The Gibson-like plastic toggle-switch cap identifies a PRS McCarty model.

McCarty presided over Gibson from 1948-66, a golden era highlighted by the first Les Pauls and the invention of the humbucking pickup. McCarty was personally responsible for such influencial designs as the semi-hollow ES-335 and the radical solidbody shapes of the Flying V and Explorer.

McCarty was in his 70s and semi-retired when, in 1986, Paul Reed Smith called him to ask about glues and pickups and other production issues. McCarty became not only a consultant but a friend and mentor to Smith, and Smith thanked him by creating the PRS McCarty model in 1994.

Like the PRS Custom (and the first Gibson solidbody, the Les Paul Model), the McCarty featured a carved maple top, but it was delineated from other PRS models by a mahogany back that was 1/8th of an inch thicker than standard. A year later, the McCarty Standard joined the line, following the same progression as Gibson’s Les Paul models (from Standard to Custom) with a solid mahogany body and no maple cap.