The Edge

In this photo, The Edge is playing his 1973 Fender Stratocaster in a black finish. Fender later made a The Edge Signature Stratocaster based on his original 1973 model. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he talks about that guitar:

"But I really missed the Strat, so when we got a little money together – when we got our record deal – the first chance I got I bought my black Strat, which I still have."

He continues to describe some of its distinctive features:

"It has some interesting features: the bridge is a brass bridge, not like the standard Fender bridge, and again that adds some resonance. It has a little more sustain, a little more girth to the tone. And I put a DeMarzio pickup in, which gets that tone. In addition to my Fender amp, I play to a Vox, which is a very bright amp, so it gives a little more substance."

Later in the interview, the interviewer asks, "An unusual thing about your '73 Strat is that it has a DiMarzio FS-1 pickup in the bridge position. Did you mod that out yourself?" The Edge replies:

"Yeah. With the amps I was using, the bridge pickup was just too piercing. It was too thin-sounding for me, so I did some research and found the DiMarzio FS-1, and it was just a bigger-sounding pickup. It worked great. Whenever I've gotten Strats, I've always put one of those in."

When the interviewer points out that The Edge never plays out of the bridge pickup, The Edge says:

That's true most of the time, but there are some songs, like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Gloria," where I used the bridge pickup. I really got into the out-of-phase sound [where the guitar is set between the bridge and middle pickup] from The Unforgettable Fire onwards. Weirdly enough, I think "Pride (In the Name of Love)" was the first song that I really used that out-of-phase pickup position; I didn't use it on "Bad" or on the album. In rehearsal for the tour, I tried it and it was like, "Wow that's great. I love it! It's much better." So we did the tour.

I remember we did a live version of that and [Unforgettable Fire co-producer] Danny [Lanois] was in the studio listening to the guitar sounds from the show and he was like, "What the fuck, Edge? You sound so much better than the album. What did you do?" [Laughs] Then he got jealous, because the live guitar sound was better than what we got on the album. I said, "I'm sorry I didn't think of it!" But yeah, it's definitely better, this [laughs].

The full Rolling Stone interview is here.

In this video, The Edge talks about buying his Gibson Explorer guitar brand new when he was in New York at age 17 (he had originally intended to buy a Les Paul). It was the first guitar he purchased with the intention of playing it as part of a band on stage in front of an audience. At first he admits to it feeling kind of strange playing it with his band mates, and that at the time nobody else was playing with Explorers, making The Edge and U2 rather unique.

He goes on to describe how a crack occurred on the back of the headstock in the mid-1980s when he threw the guitar behind him in order to help some members of the audience.

At 2:38, Edge demonstrates some of the parts of the U2 song “Beautiful Day” on the Explorer. He recalls during the recording of “Beautiful Day”, a certain lead part did not feel right on his other guitars, so he brought out and used the Gibson Explorer through his Vox amp.

From a gibson.com interview from 2010: "Gibson Explorers are still his signature instrument. The Edge prefers the Gibson Limited Edition Explorer built in 1976. He owns several, including the one he used on Boy, which is now retired from the stage."

The Edge's original Gibson Les Paul Custom was donated for an auction, leading the Gibson Custom Shop to craft an exact replica. This is captured in a user-uploaded photo from U2-stage-and-studio.

The Edge can be seen playing the EOB Sustainer Stratocaster during live performances of "Love Is Bigger Than Anything In It's Way" on the ePERIENCE & iNNOCENCE tour.

This vintage and stock 1966 Gibson SG Standard Cherry is used by The Edge.

In this image, The Edge can be seen playing a Gibson Music Rising Les Paul limited edition electric guitar. According to an article on Gibson's website, Edge collaborated with Gibson and Guitar Center Music Foundation on this Les Paul in 2005. The guitar features a hand-painted finish "using the colors of Mardi Gras." Less than 300 of these were made, with the proceeds going to the Music Rising charity. The original article can be found here on gibson.com.

In 2021, The Edge decided to sell one of Music Rising Les Pauls. The auction catalogue describes the guitar as follows:

The Edge's concert-played "One" Music Rising hand-painted and customized Gibson Les Paul. Numbered 96 on the back of the headstock, this was part of a series of 300 Gibson Les Paul guitars designed and customized to raise money for the charity when it was first launched. /.../ As a tribute to the local culture, each guitar is handmade and hand-painted in a Mardi Gras themed color palette. No two are alike. most of the plastic components standard on a Les Paul have been replaced with wood sourced from the States that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. This particular guitar was retained by The Edge and played in 2010 during U2's famous 360 tour, as well as during The Joshua Tree tours of 2017 and 2019 during performances of the indelible hit song "One". /.../ The Edge also played this guitar on "One" and "American Soul" during U2's 2018 Songs of Experience shows. /.../ Manufactured in 2006, the serial number 0318503126 is etched into the reverse of the headstock. The guitar retains an adjustable Pete Schmidt-brand black leather strap with diamond shaped cutouts marked in black felt pen on the underside "CR#1 Les Paul".

