Bear Creek Guitars
TypePrivate
IndustryMusical instruments
HeadquartersCalifornia
Area served
Global
Key people
Bill Hardin
ProductsCustom Weissenborn-style Hawaiian lap steel guitars
WebsiteBear Creek Guitars

Bear Creek Guitars is a California-based manufacturer of Hawaiian instruments. Luthier Bill Hardin founded the company in Hawaii in 1995 after working at O.M.I Dobro and the Santa Cruz Guitar Company.[1] Bear Creek primarily builds acoustic lap steel guitars in the tradition of the Weissenborn, one of only a handful of manufacturers basing their instruments on the original Weissenborn design.[2] Hardin has collaborated with guitarist and ethnomusicologist Bob Brozman in designing an updated 7-string baritone version of the Style IV Weissenborn, called the BearTone.

History

Bill Hardin was introduced to the Weissenborn by Don Young of National Reso-Phonic Guitars while they both worked for Dobro. One day Don brought in a Weissenborn copy and Bill was impressed with its sound. "It was such a pure slide sound and just amazing," he recalled in a 2007 Fretboard Journal feature article.[3]

Instruments

Bear Creek builds both hollowneck and Kona roundneck copies of the Weissenborn,[4] as well as Spanish steel-stings, ukuleles, and resonators. The BearTone can be heard on Bob Brozman's Nankuru Naisa, his second collaboration with Takashi Hirayasu (their first collaboration, Jin Jin, features Brozman on a Bear Creek "Kona Rocket.")[5]

References

  1. ↑ Aldrich, Margret; Michael Dregni (2003). This Old Guitar. Voyageur Press. p. 151. ISBN 0-89658-631-6.
  2. ↑ Gerkin, Teja; Michael Simmons; Frank Ford; Richard Johnston (2005). Acoustic Guitar: The Composition, Construction, and Evolution of One of World's Most Beloved Instruments. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 125. ISBN 0-634-07920-4.
  3. ↑ Volk, Andy. "Hollow Be Thy Name: Bear Creek's Bill Hardin and the allure of the Weissenborn-style guitar." The Fretboard Journal, issue number 8 (Winter 2007), p. 18.
  4. ↑ Diego, César. "Weissenborn.es: Today's Incredible Builders". Retrieved Jan 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ Brozman, Bob. "Bear Creek Hawaiian Guitars". Retrieved Jan 17, 2011.


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