[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.
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] Bear Creek builds both hollowneck and Kona roundneck copies of the Weissenborn,[4] as well as Spanish steel-stings, ukuleles, and resonators.