Win for ‘small town Canada’; Kamloops-made guitar wins prestigious award

KAMLOOPS– A Kamloops-made guitar has won a prestigious MMR Dealers Choice award.

Riversong Guitars’ P2P River Pacific was named acoustic guitar of the year by the world’s oldest, most-read musical industry magazine, Musical Merchandise Review.

Mike Miltimore, Riversong Guitars founder and luthier, told CFJC News the recognition has been a long time coming, after seven years on the shortlist.

“It’s been 16 years of working backroom quietly developing, patenting, building,” Miltimore said. “Since 2015 we’ve been shortlisted for these awards and finally, finally we did it.”

Riversong’s P2P River Pacific model was deemed superior in terms of sales and profits by music industry dealers for 2022.

“For me, what this award means is, it’s a validation that we’re doing something right. Our guitar design is different. We’re not doing the same design that has been around since 1842,” he said.

“You know, we’re standing among giants here. The big brands that we’re up against are the biggest in the industry and I’m sure there are some questions going around their marketing table.”

The local company was up against industry giants like Fender and Gibson, which Miltimore said is a win for small businesses and the local community.

“One of the things that really excites me about this is, it’s a vote for small town Canada. We can do it. We are making world class guitars from domestic woods from our area,” Miltimore said. “And [we] make them into world class guitars from small town Canada.”