5 Essential Jonny Greenwood Guitar Mods That Define The Radiohead Sound (Updated 2025)
Jonny Greenwood’s guitar rig is less a collection of instruments and more a sonic laboratory, constantly tweaked and modified to push the boundaries of rock music. Unlike guitarists who rely on stock models, the Radiohead lead guitarist is famous for his deeply customized instruments, particularly his beloved Fender Telecaster Plus. As of the current date, December 26, 2025, the core of his groundbreaking sound still centers on a few radical, yet simple, modifications that give him unparalleled tonal control and the ability to conjure the band's signature experimental textures.
This deep dive explores the five essential and most defining modifications Greenwood has made to his guitars, revealing the technical secrets behind the iconic, often chaotic, yet always musical sounds heard across albums like The Bends, OK Computer, and beyond. Understanding these mods is the key to unlocking the true nature of the Radiohead tone.
Jonny Greenwood: A Brief Biography and Gear Profile
- Full Name: Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood
- Born: November 5, 1971 (Age 54 as of 2025)
- Birthplace: Oxford, England
- Primary Instrument: Guitar, Keyboards, Ondes Martenot, Viola
- Band: Radiohead (since 1985)
- Solo/Film Work: Composer for films including There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Phantom Thread.
- Signature Guitars: 1990s Fender Telecaster Plus (main), 1970s Fender Starcaster, Gibson Les Paul.
- Key Effects: Marshall ShredMaster, Digitech Whammy, Boss SD-1, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone.
- Amplifiers: Fender Eighty-Five, Vox AC30.
1. The Iconic Momentary Killswitch (The Stutter Effect)
No modification is more synonymous with Jonny Greenwood’s sound than the addition of a momentary kill switch to his main Fender Telecaster Plus. This simple component is responsible for the rapid, percussive, and glitch-like "stutter effect" heard prominently in tracks like "My Iron Lung" and "Paranoid Android."
The Technical Breakdown:
- Component: The switch is a non-latching, momentary push-button switch, often cited as an Apem switch.
- Function: When pressed, the switch instantly cuts the signal from the guitar to the amplifier. Because it is momentary, the signal immediately returns when the button is released.
- Sonic Impact: By rapidly tapping the switch, Greenwood creates a machine-gun, rhythmic silence that chops up the sustained output of his Marshall ShredMaster distortion pedal, turning a continuous note into a percussive texture. This technique is a crucial element of the Radiohead sound.
2. The Lace Sensor Pickup Configuration
The original Fender Telecaster Plus (Version 1) came stock with Lace Sensor pickups, but Greenwood’s specific configuration is what sets his tone apart. He utilizes a unique, high-output pairing that deviates from standard Telecaster wiring.
The Custom Pairing:
- Neck Pickup: Lace Sensor Blue. This pickup is known for its warm, slightly darker, and higher-output sound compared to a traditional single-coil. It delivers a humbucker-like thickness while retaining clarity.
- Bridge Pickup: Lace Sensor Red Dually. This is essentially two Lace Sensor Red pickups wired together as a high-output humbucker. The Red Sensor is the hottest and most aggressive in the series, making the Red Dually a powerhouse for distortion and heavy riffing.
- Tonal Goal: This combination provides a massive dynamic range, from the clean, full tones on the neck to the searing, high-gain crunch on the bridge, all while maintaining a low-noise profile, which is a key feature of Lace Sensor technology.
3. The Modified TBX Tone Control
The Fender TBX (Treble Bass Expander) tone control was a standard feature on the Telecaster Plus, but Greenwood's version includes a subtle, yet powerful, modification that expands its tonal utility. The TBX is a stacked, dual-function pot that offers a unique sweep of frequencies.
The TBX Advantage:
- Standard Function: From 0 to 5, the pot acts as a traditional tone control, rolling off treble. From 5 to 10, it’s a "treble/bass expander" that takes the tone pot out of the circuit and slightly boosts both treble and bass frequencies, adding sparkle and clarity.
- Greenwood's Mod: The modification often involves rewiring the TBX pot to work in conjunction with a push/pull volume pot to offer a unique coil-split option for the Lace Sensor Red Dually humbucker. This allows him to instantly switch the bridge pickup from a thick humbucker to a brighter, lower-output single-coil mode, dramatically increasing his tonal palette on the fly.
4. The Starcaster’s Underrated (and Unconfirmed) Mods
While the Telecaster Plus is his main modified workhorse, Greenwood’s 1970s Fender Starcaster is his primary guitar for the sounds of the Kid A and Amnesiac era. Unlike the Tele, the original Starcaster he uses is often cited as being largely unmodified. However, the *spirit* of modification is present in how other players seek to replicate its unique tone.
The Starcaster’s Unique Voice:
- Stock Pickups: The original Starcaster features Fender Wide Range Humbuckers (WRHBs). These pickups, originally designed with CuNiFe magnets, have a distinct, bright, and articulate sound that is often described as fat twang.
- The Replication Mod: To achieve this tone on modern reissues, enthusiasts often replace the stock pickups with high-quality replicas like those from Lollar or Fralin, which use the correct magnets and winding to recreate the vintage Wide Range Humbucker sound.
- Topical Authority Entity: The Starcaster is a key entity used for the more experimental, electronic-influenced tracks, contrasting the aggressive rock tones of the Telecaster Plus.
5. The Ever-Evolving Pedalboard Integration
Greenwood’s most significant "modifications" often occur not on the guitar itself, but in how he integrates his instrument into his effects chain. His guitar mods are designed to maximize the utility of his pedals, turning simple effects into complex, chaotic, and beautiful soundscapes.
Maximizing Pedal Synergy:
- Marshall ShredMaster: The high-output Lace Sensor pickups drive his legendary Marshall ShredMaster distortion pedal harder than a typical Telecaster, resulting in its famously thick, saturated, and aggressive distortion. The guitar’s inherent power is a direct "mod" to the pedal’s performance.
- Digitech Whammy: The clear, articulate signal from the Lace Sensors and the TBX mod ensures that the complex pitch-shifting of the Digitech Whammy pedal remains clean and defined, preventing the muddying of the signal that can plague other guitars. He has famously switched from the original WH-1 to the WH4 model over time.
- The Ondes Martenot: While not a guitar mod, Greenwood often uses the guitar's signal to influence other instruments. His mastery of the guitar's unique controls allows him to transition smoothly between a traditional guitar role and a sound designer, often incorporating the ethereal tones of the Ondes Martenot into his live performance.
Jonny Greenwood’s guitar modifications are a masterclass in functional simplicity. They are not cosmetic changes but fundamental re-engineering designed to achieve specific sonic results. By focusing on the killswitch, the Lace Sensor configuration, and the modified TBX tone control, he has transformed a standard Fender Telecaster Plus into a unique, versatile instrument capable of producing the full spectrum of the Radiohead sound. These mods, simple in concept but profound in execution, continue to inspire guitarists seeking to break free from traditional tonal boundaries.
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