Tom Smith

When asked about how he works with guitar pedals, Tom Smith says he mostly plays acoustic guitar and leaves the pedal work to the lead guitarist. However, he does mention liking and using the Boss RV?5 Digital Reverb Pedal: "...a pedal I always dig out is the Boss Digital Reverb pedal [RV-5], which has a modulated reverb setting which sounds like glass breaking, an icy, cold texture. That's been a recent addition to my live setting, as something that can be pulled out for dramatic effect."

Original MusicRadar article here.

In this 2013 Editors performance live from the Postbahnhof in Berlin, Germany, Tom Smith from Editors plays some songs on his Kawai MP8II Professional Stage Piano. A good shot of the piano can be seen at the 1:28:05 mark, as he begins to play The Racing Rats.

In this photo, Tom Smith of Editors is playing at T-mobile INmusic festival on June 6, 2009. The guitar he's playing (and can frequently be seen playing in other photos and videos) is a Fender Telecaster Custom, black finish, maple neck. This photo shows the tone/volume knobs and the pickup selector switch have been removed.

In this photo of Editors performing live in 2008, Tom Smith can be seen playing a Gibson ES-335 guitar in a black finish, with black knobs and a black pickguard.

This photo of Editors frontman Tom Smith (taken Feb 16 2012) shows him using the Gibson J-200 Standard Acoustic Guitar in Vintage Sunburst finish.

In an article that discusses how Editors recorded their album In This Light and on This Evening, bass and keyboard player Russell Leetch talks about some of the synths they used in the studio, such as the Arp Odyssey and "various Junos." He makes a reference to Tom Smith’s Jupiter 8, which he says is like "eight Juno 106s joined together." Original article source here.

Around 22:00 in this video of Editors performing at Pinkpop 2014, frontsmith Tom Smith can be seen playing Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat Acoustic-Electric Guitar. The distinct marks on the headstock, as well as the shape and length of the pickguard confirm it is this particular model. It appears he has a capo on it on the 7th fret. The song he plays it on is Formaldehyde.

There is a difference, however, as Tom's acoustic looks to have dot inlays, whereas the Hellcat has skulls and "Hellcat" logos.

In this live video of Editors – Live at Hurricane Festival 2024 (Full Set), Tom Smith's capo can be seen clearly at 8:25, a black Kyser Quick-Change Electric Guitar Capo. He has it on the 2nd fret for the song An End Has a Start.

In this Instagram photo posted by Editors in Feb 2026 (first in the carousel), Tom Smith can be seen playing a Silvertone Model 1457 Electric Guitar in red burst finish. The caption refers to them finishing the recording of an album:

FINISHING E8 📷 @justinlockey