Starfish
Starfish Designs is a small workshop run by Mike Anderson, Gay Anderson and David Shepton on the shores of Loch Leven in the Highlands of Scotland.
Starfish makes electric bowed instruments (violins, violas, cellos and basses), as well as celtic harps. Their instruments have a unique design, looking a bit like a skeleton.
Starfish instruments are fitted with a homemade and handmade pickup. The electronic components are fitted by Ashworth in England. The Starfish pickup / bridge is designed to capture the horizontal vibrations, where all the rich complexities of sound occur on a bowed string. A series of specially damped chambers within the bridge impart an acoustic type sound to the amplification, resulting in a highly natural sound which requires almost no special treatment.
4, 5 and 6 string 'Stingray' violins and violas and the 4-string 'Octopus' bass violin are produced, as well as other electric bowed instruments.