ALTA screenshot of Jonny with Karrar Alsaadi (vocals), Yanic Taichman (oud), Dudu Tassa (bass), and others in footage of Ya Mughir al-Ghazala live at The Hamam (youtube).
With Radiohead, Jonny uses his Telecaster Plus to cut through the other guitars in a mix, thanks to the guitar’s mid-heavy Lace Sensor Red Dually pickups. He also breaks out his Starcaster when he wants richness with some sparkle. With Junun and the Smile, sparser arrangements leave space for the rich, slightly scooped pickups on Jonny’s Les Paul Standard to shine. But Jonny has only rarely performed with a guitar fitted with single-coil pickups. Soundchecks in 2008 and The Daily Mail in 2011-2012 are rare exceptions. But paired with the Normal channel on Jonny’s AC30, his sound has remained warm and rich even with those guitars. It’s never been what you’d normally associate with a “Telecaster player”.
However, for his new collaborative album with Dudu Tassa, Jonny has broken out a Tele with standard single-coil pickups. You don’t need to look at the video to hear the different, the sparkle of his tone is a real surprise! The tone blends very nicely with the warmer sounds of the brass ensemble and Tassa’s riffy bass playing. On first hearing the initial single, Ashufak Shay, I assumed Tassa must be playing guitar because it was so bright — now you know I’m not so sure.
Jonny playing his butterscotch guitar during Ya Mughir al-Ghazala live at The Hamam (youtube). Note the 1-ply 5-screw pickguard and the three round brass saddles at the bridge.
We did see a butterscotch Standard on a stand behind Jonny during tour rehearsals with The Smile last year, but that guitar had a white pickguard. Jonny decided not to bring that instrument on tour with the band, and we’ve never knowingly heard it on a The Smile track. But the new footage of Ya Mughir al-Ghazala makes it clear that this new butterscotch guitar is a very unusual “Standard” Telecaster. The heavy wear to the butterscotch finish suggests that it’s vintage, as do the three round brass string saddles. However, the key is the headstock…
But before we reveal the new instrument, a little context on Jonny’s other guitars: while the 1970s Fender Starcaster might be a rare and expensive instrument today, it was fairly undesirable when Jonny bought his in the 90s. Similarly, Jonny’s late-70s Les Paul is from what many consider to be the companies worst period (the “Norlin” era), and it too was fairly undesirable in the 2000s when Jonny acquired it. And he bought his first Fender Telecaster Plus brand new from a guitar store after the band were signed. While Thom and Ed have grown increasingly interested in vintage guitars, Jonny has generally kept the same guitars and focused his energy on learning other instruments instead.
Jonny playing his butterscotch guitar during Ya Mughir al-Ghazala live at The Hamam (youtube). Zoom in on the headstock to see what’s missing!
That makes Jonny’s new guitar all the more surprising. It seems that when Jonny goes vintage, he goes all in. The headstock on Jonny’s butterscotch Tele features a “silver spaghetti” Fender logo, which suggests that it’s a pre-CBS instrument. But the real key is the empty space below the logo. The guitar has no “Telecaster” name on the headstock! That makes it one of fewer than 500 “no-caster” guitars produced by Fender between February and September 1951. Earlier that year, Fender was forced to drop their original “Broadcaster” name after learning that Gretsch already produced a drum set called the “Broadcaster". Until they settled on “Telecaster” (a hybrid of Television and Broadcaster), they simply shipped guitars with no model name. For more info on the No-caster, fuzzfaced.net has a great page on it!
Given the rarity of the instruments, purists are probably furious that Jonny crammed some 0.88mm Dunlop picks into the vintage single-ply pickguard. That said, it was clearly well loved and well used by the prior owner — the fingerboard is visibly missing much of its original finish already. And I’m sure most would agree that it’s better to hear it used for music, rather than see it sit in a case to retain its condition.
Jonny playing his butterscotch guitar during Ya Mughir al-Ghazala live at The Hamam (youtube). Notice the nice patina on the strap button.
We should also mention that Jonny did very briefly tour with a white Telecaster Standard in 1992. That instrument, in a white finish with some black tape or paint, was Jonny’s first guitar, purchased from his guitar teacher when he was 14. It’s visible on a stand in a photo from the recording of the Drill EP, but Jonny probably didn’t use it much since he’s seen playing his Telecaster Plus in the same photo. That guitar was unfortunately stolen on May 15, 1992, during Radiohead’s first tour, and hasn’t been seen since (it’s not to be confused with the two Tele Plus guitars stolen in 1995, one of which was returned in 2014).
ALTA rare photo from the recording of Radiohead’s initial Drill EP. Jonny’s original Telecaster Standard can be seen on a stand behind Thom, who is playing a black Telecaster Standard of his own.