In this image, The Edge can be seen holding a Fender Classic Series Telecaster Custom electric guitar with a black pickguard and maple neck. The guitar appears to have a brown finish. Edge plays this guitar in the music video for U2's song Vertigo.

A good shot of the guitar can be seen at the 0:13 mark in this video of U2 performing Magnificent live in London at BBC Rooftop.

The Edge most famously uses his 1988 Goldtop '58 Reissue on 'Until the End of the World' and 'Last Night on Earth'. It was used exclusive for recording during the 1990s (Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop). The guitar most likely uses Gibson P100 pickups.

The Edge uses a rare vintage Fender Telecaster with a maple neck, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Photobucket.

The Edge can be seen using the Gretsch Duo Jet guitar in this performance of Invisible on The Tonight Show from February 2014.

The Edge can be seen playing this guitar during "Helter Skelter", "Where The Streets Have No Name" in the Rattle And Hum film. It appears that The Edge used this guitar with regularity during the 1987 The Joshua tree tour but I have not seen him use it since.

The Edge famously plays a Limited Edition 1976 Explorer. The link is an interesting article on the Edge's 1976 Explorer and how the tone of that guitar shaped the sound of U2. Worth a read, There are some really interesting points on the type of Explorers in production in '76 and also a bit from Dallas Schoo about his signal chain and how he gets his sound.

This is the famous black on black Fender Stratocaster used almost exclusively by the Edge during the Boy, October, War, and Unforgettable Fire (of course besides his Gibson Explorer). Probably the most famous performances using this guitar are Under a Blood Red Sky and Live Aid. Note on the big 70's headstock, it does not have the "original countour body" decal and has the serial number under the Fender logo, which clearly places the guitar post 1975, but before 1979 when the "Fender" logo was slightly altered to include a gold border.

The Edge played this Fender Standard Telecaster in Lake Placid Blue at a Buffalo concert in 2005 for a cover of John Lennon's song "Instant Karma".

In this video The Edge explains his love of telecasters using his Telecaster Deluxe.

Infinite Guitar is a modified electric guitar created by Michael Brook, as a way of allowing a note to be held with infinite sustain, Brook produced two other Infinite Guitars. One belongs to Daniel Lanois, and the other belongs to The Edge, who used it to record "With or Without You" and use it during The Joshua Tree tour.

The Edge has been seen playing this Fender Jaguar in Lake Placid Blue with a painted matching headstock and gold hardware. It is believed to be a 1962 vintage.

In this Guitar World interview, The Edge mentions the Bond Electraglide, misprinted as "Electric Light." He says, "There's a revolutionary new guitar called a Bond Electric Light, which is a very finely-crafted guitar without proper frets. Instead it has little serrations. I tried to incorporate it into my playing armory and I found that it wasn't working, until I discovered the things you can do if you really sort of abused it! I got fantastic results. Like the sort of heavy fuzz guitar at the end of 'One Tree Hill,' and the last three tracks on the middle of side two — that sound is from the Bond."

Use during "With Or Without You" with Chris Martin

This is most famously used in the "Discotheque" video, and was probably used for recording "Pop."

At 2:37, you can clearly see this guitar, in a custom metallic green finish. It was modified from the factory version, with a Decade style neck, and hot rail pickups as opposed to the standard humbuckers (This required a new pick guard to be cut out). It was used during the Elavation for just "With or Without you", as The Edge would utilize the built-in Fernandes Sustainer, similar to his original "Infinite Guitar" used on the song's recording. This guitar was reportedly destroyed in 2002, after U2's studio flooded.

In this mini documentary about the making of Edge's signature Strat, he talks about how he played 9 different prototypes during U2's "Innocence + Experience" tour to help design and test the instrument.

Black finish w/grey marble pickguard (Used for "With or Without You" during Vertigo and U2:360 tours.)

In a 1980 photo, The Edge is seen using a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.

The Edge uses the Fender Vintage Hot Rod '52 Telecaster during a live performance of "California" on U2's 2015 tour, as seen on BBC's "Later... with Jools Holland."

Seafoam gGreen example, used mainly during the PorMart Tour for "With or Without You" and "If you wear that Velvet Dress2." Visible around 1:05 in this Youtube clip.

This exclusive Music Radar interview with Edge's guitar tech Dallas Schoo lists all of the guitars used during U2's 360 Tour. Among them is Edge's trusty black 1973 Strat.

Throughout this promotional video posted to Fender’s YouTube channel, The Edge appears with his Telecaster Deluxe, a guitar design he claims “changed the course of musical history”. Though not as synonymous with The Edge as the Stratocaster, the telecaster deluxe has made several appearances with the guitarist since the 1980s, most notably in the studio.

In this Rig Rundown video, The Edge is confirmed to use the Fender Ed O'Brien Signature Stratocaster. His guitar tech speaks about the guitar at 33:25.