Lakland

Lakland Musical Instruments, LLC, produces bass guitars. Lakland was founded by Dan Lakin and Hugh McFarland, and is based out of Chicago, Illinois. Lakland basses officially went into production in 1995. Lakland's success has been detailed in numerous publications including Forbes magazine and Music Inc, Magazine.

Prototype

The first Lakland prototype began creation in January 1994 and was first shown at the NAMM show in July 1994. The prototype was a blend of a Fender Jazz Bass and Music Man StingRay. It was made of ash with a quilted maple top and featured a 22-fret quartersawn rock maple neck (no graphite reinforcement) with a birdseye maple fingerboard. The headstock was altered after pressure from Fender to change it due to similarities. The prototype featured the now classic "dual-access" (strings-through-body/top-load) Lakland oval bridge plate but was made from aluminium which Hugh McFarland felt offered a better sound. This was later changed to chrome plated steel.

Lakland basses came with graphite-reinforced maple necks featuring rosewood, maple or ebony fingerboards, solid alder or ash bodies, active Bartolini humbucking pickups, 3-band active EQ, in 4 and 5-string versions, fretted and fretless. Some models are available with a pickguard and Seymour Duncan Basslines pickups.

Lakland also produces "signature" instruments for Jerry Scheff, Joe Osborn, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Darryl Jones and Bob Glaub. These instruments feature Lindy Fralin pickups, but are also available with "Dark Star" pickups (similar in design to the pickups used on Guild basses of the '60s and '70s), as well as the newly-created "Chi-Sonic" pickups, whose name came as the result of a contest staged by the company.

USA Series

Current US models include 4-94. 55-94, Decade, Bob Glaub, Joe Osborn, Jerry Scheff, Darryl Jones, Duck Dunn, and the Mike Tobias co-created Hollowbody.

Skyline Series

In 2001 Lakland introduced the Korean made Skyline Series. Developed with the help of importer-exporter Westheimer Corp., the midrange Skyline Series is constructed using North American wood and features the same overall design as the US basses (excluding the graphite reinforcement on the 4-string necks; all necks being half-sawn instead of quarter-sawn, and acrylic nuts instead of bone) but is assembled overseas. Once the instrument arrives in Chicago, the company's builders work to install its electronics and make sure the frets are leveled within specification of Lakland's US models. The Skyline 44-02 and 55-02 models originally contained the USA Bartolini MMJ pickups and NTMB preamp, the same system that was in the USA 4-94 and 55-94 basses. Currently all of those models (4-94, 55-94, 44-02, 55-02) contain the Lakland LH3 system. The Skyline 44-01 and 55-01 models contain the Korean Bartolini MK1 pickups and preamp. The Osborn,Scheff, and Jones signature models feature Lindy Fralin pickups, and Hipshot-licensed tuners.

Shoreline Series

The Lakland Shoreline Series is manufactured to Lakland USA specs by the Japanese guitar company ESP, and is available for sale there exclusively.

Artists

*"Evil" J. McGuire (Otep)
*Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters)
*Darryl Jenifer (Bad Brains)
*Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
*Juan Alderete
*Ben Kenney (Incubus)
*Charlotte Cooper
*Adam Clayton (U2)
*Johnny Drugan (Beneathme)
*Duck Dunn
*Tobin Esperance (Papa Roach)
*Lex Feltham
*Tim Foreman (Switchfoot)
*Bob Glaub
*Darryl Jones
*Rick Johnson (Mustard Plug, The Stitch Up, Bomb The Music Industry)
*Joe Osborn
*Tris "Duke" Carpenter
*Prince
*Jason Scheff
*Jerry Scheff
*Scott Shriner (Weezer)
*John Stirratt
*Paul Thomas (Good Charlotte)
*Skylark (The Doobie Brothers)
*Toshiya
*Robert DiBlanco
*Ryan Stasik
*Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave)
*Tim Luckow (Emily Elbert)
*Harry Shearer (as "Derek Smalls") (Spinal Tap)
*Miiko Watanabe (Gwen Stefani)

External links

* [http://www.lakland.com Lakland Website]
* [http://www.espguitars.co.jp/lakland/index.html Lakland at ESP Japan]
* [http://www.lakland-mexico.com Lakland Mexico]