Jim Root appears to have wiped his Instagram — apart from one cryptic post

But not before the Slipknot guitarist revealed to Thinking About Guitar the gear behind the band’s first new single in more than three years

Jim Root appears to have wiped almost his entire Instagram history, leaving behind just one post dating all the way back to March 16, 2012.

While the photograph itself — depicting an old gas station with missing letters that leave its sign reading “DIE” — is more than 14 years old, its caption was updated only hours ago with lyrics from “Arsenal,” Slipknot’s surprise new single and their first new song in more than three years.

The track arrived this week as the band’s first release featuring former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande, as well as their first since the departure of longtime turntablist Sid Wilson.

Whether there is any significance to that March 16, 2012 date isn’t clear. What is clear, however, is that before the apparent Instagram clear-out, Root had been actively engaging with fans around the release of “Arsenal,” answering questions in the comments of one of his more recent posts — including one from us here at Thinking About Guitar.

Listening to the track, we thought there was something decidedly Bogner-esque about its guitar tone, so we asked him directly what he had used.

“Tracked that with a Bogner Helios Eclipse… IR in a Quad Cortex powered by a Blackstar power amp into an Orange 4×12 with a Dunable Yeti…” Root replied.

The Bogner isn’t necessarily the surprising part. Root has been using the Helios Eclipse for some time, and his embrace of the Quad Cortex has likewise become an increasingly important part of his modern rig.

The Dunable Yeti, however, caught our attention.

Root has spent much of his career as one of metal’s more unconventional Fender players, turning Telecasters, Stratocasters and Jazzmasters into instruments built for Slipknot’s considerably heavier requirements, while more recently adding Charvel guitars to his arsenal.

Then again, conventional guitar choices have never particularly concerned him.

“I’m always looking for things to piss off metalheads,” Root joked in 2024 while discussing his fondness for guitars not traditionally associated with heavy music.

The Yeti certainly fits the heavier end of that philosophy.

It is the model Dunable credits with transforming the company from a one-person garage operation into a fully fledged guitar maker in 2014. The standard Yeti uses a 25.5-inch scale and set-neck construction, with Dunable describing it as being designed to remain loud and clear from E standard right down into “the sludgiest drop tunings.”

We don’t know the exact specifications of the Yeti Root used on “Arsenal,” and Dunable offers custom builds alongside its standard instruments, so it would be unwise to assume his guitar follows the company’s stock recipe.

Only two days before “Arsenal” arrived, Root was showing that tracking for Slipknot’s next album was underway. The guitarist had already revealed earlier this year that the band were working through a substantial amount of new material with producer Matt Wallace, with around 50 arrangements in various stages of development.

“Arsenal,” however, won’t be one of them.

Root was also fielding questions about the new single in his Instagram comments and was unequivocal when asked whether it would feature on the forthcoming record.

“Arsenal will NOT be on the new album,” he confirmed.

There is a precedent for this, of course. Slipknot released “All Out Life” as a standalone single in 2018 before We Are Not Your Kind arrived the following year, with the track ultimately absent from most editions of the album despite its refrain providing the record’s title.

Whether “Arsenal” will occupy a similar place in Slipknot history remains to be seen, but Root’s confirmation means listeners probably shouldn’t take the single as the definitive blueprint for album eight.

The recent departure of Sid Wilson inevitably adds another layer to the speculation surrounding Root’s somewhat abrupt social media move.

When reports first emerged that Wilson had been removed from Slipknot after nearly three decades with the group, Root urged fans not to immediately believe everything they were reading and suggested waiting until more information emerged.

Slipknot subsequently confirmed Wilson was no longer part of the band, briefly posting — and then removing — a statement announcing his departure.

Against that backdrop, Root suddenly stripping his own Instagram down to a solitary, cryptic-looking post is inevitably going to raise a few eyebrows again.

There is, however, currently nothing to suggest that Root himself is going anywhere.