Tim’s longtime No. 1 is “Ol Blue”—a PRS Custom 24 that has been used on every 311 album and tour since he got it from Paul in 1999. When testing out new gear or pickups, Tim goes with “Ol Blue” because he’s most familiar with its tone and can hear the slightest changes to the sound produced out of the speaker. He used to use Seymour Duncan Antiquities and PAF-style humbuckers, but before this tour he put in Seymour Duncan Pegasus (bridge) and Sentient (neck) pickups.

Here’s what he told PG in 2014 about using mahogany guitars with lower-output pickups: “Typically, guys might think they want high-output pickups through a high-gain amp for the best, most aggressive sound, but I need to balance between very, crystal-clean chill parts and heavy-rocking jams. The lower-output pickups have clarity and leave an open, dynamic range—especially with the high-gain stuff—that you lose if you push everything to the max. I think it gives you more room to use overdrives and boosts because if you’re using active or high-output humbuckers, you’re eating up a lot of frequency space just from their power. It takes the tone out of the wood, amp, and effects.”