The coolest axe in McPherson’s arsenal is this custom guitar built by TK Smith. It’s based on the Smith Special model, but with a Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird-style body. The bird’s-eye maple body features Smith’s custom C.A.R. pickups and a custom Bigsby-style tailpiece. TK Smith puts a hybrid set of Thomastik-Infeld flatwound strings on his guitars when they leave his shop, but McPherson said he couldn’t bend them as much as he liked so he’s using D’Addario Pure Nickel .011s.