From past Ronin and Pensa Custom guitars luthiers Izzy lugo and his mentor Vinnie Saccocio, comes Fiam Guitars. This guitar is their new take on one of Izzy's most loved creations, the Ronin Mirari. Now featuring Fiam's new Fiambucker pickups, which were designed in close collaboration with David Torn; this model is now referred to as the Fiam Mirari F-5.
This particular Mirari F-5 is from the same first batch as David's new guitar. His being serial # 001 and this beauty being serial # 005. Physically this guitar features many of the same ingredients found in the original Mirari. Such as a body built from 900 + years old, Old Growth Redwood and a Honduran Mahogany neck; keeping these instruments both lightweight and resonant. Each piece of wood used is hand chosen by Izzy for the best possible weight, rigidity and of course tone. Even the Rosewood used for the fingerboard is of very high quality, with a nice tight grain and beautiful hues of both dark and light brown. The fretwork and setup as always on the guitars Izzy builds, is impeccable.
The pickups in this guitar can't easily be described, luckily David Torn has made some great demos that can be seen both on YouTube and his Instagram channel, as well as at the bottom of this listing.
Similarly to the Foil Bucker, they possess tonal qualities all their own. They have a unique spongy and ethereal characteristic some would say "airy" like a Gold Foil while at the same time sounding very substantial and full. They are a medium out-put pickup that can really drive a tube amp if you want, but wont ever overload you with to much bass, muddying up your tone. They are powerful like a P-90 but with a much wider tonal range and extreme clarity. This is due to the coils of the pickups being asymmetrically wound and much further apart from each other than most traditional pickup designs.
By winding one coil much stronger than the other, this allows for the humbucking tone to still sound crisp and bell-like, while also allowing you to split each pickup without a noticeable drop in volume. They can have a near acoustic-like quality and are highly sensitive to your pick attack. These pickups also love drive and fuzz pedals. They can be meaty and fat, but with the push of either one of the two coil-split buttons, or one of the two high pass filter buttons; they become brighter and more focused. It's as if you have three different gain stages at your fingertips. Start out with your full hum-bucking tone, then press one of the coil taps and then try incorporating one of the HPF buttons. The great tones are near infinite and the control layout becomes very intuitive, once you are seated with the instrument. To quickly sum it up; these pickups are capable of everything from PAF fullness, guttural P-90 bite and Strat-like twang; all mixed in with that airy Gold Foil goodness, that is apparent in most if not all of Izzy's past pickup designs with Ronin Guitars.
Here is what David Torn has said about his Fiam Mirari's tone:
“This guitar is more USEFULLY broad-in-scope
than any guitar I've ever played. Fantastic
base tones & outrageous responsiveness.
No useless tones, the pickups can feel
super-powered or they can feel like they’re
wide-open low-outputters. + the magic
button!” - David Torn
Another great addition to the Fiam Mirari is the Vega Tremolo system. It is set up with two balanced, low friction springs. This guitar has the upgraded "Torn" vibrato route; which allows the tremolo to pull back as much as possible and with ease. Even with the standard non-upgraded trem route, you can pull back quite a bit with the Vega Trem (a minor 3rd or so) This guitar, can pull back at least two whole steps. It's pretty wild.
Last but not least we have a piezo-contact pickup (aka "The Magic Button") hidden in the guitars body, under the bridge pickup. This button allows you to get an acoustic or dobro like sound out of your guitar. You can also get much more experimental with it and tap on the body for rhythmic looping or scratch at the springs for an unusual sound effect.
These guitars are built with great passion and that passion certainly translates to whomever picks one up. We couldn't be more happy to offer them to you.
(Last photo is of David Torn on tour with his Fiam Mirari F-5)
Specs:
Body: Reclaimed Solid Old Growth Redwood
Neck: Genuine Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Neck Profile: Soft V .95" - .99", 154 Fretwire (same fret wire as the original Ronin Mirari)
Nut: Bone
Nut Width: 1 11/16"
Bridge: Vega Trem
Tuners: Hipshot
Pickups: Fiambucker Bridge and Neck
Control Layout: Vol, Tone, Tone, 2 Coil Split buttons, Magic Button, 3-way Toggle, HPF Neck, HPF Bridge
Pickguard: 3-Ply Parchment
Finish: Aged Black Nitro Lacquer / Light relic
Options: Magic Button/Piezo & Angled "Torn" Trem-Route ($300 Upgrade)
Case: Reunion Blues Protective Gig-Bag
Weight: 7lbs 4.6oz
Comes w/ COA & Spec Sheet
