About Roosebeck — Handcrafted Folk Instruments Since 1973
Founded 1973 · Headquarters Palm Bay, Florida · Parent company EnSoul Music Designs, Inc. · Specialties Mountain dulcimers, Celtic harps, Renaissance lutes, bodhrans, balalaikas, ukuleles, Native American flutes · Construction Handcrafted, solid tonewoods, traditional techniques
Roosebeck Fine Instruments
Roosebeck is a family of handcrafted acoustic instruments rooted in the histories and traditions of world music. Celtic harps, mountain dulcimers, Renaissance lutes, bodhrans, balalaikas, ukuleles. Every instrument we make is built by skilled artisans using solid tonewoods and traditional construction methods.
Our story goes back over fifty years, and it started in a living room.
How It All Began
In 1973, Steven Kundrat began manufacturing zills (small finger cymbals used in belly dance) for his wife Alice and her dance students. He made them at home, with his family, in their living room in Ohio. That modest one-family operation became Mid-East Manufacturing.
As enthusiasm for cultural instruments grew, Steve built international connections in India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt, steadily expanding the catalog from finger cymbals into a diverse world of acoustic instruments. By the 1980s, the business had moved to Melbourne, Florida and opened a storefront downtown. When even that wasn't enough, a dedicated warehouse was built in 1991 to keep up with demand.
This was long before the internet made global commerce easy. Growing Mid-East meant years of hard work, traveling to fairs and trade shows, building relationships one handshake at a time. As the team grew beyond family, Steve made sure everyone shared the same passion and dedication. That commitment created a tight-knit culture that still defines the company today.
In 1999, Steve's son Greg took the helm and has led the company ever since, continuing to grow the catalog, developing new brands, and expanding the mission to make world music accessible to everyone.
From Mid-East to Roosebeck
In 2010, Greg launched Roosebeck as the company's flagship line of fine acoustic instruments. The Roosebeck collection brings together instruments spanning dozens of world music traditions, from Appalachian dulcimers and Celtic harps to Renaissance lutes and Russian balalaikas, all built to a standard of craftsmanship that working musicians can rely on.
Today the company operates from Palm Bay, Florida, near the Indian River, where the team continues to design, import, and support every instrument that carries the Roosebeck name.
How Our Instruments Are Made
Every Roosebeck instrument is handcrafted in a multi-generational, family-run workshop that we've partnered with since the 1980s. Skilled artisans shape solid sheesham, walnut, spruce, lacewood, and other carefully selected tonewoods using traditional woodworking techniques passed down through generations.
This isn't factory assembly. Our harp frames are carved by hand. Our lute bowls are built stave by stave. Our bodhran shells are turned from solid timber. The result is an instrument with character you can see in the wood grain and hear in every note: warm, resonant, and unmistakably handmade.
What We Believe
We believe playing music should be accessible to everyone. Whether you're picking up a mountain dulcimer for the first time or adding a cross-strung harp to your performance setup, you deserve an instrument that's honestly built, sounds beautiful, and respects the tradition it comes from.
That's what this family has been about since 1973, and it's what we'll keep building toward.
Based in Palm Bay, Florida. Handcrafted with care. Made for musicians.
Roosebeck is a brand of EnSoul Music Designs, Inc. (formerly Mid-East Manufacturing).