BELGRADE, MONT. — Steve Carlson, owner of ZETA Violins and founder of Flatiron Mandolins (1980-1993), as well as 7 years with Gibson resurrecting their mandolin line (1987-1993), has announced the launch of ZETA's "A" Style mandolin, the "Stage," bringing to the market the first of its kind, a fully acoustic mandolin featuring ZETA's proprietary Strados® bridge pickup technology.
The result is noise free amplification of the true mandolin sound and tone, ie., no boom box effect common in all other mandolin pickups. Presented in a traditional format in both look and feel, ZETA's new bridge is intended to please even the purest die-hard traditionalist. Combined with convenience of internal preamp, signal balancing and 1/4" jack, ZETA's acoustic/electric offering is "Stage" ready both plugged-in and unplugged. Photo above shows ZETA's Strados® retrofit bridge/pickup with 5-pin bayonet connector conveniently tucked into the treble f-hole when not in use. Easy connection to the external belt pack powers stage worthy amplification and is available for installation on any mandolin.
Carlson, with over 10,000 mandolin builds already to his name, told us, "I'm very happy to once again be building great mandolins in the Gallatin Valley of Montana. ZETA's pickups are world-class and I've been working to marry that technology to a great mandolin for some time now. It's been a bit of an effort to get it right, and of course that is ongoing and part of the mystique or appeal. Combine that effort and the technology available with the great staff we have and you have a pretty good formula for some awesome instruments."
"This project has been especially pleasurable given the experience and expertise of some very dedicated friends and artists that have worked with me for a long time. This includes: Helen Beausoleil, building and detailing instruments since 1984 (currently in setup); Bob Weiman, in finish since 1987; Doug Schlender, in parts and pickups, formerly Neck Shape and Neck Fit (Flatiron/Gibson 8 years); Bruce Weber, Jr. in assembly, detailing and parts, building since 1999; Justin Smith (5 years), and Don Rodgers (10 years) both in parts, sanding, etc. and Maxine Carlson, cheerleader, sounding-board, shipping, office (40 years). That's more than 145 years combined building experience. What a crew!
"We intend to produce over 100 mandolins in 2020, and while most of those will be 'A' models, we are already in the final stage of production tooling and fixturing for our line of 'F' model mandolins with tentative release date as early as this summer."
ZETA's "Stage" A model mandolins will retail between $3,000 and $3,600 depending upon electronic configurations and will include a soft/hard, form fitted rectangular ZETA carrying case. They will be appearing in retail soon with Elderly Instruments, Carter Vintage Guitars and The Mandolin Store already announced as dealers.
About the Strados® Mandolin Pickup System
Each of the signature Strados® bridge support "fingers" of the mandolin pickup saddle dedicate dual piezo elements to each individual string course. Responding to the flex of the pickup "finger" rather than the vibration sensitivity common to most piezo and transducer pickup systems, the Strados® Mandolin pickup system is able to respond with a true acoustic string tone that is resistant to the sound vibrations that cause feedback at high volume levels. The special composite construction of the Strados® bridge pickup (made by ZETA) allows for maximum string sensitivity and torsioned pickup gain, resulting in a beautiful acoustic tone with warmth and clarity even at high amplification levels.
ZETA's proprietary internal active preamp system increases the power of the pickup signal from each individual string course, leading to separate internal gain controls (user adjustable) to provide for even string balance. This state-of-the-art system delivers a wide range of amplification flexibility, supporting a variety of tonal characteristics adaptable to diverse playing techniques and styles of music. While polyphonic in its nature, output is analog only but provides full clarity of individual string tone. An internal 9-volt battery provides over 1,000 hours of service on average.
A detailed feature list and specs on instrument builds is available from the ZETA web site.
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