this day." (original source here, article dated March 31, 2015)

Paul Banks of Interpol can be seen in this photo playing a black1962 Reissue Jaguar, rosewood fretboard, with a black pickguard and black pickups. At first glance it seems like it could be a black HH model (Blacktop Jaguar HH or Special Edition Jaguar HH), but the floating tremolo prevents it from being that specific one.

In an interview, Paul Banks talks about why he plays Fender Jaguars:

The Jaguars are, I think, because of Kurt Cobain and John Frusciante as a child. I happened upon my Les Paul, which also suited me because I'm a big Neil Young fan. But that came about from a trade, or I got it for a song, from a good friend of mine in high school. But it wasn't a guitar that I had gone to a store and picked. It's that I saw it and said, "Fuck, will you sell me that please?"

Alongside that has always been an inclination to play a Jaguar, basically, because, as I mentioned, Frusciante and Kurt; whether or not those guys used Mustangs, I don't care. I love the Jaguar. On another side, I've always been sort of a strummy, primarily rhythm guitar player. I'm only a rhythm guitar player. There's a reason why the Rapture uses thin-stringed kind of Fender guitars with that sound, that kind of funk, disco sound. It's made for a Fender, and a beefier, moody sound, I think, is made with a Les Paul.

A lot of the kind of guitar playing I do is rhythm oriented, so I like, once in a while, going over to the Fender side because the neck is thinner, and it's like a less percussive, more rhythmic thing. Also, I feel like the Les Paul suits Interpol. The Jaguar actually came about specifically within Interpol because I had written a part in which I wanted whammy, and I don't like Les Pauls with Bigsbys. I had just got a guitar that had a whammy bar.

(source here, published November 2012)

In this behind the scenes footage of Paul Banks working on his new solo album "Banks," he is seen rehearsing and playing on stage with a black Fender Dave Murray Signature Stratocaster Electric Guitar. Looks at the guitar can be had throughout the video, but specifically at 2:03.

In a series of Tweets with a fan, Paul Banks confirms the model of the guitar, and why he enjoys playing it:

@gchiaren: "Gear question- is your Strat a @Fender Dave Murray model?"

@bankspaulbanks: "why yes it is! I love it cuz of the humbuckers." (source)

@bankspaulbanks: "the neck length of fenders is longer than gibsons which affects the string tension which makes strats real fun for funk rhythm" (source)

Paul Banks plays a Fender Modern Player Marauder Electric Guitar in a Lake Placid Blue finish, with Rosewood Fretboard. These photos are from a live performance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas (Sept 30, 2016). In this particular performance he's playing alongside RZA in the group Banks & Steelz.

In this photo, Paul Banks can be seen playing a Gibson ES-135 Black Custom.

In this photo of Interpol playing a gig April 27, 2007 at Coachella, Paul Banks (on the right) can be seen playing a black Gibson Flying V Electric Guitar.

In an interview, when asked why he switched over to playing a Flying V for a while, Banks replies, "The Flying V because I've always wanted to because it's the coolest looking of all guitars."

You can see Paul using a les Paul Deluxe goldtop with mini humbuckers and in the early days of Interpol as well.

In the image above (taken from the 'Red Western Sky' music video), Paul can be seen playing a Gibson ES-150 in black.

In this photo Paul Banks is seen playing a Guild S-100 Polara guitar.

A Seagull acoustic guitar is visible in this photo of Paul Banks' New York apartment. The original article from the New York Times is entitled Paul Banks Tours His Bright East Village Apartment.