Mid-East History

Mid-East Mfg., Inc., is one of the largest suppliers of ethnic musical instruments. Mid-East has been family owned and operated since 1973. At that time Steve, Alice, and their four sons lived in Ohio. The inception of Mid-East occurred because of Alice. Belly dancing was the rage in the 70's and Alice was a teacher. One of Alice's tasks as a teacher was to find the most reasonably priced materials for her students. Enter Steve! At that time Steve worked as a stockbroker. He dealt with financial numbers all day. When Steve found out what the zills (finger cymbals) were costing he said "I could make them better and for less." And he did. After supplying Alice's students, they began to manufacture and supply zills to a number of dance studios. It wasn't long before their living room was turned into a makeshift factory. All four boys helped to count, clean, and bag zills. Within a few years Steve quit his job. The family was in business. Customers began to show interest in a number of other instruments, and as they did, Mid-East began to manufacture and import harps, bagpipes, drums, sitars, etc.

Today, the company is housed in an 18,000 square foot warehouse in West Melbourne, Florida. Musicians, worldwide, play their instruments, and they are committed to developing new items to meet customer needs.

Mid-East does not use any raw or untreated materials. All natural skins, (i.e. drum heads), are processed, which removes any potential problems. The colors of their ceramic doumbeks are limited due to the materials required to make certain colors. They do not use dangerous elements in our glazes, which is why they do not make red or yellow glazes. Their standards and procedures have been in place for many years, and are constantly reviewed to ensure the health and safety of suppliers, employees, and customers.