Mick Thomson’s Guitars and Gear

Mickael "Mick" Gordon Thomson (also known as “Mister Seven”, “Log”, born November 3, 1973 in
Des Moines, Iowa, United States) is the rhythm and lead guitarist in the American nine-piece band
Slipknot and a guitar teacher. Mick was recruited by Slipknot from a recommendation from ex-
Slipknot drummer, Joey Jordison and became a member of the bend in summer 1996, when he
replaced Craig Jones on guitar, who moved to samples. Before joining Slipknot, Thomson played in a
local death metal band, called Body Pit, formed in 1993 alongside original Slipknot members Anders
Colsefni (vocals), Donnie Steele (guitar) and Paul Gray (bass). Mick’s lucky number is 7, and that’s the
reason why his stage name in Slipknot is #7.

Outside Slipknot, Mick has taught guitar lessons at Ye Olde Guitar Shoppe, a local music shop in Des
Moines, and has appeared on Malevolent Creation's album Doomsday X. Mister Seven also made a
guest appearance in the music video for Lupara's "No Pity on the Ants".

Before the shows, Mick likes to play scales on the bass as a warm up. His philosophy is that kind of a
warm up will strengthens the hands. He compares it with running with ankle weights, and then
taking them off – you can basically “fly” on the guitar fretboard after bass. Beside his love for music
and guitars, Thomson is a diehard Oakland Raiders fan and loves cats. When it comes to music
listening, Mick is not selective, he has open mind and listens to a very wide variety of music genres,
from pop rock to death metal. As his major musical influences #7 listed Kiss, Racer X, Metallica, The
Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Morbid Angel and Yngwie Malmsteen.

With his extremely fast alternate strumming and down-picking, dark de-tuned and aggressive guitar
sound, Mick Thomson has been an integral part of Slipknot for over 20 years. With more than 5
million albums sold in the U.S. and 20 million albums sold worldwide, the Grammy award-winning,
multi-platinum band continues to be a dominant force in modern metal music.

Mick Thomson’s Electric Guitars:

Hohner Telecaster copy

Mick’s first guitar ever. He bought it when he was 10 years old with money he earned while working
as a paper delivery boy for a month and a half. After he bought this guitar, he immediately quit paper
delivery job and never done it again.
The story behind this guitar is interesting. Mick sold his original/first guitar when he was in junior
high school for 40 dollars. But, after many, many years, one night, Mick got very nostalgic, so he went
on E-Bay to search for a similar guitar, and on his surprise, he found exact same model, with exact
same color made in exact same year as his first Hohner. Now, it’s a part of his guitar collection.

Let’s take a look on the guitar characteristics. It’s a Fender Telecaster Sunburst copy by Hohner.
Technical characteristics are following: the body of this guitar is small and slim, loaded with a single
P-90 style pickup. It’s a Fender’s copy, but the sunburst finish still looks great. It has regular size 22
fret bolt on neck (25" scale), volume and tone controls. We don’t know the exact year of production
of this guitar, but we think it’s somewhere from the 1970s.

Jackson King V custom

After saving for several years after high school, Mick was finally able to place an order for a custom
King V. It was his perfect guitar. Charcoal metallic grey, black hardware, Floyd Rose tremolo, shark
tooth inlays and an active pickup circuit. He cherished it so much that he never bring it on tour
because tour raised risk of damage or theft.

Mick was 19 years old when he bought this guitar. One of his favorite guitars.
Mick wanted Jackson with 24 frets and a Floyd, but at the time, Jackson only did 24-fret hardtails. So
he ordered a custom Jackson. It was hand built with EMGs on it.

When Slipknot released their self-titled debut album in 1999, the metal world darn near imploded.
And guess what? Mick recorded that whole album with this Jackson.

He blocked Floyd by a block, because he never actually used Floyd. He doesn’t need whammy, but he
need lock that keeps everything in tune.
Ibanez 560 RG

Mister Seven can be seen using this guitar in the early days, back in the 1999, on the tours supporting
Slipknot’s self-titled album. To give it more his personality and character, Mick putted “HATE” sticker
on its headstock. This was first guitar ever on which Mick done that, and later it will become his
trademark.

This guitar was made in Japan by FujiGen and it was discontinued after 1992. The RG560 features a
basswood body bolted to a maple Wizard neck with a 24-fret fingerboard with dot position markers.
Components include Ibanez pickups with a humbucker at the bridge and single-coils in the neck and
middle positions, an Edge double locking tremolo bridge with a locking nut and Gotoh tuning
machines. It is one of relatively few RG models with the humbucker/single/single pickup
configuration.

