diff --git a/beets/library.py b/beets/library.py
index 89ebeee6c..439df774e 100644
--- a/beets/library.py
+++ b/beets/library.py
@@ -880,7 +880,12 @@ def construct_query_part(query_part, default_fields, all_keys):
 
     # Path field.
     elif key.lower() == 'path' and 'path' in all_keys:
-        return PathQuery(pattern)
+        if query_class is SubstringQuery:
+            # By default, use special path matching logic.
+            return PathQuery(pattern)
+        else:
+            # Specific query type requested.
+            return query_class('path', pattern)
 
     # Other (recognized) field.
     elif key.lower() in all_keys:
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 06d0c7600..d69ea2d35 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ Changelog
 * :doc:`/plugins/lyrics`: More improvements to the Google backend by Fabrice
   Laporte.
 * :doc:`/plugins/bpd`: Fix for a crash when searching, thanks to Simon Chopin.
+* Regular expression queries (and other query types) over paths now work.
+  (Previously, special query types were ignored for the ``path`` field.)
 
 
 1.2.1 (June 22, 2013)
diff --git a/test/test_query.py b/test/test_query.py
index 051d38310..be2e88d93 100644
--- a/test/test_query.py
+++ b/test/test_query.py
@@ -416,6 +416,12 @@ class PathQueryTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
         results = self.lib.items(q)
         self.assert_done(results)
 
+    def test_path_regex(self):
+        q = 'path::\\.mp3$'
+        results = self.lib.items(q)
+        self.assert_matched(results, 'path item')
+        self.assert_done(results)
+
 class BrowseTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
     def setUp(self):
         self.lib = beets.library.Library(