Ronin Library

With the ever growing community of forums and blogs about guitars and tone, we find people are more confused and frustrated than ever before about about how to achieve their musical goals. Buying anything musical without playing it for yourself can be scary without assistance. We are a small dedicated company that will work with our customers to achieve their goals. Our approach to instruments begins with the highest quality wood and hardware, thus creating a known constant that will never be compromised. Here at Ronin, we take great pride in our experience, wisdom and knowledge on how to achieve the tone and function you require. We are players too, and we hand build our instruments with a variety of styles, tones, vibes and musical personalities.

The Pups

Unless otherwise noted, our pickups are hand wound exclusively for Ronin by Maricela of the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop in Santa Barbra California. Maricela…we love you :).

Roninbucker One:

The Roninbucker One is a clean slate, blank canvas pickup that allows a variety of woods to show off their voice. This matched set maintains string clarity in over drive and high gain situations and is especially perfect for the player who wants to accentuate the characteristics of the wood. This matched set comes stock in our Mirari. In Mahogany, it sounds thick, warm and beautifully dark while maintaining articulation and clarity. In S.O.G.R it opens up the sonic spectrum, evening out the midrange for a lush, even tonality.

Roninbucker Two:

This matched set bridges the gap between classic humbucker tones the more versatile Roninbucker One. The winding is kept moderate and we recommend this pickup in our Mirari for folks who drive their amps hot. Low watt vintage amps turned up sound amazing with this pickup!

Roninbucker Three:

This vintage style matched set sports aged nickel covers and is designed to work in harmony with the darker characteristics of shorter scale guitars. The overall design is geared to accentuating the warmth and richness of our PalusMourn. (Note: only available on our set neck, 24.5” scale instruments)

Songbird:

The unofficial love child of a traditional P90 and a vintage humbucker. Single Coil and P90 fans will feel right at home here and love the extra thickness while Humbucker fans will rejoice at a new found openness in the sonic spectrum.The Songbird pickup is quiet, light on the mid-range and very articulate as the volume and gain increase.
Our in house favorite! This pickup loves salvaged redwood!

Phoenix Pickup:

Wound hot and dark, this pickup was built around the legendary tones of Johnny Winter.

Ronin Staple P90:

A Secret weapon of sorts when matched with Salvaged Redwood. One of widest tonal dynamic pickups we have ever heard once they found a home in a salvaged redwood body. If you are looking for something truly unique, look no further. Ask about me in a custom Mirari!

NOS 67 Foil:

We have a very limited supply of original 1967 Foil Pickups which we use in our 67’ Foil Songbirds. Jazz, Blues and old school rock tones come to life in the Songbird platform. The 67 Foil loves vintage amps for authentic sonic recreations while maintaining a truly unique tone spectrum. (Note, these pickups do not like hi-gain amps!).

Morningstar:

Good ol fashion 50’s and 60’s style single coil tones can be found right here. With a few different winding and magnet options to choose from, the Morningstar pickup can accommodate even the most demanding of traditionalists. We kept our single coil pickup simple and pure, just like it should be. Playing a lot of lead? If so we have something extra special for you, just ask :). (Note; only available as a set in the Mourningstar, we will not mod any other model with this pickup).

Ronin Staple P80 Bass Pickup:

Reverse wound and staggered for a noiseless operation, this beautifully hand wound matched set brings a whole new level of tone to the bass. Only available in Cedar or Redwood Prætorian Bass models, the Ronin Staple P90 will flat out blow your mind with organic, highly finger sensitive tones. The Bottom end is fat with rich overtones rarely heard in an electric bass.

Songbird Bass Pickup:

This ceramic Humbucker was designed We created this pickup as a bridge between the active pickup crowd and the passive purists. It has all the raw organic tone of a passive pup as well as the ability to cut through and overdrive without becoming lost in the mix.

S.O.G.R

As Known As- “Salvaged Old Growth Redwood"

We have a collection of master grade “Guilt Free” Old Growth Redwood SALVAGED from old barns, wineries and agricultural buildings. EVERY PIECE OF REDWOOD WE USE IS PERSONALLY SALVAGED BY US SO WE KNOW EXACTLY WHERE IT CAME FROM. Some of the Salvaged Redwood was used in wine casks and still has the color and smell to prove it. This wood is becoming scarcer by the day and is on its way to becoming a priceless commodity in the years to come. When salvaged and cured, it’s tone is superior in almost every way to other instrument woods. Its grain pattern is extremely tight, it’s weight is absolutely perfect, and it transfers sound beautifully! Salvaged Redwood instruments almost seem alive in your hands, vibrating your whole body when played acoustically.

Finishing

Every Ronin instrument is finished with un-catalyzed, pure Nitrocellulose lacquer. Most, if not all of our favorite instruments from the 50’s and 60’s were sprayed with Nitrocellulose lacquer. This method of finishing created decades of instruments that aged and breathed properly. We feel that anything else takes away from the positive tonal qualities of an instrument and turns a guitar into a piece of plastic. It is very important tonally speaking for an instrument to breathe and age naturally, not be sealed forever in a polyester, acrylic urethane, polyurethane enamel, UV curable acrylite, catalyzed nitro or epoxy.

www.truivory.com

TruIvory® is a man made material which accurately mimics the grain pattern and color of the real thing. It is typically used as an Elephant friendly replacement for gun grips, knife handles and many other applications. It’s strikingly beautiful old world aesthetic makes for amazing pick guards, truss rod covers, and inlays.

Callaham® Hardware

Here at Ronin, we only use the finest components possible on all of our instruments. Our Mirari and Songbird instruments love the Callaham® Tremolo & Hard Tail Bridges and are hands down the finest vintage reproduction parts available today. For information about Callaham® please visit http://www.callahamguitars.com/blocks.htm

PigTail® Hardware

Pigtail Music® makes an absolutely beautiful ABR Bridge, Wrap-Around and Stop Tailpiece. The materials and manufacturing are of the highest quality and its featherweight aluminum design transfers sound perfectly! In honor of founder Steven Rowen, we humbly use these bridges on our set neck instruments.

Chambering?

We DO NOT chamber our guitars. We feel it creates a hollowed-out thin sound by interfering with the transfer of sound through the body. By using properly cured select woods, balanced weight is achieved and sound remains unaltered

If its got frets, we can fix it! Don’t be shy :).

  • Setups (Acoustic & Electric)
  • Grind & Polish
  • Refret
  • Bridge ReGlue (Acoustic)
  • ReWires
  • Headstock Repairs
  • Crack Repairs
  • Hit By truck Repair
  • Stepped On Repair
  • Brace Repair
  • Intonation Issues
  • Bone Saddles and Nuts
  • Pickup Installation
  • Body Mods (including routing)
  • I smashed my guitar on stage repair
  • I found this guitar in a dumpster repair
  • I bought this guitar on craigslist and it needs work repair
  • I bought this guitar on ebay and it needs work repair
  • I was bored and tried to work on my guitar myself repair
  • I bought this body and neck on ebay and it doesn’t fit repair
  • My girlfriend/boyfriend smashed by guitar repair
  • My cleaning lady knocked my guitar out the window repair
  • My air guitar wont stay in tune repair
  • I took my guitar scuba diving repair
  • I "Pete Townsend-ed my guitar" repair (ouch!)