Thank you for your interest in Bear Creek Guitars. I have been building guitars for over 20 years, working as a guitarmaker for O.M.I. Dobro, and Santa Cruz Guitar Company, before starting my own company, Bear Creek Guitars. But the journey wasn't easy-read on --
Originally, as a child, Bill was hoping to be an astronaut. But after being informed by his Mom that he would have to eat more green vegetables and get better grades, he lowered his goal to Rock Star or Comic Book Hero. "My deepest desire was to be like Superman, mainly because of the X-ray vision thing." Somewhere around 2nd grade the bottom fell out, discovering that Santa was a myth, Bill concluded that there probably were not any superheros either. So with Rock and Roll being the only thing left, he began the process of annoying his parents to get him a guitar. "Jeez, you'd think I wanted a BB gun or something".
My love for guitars began with the cartoon character, El Cabong, whose heroic use of the guitar inspired me to smash a perfectly good ukulele over my little sister's head. That started my early guitar repair business.
After years of constant pressure, on Christmas morning of 1966, Bill woke up to a shiny new Stella 6 string under the tree. Unfortunately, it belonged to his sister, and all he got was a new Schwinn. His sister, who seemed to be a natural on the instrument and impressed everyone by learning Jingle Bells on the first day, eventually lost interest. So now, with the prized 6 string in hand, Bill set about the task of mastering the instrument, or at least learning Jingle Bells.
After six months of practice and persistance, Bill not only learned Jingle Bells, but could almost play the intro to `House of the Rising Sun' as well. Then sometime around 1967, a string broke, so he threw it in the closet and forgot the whole thing. The next time he saw the Stella was in 1975 when he returned home from a three year stint in the Navy. His Mom had glued the Stella to the wall with contact cement and painted daisies on the top.
My love of Hawaiian guitars started at Dobro, where I met Don Young, now the owner of National Resophonic Guitars. Don's enthusiasm for Hawaiian music and steel guitars inspired my interest in these exotic instruments. My years building for Santa Cruz Guitar Company helped me develop a critical eye for master quality construction techniques, and fine detail... and I learned a lot of bad jokes.
I bought my first Weissenborn guitar from an old guy who had strung it up like a ukulele. It seemed for many years that most people didn't know what to do with these guitars. Today, however, the Hawaiian Steel Guitar is making a definite comeback.
The early Hawaiian guitars were beautiful in outward appearance, but rather crude in their construction and interior details, But they have a very magical sound. I am currently building fine, Hawaiian Steel Guitars in the 'Weissenborn' tradition. They are styled after the classic steel guitars of the 1920s, but with uncompromised workmanship, and much more attention to detail than the originals. I use the finest highly figured Hawaiian Koa available today, and each of my instruments is handcrafted by me, in my Maui shop. This attention to detail has resulted in an incredible instrument-in both beauty and sound.
My guitars are played by Bob Brozman, one of the world's greatest traditional steel players. After taking his first Bear Creek Hollowneck on tour, Bob's endorsment says it all- "The Bear Creek is beautifully crafted and captures the mysterious sound of the original Weissenborns, but with greater volume, depth and clarity." Bob and I are continually working on new innovative designs- watch my pages for new models.
