Dick Boak looked the guitar over and felt it was a great candidate for such a conversion. He was right, this thing is one sweetheart of a Brazilian-Adi dreadnought that has a muscled underbelly, angelic highs and is just plain loud – with a pistol shot chime when under a hard, Old-Timey attack.

I first saw Mr. Reiners, some years ago now, when his photo appeared in an Acoustic Guitar magazine article penned by my friend Karen Hogg, on the progressive Bluegrass movement as it was picking up steam in places beyond the banks of the Ohio.

Boo and his partner, Elena Skye head up the Demolition String Band who ride out along the Progressive Country circuit from Boo’s homestead near Hoboken, New Jersey. Hoboken has a rich musical history and was once the epicenter for Alt-Rock, when pioneers like the Wygals and R.E.M held court at Maxwell’s, where Boo now appears monthly as a member of the 16-piece Swingadelic. Before that it was known as Frank Sinatra’s hometown. The scene thrives there still. Hoboken even has its own music awards and multiple venues that cover the entire spectrum of modern music. DSB have left their mark there, along with many stages across the river in New York City.

Recently I saw them do an interview for ASCAP, where Elena and Boo spoke of their pedigree, running the Bluegrass jams at Coney Island High before joining the Alphabet City Opry at 9C (now Banjo Jim’s), where the named and unknown performed and you were just as likely to see David Byrne on a bar stool as Hank Williams III.