Ed O'Brien on Fender

Ed O'Brien talks guitars for Fender, just outside Los Angeles. His father handed him Sgt Pepper at six, his mother had Bridge Over Troubled Water, and a WH Smith poster of Paul Weller mid-leap made a strong impression. What made him want to play was Andy Summers on “Walking on the Moon”, a sound like something heard on the moon. Then came the Edge and Johnny Marr.

His first Strat, a black Squier bought in 1986 for about £180, played Pablo Honey and The Bends and lasted until 1995, when the band's yellow Penske van was stolen with their gear in it. Just off the R.E.M. tour, he went up to San Francisco and bought a black Clapton Strat with Lace Sensors and the mid-boost, the OK Computer guitar. For Kid A the band's guitar technician, Plank, fitted it with a Fernandes sustainer, and 14 years on it is still where he goes for keyboard territory; it has to be a Strat, for the tremolo arm. His fairly nutty theory is that songs already exist and you dial in the frequency, and the Strat feels plucked from the ether the same way. Pete Townshend's sound at Live 8 led him to Vibro-Kings, which beat a rig he had not changed since 1992. A good sound turns visual for him, and one sound put him in the Big Lebowski scene of flying over LA.