Riversong guitars...

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justrfb
Posts: 217
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:17 am
Location: North Jersey

Riversong guitars...

Post by justrfb »

Hello All.
I was working on our son Mark's guitar last night when our other son Willie came home from a sleep over at his friends house and told me about his day. They went to our LMS and he said he played a very interesting and very nice guitar. He said it played beautifully and it sounded nice too. He said it was different... I asked more and he said it was a Riversong acoustic, made in Canada. I looked them up this morning and they are indeed very different and interesting. Look them up... Their neck is one piece and goes through the body and is anchored at what would be the tail block. The whole neck adjusts for both action and intonation. The sound board is totally free floating from the neck. Amazing actually... I am a very small fish here in a really big pond. I am interested in what you have to say and what you think of these guitars. They are pricey but I am more interested in knowing first hand experience or thoughts on the whole design and company. Look on Youtube for Riversong guitars especially... Thanks so much.

Sincerely,
Rich
johnnparchem
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Re: Riversong guitars...

Post by johnnparchem »

I listened to all the utube videos I could find and even in the promotional videos they do not seem to have much of a voice and almost no bass. Hard to tell with videos. Interesting concept, I am not sure I have my mind around what they are doing. With a pinned bridge the top still needs to deal with the string tension. I see that the top can transfer some of the force to the tail block and thus the neck, But given that the force is not a straight pull, the bridge is still going to want to rotate. So they need at least enough bracing for that.
justrfb
Posts: 217
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:17 am
Location: North Jersey

Re: Riversong guitars...

Post by justrfb »

Thanks for your comments John. I will go soon with Willie to see it and compare... I just thought it was a very interesting way of building a guitar. I guess if there was a better way, Martin, Gibson Taylor etc... would probably have found it out by now. Thanks again.

Sincerely
Rich
johnnparchem
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Re: Riversong guitars...

Post by johnnparchem »

I found the idea interesting and it looks really easy to set the action and the like. Give that the strings are still pinned to the top there still is a need for structural bracing or the bridge will rotate. The load of the strings gets to the tail block through the top.
tippie53
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Re: Riversong guitars...

Post by tippie53 »

It is much like a banjo neck attachment. The design was used before but I am sure they tweaked them. I did listen to a few you tube vids and they are ok but I think there are better sounding guitars out there. I do like that the neck is easy to adjust. Martin also use an adjustable neck a few years ago.
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
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