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Berg Dulcimers   Musical Instruments & Accessories All made by William Berg Guaranteed Craftsmanship   Handcrafted Berg Instruments Shop Mountain Made Music 408 Washington Street Columbus, Indiana 47201 Call today toll free 866-372-8576!

Home Special Heirloom Mountain Dulcimers Mountain Dulcimers Hammered Dulcimers Lap Harps Music Books Bowed Psalteries Acoustic Wood Lap Steel Guitar Accessories & Tuners Berg Rhythm Bones CDs Violins Whats New.. Instrument Lessons Upcoming Events Links Email Photos Online Catalog Order Online Or Visit Our Store 408 Washington St. Columbus, IN 47201 Call Us 866-372- 8576 Or Locally 812-372-8576 Copyright 2008 Designed by Art in the Heartland Web Design & Marketing

What's New - 2008 New Things Happening At Mountain Made Music Great News -- We are in Columbus, Indiana just five minutes off Interstate 65 (same exit - just drive 5 minutes and be at our store). Yes, Mountain Made Music is in downtown Columbus Indiana at 408 Washington Street. The great quality of the mountain dulcimers, the hammered dulcimers, the lap harps and the bowed psalteries handcrafted by Bill Berg can be found downtown Columbus, Indiana .    In 2008, Mountain Made Music will become Indiana's top handcrafted musical instruments' store. Along with his mountain dulcimers, hammered dulcimers, bowed psalteries, lap harps and lap steel guitars, Bill will be adding more handcrafted instruments. New Berg guitars, thumb pianos, and other creatively designed instruments will be part of Bill's handcrafted Berg instruments in the store. 2008 will bring Mountain Made Music back to its long time reputation that began back in the 1980's as a traditional handcrafted folk music store with all handmade instruments and accessories. We look forward to an exciting upcoming year. Shoppers will find convenience in just coming off I-65 at Exit 68 and in just five minutes arriving downtown Columbus at 408 Washington Street. Washington Street offers parking directly in front of the store on both sides of the street. A parking lot is located directly behind the store. Watch for Bill to be at shows and festivals. Check our upcoming events page to see times and locations.  Or call toll 866-372-8576 and locally 812-372-8576. Our current hours are: Mon - Fri. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Open some Sundays 12 - 5 p.m. around downtown events and holidays. (Many evenings someone is at the store until 8:00 pm with lessons, workshops and other activities that happen within our building, The Heartland Center.  The Heartland Center Phone number is 812-376-3465 or toll free 877-376-3465.) We offer music lessons in all the instruments.  Call to set up lessons. We offer  a once a month mountain dulcimer workshop. The Midwest Dulcimer Society Meets the last Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. New Beginner Mountain Dulcimer Books "The Most Simple Way To Learning To Play The Dulcimer" Two Books - Great Easy Instructions - Photos of Bill Berg Ionian - DAA & Mixolydian DAD Buy Your Copy Today $14.95 Or Buy a mountain dulcimer - receive a copy of your choice with your purchase! Bill Berg - In the News With His All New Wood Lap Steel Guitars "Stiff Woodys" (Written in 2005) (Article by Nicole Kauffman/The Bloomington Herald-Times) - As a kid, Bill Berg assembled "guitar-like things" to play. "From playing them, I always had an interest in building them," Berg said. By the 1970s, when the Park Ridge, Ill., native was in his early 20s, he apprenticed with Karnes Music in the Chicago area, repairing stringed instruments. Three decades later, he's the owner of Mountain Made Music stores in Nashville and Columbus, where he sells his handcrafted mountain and hammered dulcimers, lap harps and bowed psalteries. He recently added new designs to that list - all-wood acoustic and electric lap steel guitars he calls "Stiff Woody" models. "It has to be extremely rigid, and it has high tension in the strings," he explained. Berg's workshop is next to his red brick home, tucked away in the countryside. Surrounded by screwdrivers, piles of wood, sawdust, saws, screws, blades, clamps and piled-up guitar bodies, Berg laid out the new guitars. "I really, after building thousands of dulcimers, still enjoy the building process," he said. (He first was drawn to the dulcimer when he heard Joni Mitchell play, he said.) The construction of a Stiff Woody is much like that of a dulcimer, and the electric version is basically a two-by-four, along the lines of a regular steel guitar, he said. "The reason they're called steel is because of this guy," Berg said, holding up a bar of steel. "A chunk of metal that stops the note wherever you want it." He likes to use the local woods walnut and sassafras, then non-local redwood for the tops, because of its fine grain and vibrant color. Berg has "literally dreamt plans" for instruments, he said. He rarely writes down designs, preferring instead to just start building when he has a concept. Building specifically for tone qualities - "I've always kind of liked the mid-ranged, higher pitched qualities to instruments" - Berg spends about 80 percent of his time in his workshop and makes seven or eight guitars at once. When Berg started designing, he sold instruments at Renaissance fairs and folk and craft festivals. He opened the Nashville store 23 years ago, four years before he moved to the area. "I've never made two runs of instruments that are exactly alike," he said. It takes about a week to get the basic body done; at that time, it's without string, unfinished, just shaped and sanded. It takes another week to finish the guitars, which sell for $250 (solid body) and $345 (hollow body). In his free time, Berg plays mandolin and dobro-style guitar with the Nashville-based Clodhoppers, from which he's "on hiatus," he said. Good wood Bill Berg's handmade instruments can be seen at his Mountain Made Music stores at the Heartland Center in Columbus (408 S. Washington St.), and downtown Nashville (58 W. Main St.). Call (866) 372-8576 or visit www.mountainmademusic.com or www.stiffwoody.com, to learn more.