The Riverboat Dread - a Solid Wood Acoustic With an Adirondack Spruce Top
A Solid Wood Adirondack Spruce and Bolivian Rosewood Dreadnought
A very limited number of guitars is available for immediate order.
A solid wood Dreadnought acoustic guitar crafted with sought-after AAA-grade Adirondack Spruce. Our tribute to the iconic Toronto coffee house on Yorkville Avenue. In its day, the Riverboat hosted every folk and blues performer, from famous to first-time artists. A very limited number of guitars is available for immediate order.
CAD $4,699.99 |
Price: | USD $1,299.99 |
A Dreadnought with unrivalled sustain and overtones.
Hallmark Features:
- Solid AAA grade Adirondack Spruce top
- Solid Bookmatched Bolivian Rosewood B/S
- Ebony fretboard
- African Mahogany Neck
- Genuine hand-set dovetail neck-to-body joint
- 18:1 genuine Grover tuning machines
Despite the additional cost we've never used any top wood of less than AAA grade. The Adirondack Spruce used for our Riverboat series has a pronounced "winter grain" These are the darker grain lines that define each annular ring on soundboards. It is normally desirable if the winter grain is less apparent. In Adirondack Spruce, winter grain is less avoidable, and most people expect to see it. The power, sustain, and harmonic overtones of the Riverboat Dread are unmatched in guitars costing thousands more.
By far the most famous of all Yorkville’s clubs was the Riverboat coffeehouse at 134 Yorkville. Owned and operated by Bernie Fiedler, the Riverboat opened in October 1964. It quickly became part of a prestigious North American circuit that included Detroit’s Chess Mate and New York’s Bitter End. Situated below street level, the club seated 120 people in red booths amid pine walls and brass portholes.
Every seat was near the stage, providing an intimate showcase of the top names in popular music, including Howlin’ Wolf, Simon & Garfunkel, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Tim Buckley, Ritchie Havens, Junior Wells, John Prine, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Buddy Guy, Kris Kristofferson, John Lee Hooker, Doc Watson, Tim Hardin, Jerry Jeff Walker, Janis Ian, Steve Goodman, Odetta, Seals & Crofts and James Taylor.
The Riverboat is where the protest folk singing star Phil Ochs wrote his popular ballad “Changes.” When Eric Clapton was in Toronto with his band Cream, the Riverboat is where he went, with his hair tied in a bun as a disguise, to hear Tom Rush perform. When actor Jack Nicholson was in town shooting The Last Detail, he snuck in through the Riverboat’s backdoor to catch some late-night music. Everyone played the Riverboat except Bob Dylan, although even Dylan was rumoured to have sat incognito in one of the back booths one night.