Folk Notes

Folk Notes is a folk instrument shop specializing in dulcimers, and located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is owned and run by myself, Dennis Den Hartog, and my wife Linda. I acquired my first mountain dulcimer in 1994. The dream of owning our own folk music and dulcimer shop began sometime in 1996. I began building dulcimers for myself and my family i... n the fall of 1995. The dream became a reality in February 1997 after I began building dulcimers for sale to others. Folk Notes first opened as a retail space in an antique and craft mall, but we soon realized that we needed to be present to sell the dulcimers, and the time spent on sales cut into my building time. My first mountain dulcimers sold quite quickly, and we began ordering dulcimers from other builders in order to keep up inventory and offer more variety. We soon added other folk instruments and accessories. By summer the store moved into a separate space in the same building. A couple of moves later, after Linda and I bought a larger home with more space and a large separate workshop, Folk Notes was moved into our front room and several others, so it now occupies almost half our house while the rest is our personal living area(except for the bundles of boxes under the bed). Folk Notes is run as a one person shop on weekdays, while Linda works at an outside job so we can have health insurance. It was at her insistance that Folk Notes was started, and it is due to her support that I can work at something I love so much. On weekends and at festivals she helps me with customers, and she also is the bookkeeper.Read More