For over twenty five years, accomplished luthiers Eric Aceto and Dan Hoffman have been exploring the boundaries of the design and construction of amplified bowed instruments. From the very beginning of their partnership, they have focused on developing an amplified instrument which retains and projects all the subtlety and nuance of the finest acoustic instrument. Their expert craftsmanship and passion for placing the violin, viola ,cello and guitar in settings where amplification is desired or necessary, have lead them to producing a new breed of instruments of unrivaled performance and exceptional beauty.
Utilizing age old techniques of bent sides, linings and carefully graduated tops and backs, their instruments differ from the traditional violin family in that the f-hole, bass bar and sound post; essential elements of volume and projection of the acoustic bowed instrument, have been eliminated. Their designs focus instead on tone production through the use of voiced tone bars, air chamber tuning, and a specially designed bi-polar piezoelectric pickup. The result is a unified, natural and open sound with great clarity and evenness of tone across the entire range of the instrument. Consequently, these instruments may be thought of as neither acoustic instruments with pickups, nor electric instruments with some acoustic qualities, but instead an entirely new vehicle for musical expression. In the research for a pickup system which would complement `nd faithfully reproduce the depth of tone a quality instrument is able to produce, they were lead to the invention of their own proprietary pickup system. Twin sensing elements are strategically placed within the bridge to optimize the string-to-body resonance. What has come to be known as the Aceto/Violect Pickup System® is now considered by many to be a major step forward in violin amplification.
ISI also produces a complete line of fretted musical instruments, incorporating the same design philosophy and principles which have driven the creation of their bowed instruments. Their workshop is located in the rolling green farmlands of the Finger Lakes District in upstate New York. They derive their inspiration from music of the world, from musicians of every description, and from the great luthiers both past and present. It is their hope that their creations will help enable today's musicians to find a deeper and more complete personal expression. ISI instruments are currently in use worldwide by such artists as; Laurie Anderson, Darol Anger, Jerry Goodman, Tommy Malone, Irene Sazer, and David Torn, among others.