Jackson AT1T

Corey Taylor bough Mick this guitar to have it as a backup on “World Domination Tour”, which was
worldwide concert tour in 1999 and 2000 headlined by Slipknot in support of their first studio album.
It can be seen in concert photos.

The guitar features a mahogany body painted in trans green with a maple top, a maple neck with an
ebony fretboard, 22 frets with no inlays, 25.5'' scale, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume,
one tone, a three way switch and tunamatic style bridge. Jackson AT1T has a unique headstock (not
classic Jackson one). The idea behind this type of headstock was to keep the strings in a straight line
and keep them from binding up in the nut. Mick made it more personal by putting “HATE” sticker on
the headstock, and this was second guitar on which he did that.

This guitar model was in production between 1996-1998 and it was manufactured in Jackson’s
factory in Ontario, CA USA.

B.C. Rich Warlock Dark red

In 2002, Mick teamed up with B.C. Rich and started using their guitars. First guitar they build
together was Custom blood red B.C. Rich Warlock, made especially for Mick in BC Rich's USA Custom
Shop in July of 2002. This is also his first guitar to feature epic (and now signature and recognizable)
“HATE” fretboard inlays on the first 5 frets. On the 12th fret it has “MICK” inlay.

Equipment with EMG 81/89 humbuckers, which have dark and aggressive sound, it’s perfect for
choice for metal. It has single volume knob (tone knobs do not add treble or bass to your sound, they
only remove higher frequencies as you turn them down, so who needs tone knob for metal?) and 3
way switch.

We can see Mick performing with this guitar on Disasterpieces DVD.

B.C. Rich Warlock Black

Basically the same guitar as “B.C. Rich Warlock Dark red” just with different paint on it, with black
instead of red.
B.C. Rich Beast

This guitar was used very shortly during the live performances in 1999. We can see Mick on some old,
live footage performing with it. Now let’s dive into the specification of this one. It’s a B.C. Rich Beast
model, with 24 frets,

1998 Jackson Custom Shop Seven-String

B.C. Rich Bich

The last B.C. Rich that Mister Seven used ever. This model was made in Indiana, Ohio. It should be
Mick’s signature model which was planned to be mass produced later, but Mick left the B.C. Rich and
B.C. Rich went on to sell it as their own guitar model.

Mick never like this guitar. He wanted Kahler Pro on it, but guitar came with a set for a Floyd Rose
where the neck is really flat to the body… there was nothing Mick could do about it. He also wanted
long-scale because I drop-tune and pick fast, but he got a short-scale… oopsy! After this, Mick wished
the best to the company, splited with them and go to Ibanez.

Ibanez RG350M-BK

The evolution of Mick equipment continued as Slipknot put out their third and fourth albums, The
Subliminal Verses and All Hope Is Gone,

Ibanez MTM “Storm trooper”

Recorded All Hope is Gone, and can also be heard on Gray Chapter
Mick’s favourite guitar, now has a Fishman Fluences pickups,
Got it after Vol. 3

Ibanez MTM Red

Mister Seven’s backup guitar to the “Storm Trooper”. This one is also one of the early prototype of
his signature line he got in early 2000’s.
Ibanez Carbon Fiber

Drop A

Ibanez Custom RG

Ibanez MTM100
Jackson soloist

Jackson Custom V – The Black V

The Black V was the first guitar that Jackson made for Mick. Built by master builder Mike Shannon,
who made Randy Rhoads' original white V, the Concord, this guitar has Floyd, but it’s fixed and
blocked. There are no springs in the back, it doesn’t whammy, it’s a fixed bridge.

Mick and Jackson are working on a new model, a model on which there would be a Floyd without
knocking a hole the guitar. More wood means a bigger sound and more sustain.

Fender Custom Shop Yngwie Malmsteen Tribute Stratocaster

Mick Thomson’s Acoustic Guitars:
Ovation MT37-5

Mick Thomson’s Bass Guitars:

Jackson Custom Concert Bass

Mick Thomson’s Guitar Amps:

First airline tube amp he got from his uncle. With nothing but a clean tone for a few months.

Mick Thomson’s Guitar Effects:

Dod fx50b overdrive first effect he got.
Mick Thomson’s Guitar Strings:
Drop A tuning: .011 – .058

Drop B tuning: .012 - .068

Mick Thomson’s Guitar Picks:

Dunlop custom Jazz III pick graphnite