I am enjoying learning to play the Irish Zouk at the local ITM sessions.
I have also always been a fan of Alec Finn and his style on his 3-course Zouk. The DaDannan stuff, and many of his other listenable ventures speak for themselves, but his work with Mary Bergin really is pretty danged magical to my ear.
There are also a few more youngsters out there who are doing some pretty cool stuff as well with the 3-course.
I saw that the Mandolin Store is looking at carrying the Matsikas line, so I took the journey over to spend the afternoon with Dennis and give these instruments ( as well as a handful of other REALLY cool stuff currently in house at TMS) a good going over.
I played the 4-course Zouk (traditional) and their mandolin. The fit and finish was weak in some areas; fret finsihing the most obvious. The frets were level and the intonation was pretty much on across the 26" fingerboard, but if you are strong on the looks end you might have an issue.
Both have extensive inlay and there were little imperfections here and there; again, if you need your instrument to look perfect you may have an issue.
For me, the tuning pegs were the biggest performance issue. They would need to be replaced sooner rather than later.
Otherwise, the materials, actual poly finish, and most importantly the playability were really there. The zouk plays like a dream. I have never seen such level string height across a board of this scale.
They sound great. Definitely good enough for an entry level instrument. I wouldn't have hesitated playing either pieces I played out in a sesh, or at a show.
I'd group them in there with Eastman mando family stuff as far as getting a great player for not so much $$$.
Here are some pics I took (quickly, with the phone camera) ;
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