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Rig Rundown: JD McPherson

The retro roots-rocker shows how he gets yesteryear tones with new beauties from Fender, TK Smith, and Texotica.

John Bohlinger
By John BohlingerNov 18, 2015
John Bohlinger
John Bohlinger is a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist best known for leading the band on NBC's Nashville Star, serving as music director for the CMT Awards and specials on PBS and GAC, and of course for his appearances in PG Rig Rundown, Review Demo, Axes & Artifacts, and What Bohlinger Plays videos.
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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.

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