The second guitar McLeod will carry onstage is his 1979 Gretsch “Beast” BST-1000. He bought it at a guitar store in his hometown of St. Augustine, Florida at Grandpa’s Music for $350. He prefers to bring this out on songs like “Call Me a Star” or “Talisman” where it gets tuned to D-A-C-G-A-E and he’ll mix between finger picking and using a slide. This guitar has had the exact same set of DR Pure Blues strings since the beginning of the U.S. tour in October 2015. Alterations to the Beast include a bone nut, a new bridge, the neck has been repaired several times from breaks or splits, and he’s even used Gorilla Glue on one of the tuners.
