Mike Sullivan

Mike’s current main squeeze is a 1985 Gibson Les Paul Custom that he bought in his hometown of Chicago at Rock N Roll Vintage. Since acquiring the guitar, he dropped in new pickups—a high-wound Lollar Imperial in the bridge and a standard Lollar Imperial in the neck. Sullivan goes with D’Addario NYXL .011–.056 strings and tunes this one to a DADGAD variant—C#-G#-D-G-C-A#. When it comes to picks, he’s been loyal to the Dunlop Max-Grip Jazz III since he found some inside a box for an Andy Timmons pedal. Sullivan’s backup is this ’81 Gibson Les Paul Custom (with the original pickups) and is reserved for songs in A-A-D-G-A-D tuning including a new song off 2016’s Guidance called “Afrika.”

Seen and named by Mike in the Riff Rundown video for the song 'Harper Lewis', produced by Premier Guitar.

Mike specifically names the Flying V he owns as a 67' Reissue.

Mike bought a custom Dunable Cyclops back in 2018, fitted out with a black limba body, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard and Lollar humbucking pickups.

Rig Rundown at Premier Guitar:

"Sullivan’s new love is a Fano RB6 that he recently received from the boutique guitar maker’s custom shop. “It comes down to the clarity thing,” Sullivan says. “You hit a chord and you hear every note. The Lollar P-90’s in the neck and bridge just sound incredible, and just have a pure organic tone. There’s nothing to hide behind.” In addition to its Jason Lollar P-90 pickups, Sullivan’s RB6 utilizes a Gibson-like 24 3/4" scale neck with a chunky C-shape. Sullivan’s guitars are strung up with Dean Markley custom-gauge .012-.056 strings (he occasionally uses a .058 for the lowest string), and are tuned low to high to B-F#-C-F-G-B."

Talked about around 8:04 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTkHgfS-NU

Source from the "Other Band's Stuff" Tumblr, this photograph taken at a show on August of 2012 shows a rare occasion of Mike when he had used a Jazzmaster.

2007 Gibson SG Standard Silverburst

I’m kind of inbetween guitars at the moment. A car accident caused an upper-back injury and put me in search of lighter-weight guitars. I tried several different SG Customs and some just didn’t feel right and the SG neck is not my favourite profile. But I’ve tracked this one down with a rounder neck profile, ebony ’board and mahogany body. I’m always checking out guitars and this was a really good deal. It was a Robot Guitar [a model with automated self tuning] and I knew right away I’d be stripping all that mechanism out, but at the core of it I knew this was a great guitar. In the last few years I’ve become accustomed to using lower output pickups and I put a Lollar Imperial in the neck and then a higher wound one in the bridge. And I’m sold – they’re really good. Great for distortion and having articulation. I think lower output pickups refl ect the guitar more; everything is more exposed in a cool way. I’ve had SGs that are the worst things to play live but this one felt great. Sacha Dunable from Dunable Guitars helped me set it up with a new bridge and tuners. On this tour it’s usually in C# G# D G A C# and occasionally the lower G# will go up to an A . I’ll use the Drop pedal to take that a whole step down too.

1971 Gibson SG Standard

I picked this up at a cool guitar store called Rock ’N’ Roll Vintage in Chicago. It’s a guitar I’d always see but I tried to stay away from it and not touch it. But I fell in love with it and I’ve had it for years now - and for certain songs live it has its place where no other guitar feels quite as right. There are things I would change about it, like the pickup in the bridge doesn’t quite have the tonal quality. I can’t say for certain if it is the original. This is always in the same tuning: BBEABE.

Recognisable due to the sanded down look of the finish, Mike has been frequently seen with his Les Paul Custom. He said in a Rig Rundown that it was a '57 Reissue, used mainly because of pains in his hands.

Edit 5-15-2019: Previous photo showed Mike's 85 Les Paul Custom in pewter (Greenish metallic color) in the new photo listed is the correct 57 Les Paul Custom in Faded Cherry finish. Also you can see better photos of it if you go onto reverb and go to Russian Circles Reverb page where Mike Sold it a few years ago!!

This live performance of 309 by Russian Circles shows Mike using a B.B. King Lucille electric guitar from Gibson.

There are several videos featuring using Dunable guitars and he specifically mentions them in this article which also features a picture of one along with this quote:

"The shape of those are the most ergonomic guitars I’ve owned. Sitting, standing, and the weird positions I find myself in [laughs], the guitar just fits perfectly. It sounds great and I love it. Another one is in the works for alternate tunings on live shows"