Family-run B.C. company beats out some big names to win acoustic guitar of the year | 24CA News

Three of the most important names within the business had been up for the award.

But the nod for acoustic guitar of the yr for 2022 did not go to Yamaha. And it did not go to Taylor Guitars or Martin Guitars — it went to Riversong Guitars of Kamloops, B.C.

Riversong’s P2P River Pacific was introduced on Sunday because the acoustic class winner within the prestigious Musical Merchandise Review (MMR) Dealers’ Choice Awards. In the 30-year historical past of the worldwide awards, Riversong proprietor and P2P guitar inventor Mike Miltimore mentioned that is the primary time a Canadian firm has received acoustic guitar of the yr.

“It means through hard work, perseverance, innovation, a small-town Kamloops company can make a splash on the world stage,” Miltimore advised CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops on Monday.

“With a marketing budget that probably rivals our contemporaries’ coffee budget, this award means so much more.”

Compared to family-run Riversong, Yamaha is a world big. Taylor Guitars — with greater than 1,200 workers and factories within the United States and Mexico that pump out a whole lot of guitars every day — isn’t any small operation both. And Martin Guitars has time and custom on its facet. It has been round since 1833 and has equipped guitars to a number of the most well-known names in music historical past — from Elvis Presley and John Lennon to Ed Sheeran and John Mayer.   

Guitar sellers from around the globe solid votes within the MMR awards.

Patented design helps create ‘excellent intonation’ 

In reference to Riversong’s P2P River Pacific acoustic, MMR wrote: “Every now and again, a smaller brand manages to sneak up and eke out a win in categories traditionally dominated by the big boys. And this year, Mike Miltimore’s team of Canadian craftspeople did just that. The River Pacific … is a true luxury guitar that is within reach for the many. The Riversong team really hit it out of the park with this one.”   

Miltimore mentioned the P2P River Pacific sells for $1,850.

A patented design function of the guitar is a neck that runs throughout the within of the physique, which Miltimore says helps create “perfect intonation playing up and down the neck of the guitar.”

He additionally says a set screw on the again of the guitar permits for the string peak to be adjusted “so that it plays fast and easy — to be able to accommodate for different humidities, to be able to accommodate for slide guitar or if you want to play bluegrass or if you want to just strum.”

Country music stars are strumming Riversong guitars

Miltimore mentioned the P2P River Pacific is Riversong’s best-selling guitar. Among those that play it on stage, he mentioned, are nation famous person Eric Church and the up-and-coming Priscilla Block, who was named new feminine artist of the yr on the 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards.

“She was just on the Grand Ole Opry, and we built her a couple guitars,” Miltimore mentioned.

Miltimore mentioned it is an accomplishment simply to be nominated for an MMR award. This yr, Riversong was nominated in 4 classes, together with product of the yr, electrical guitar of the yr and ukulele of the yr.

Riversong Guitars was based by Miltimore’s dad, Lee, within the Seventies.

“I grew up in this company as a little kid,” Miltimore mentioned.

“For me, I fell in love with guitars, those days, pre-teen, when I was taking them apart and looking at the innovation — the spirit of how somebody would just create something that never was created before and try to make it better. There’s thousands of inventions in the guitar world, and it really attracted my attention.”