Lakland's Road To Profit

By Sara Farr
Music Inc. Magazine
November 2004

Sometimes, going overboard is a good thing.

"We make an over-engineered bass," said Dan Lakin, owner and founder of Chicago-based Lakland Basses. "We've got everything we could think of to make it strong and rigid - straight grain wood and five bolts that hold the neck in. But the magic is the fret job."

Don't take his word for it. In the company's decade-long run, Lakin has accrued several high-profile musicians as supporters, including U2's
Adam Clayton, The Rolling Stones' Darryl Jones and Prince.

"Design is often over-looked," Lakin said. "Our frets allow the action to get down as low as you want without buzzing. Our necks are designed by bass players and there's a real difference. Sometimes you get a bass and you wonder who designed it since it obviously wasn't someone who plays."

A player himself since 1976, Lakin sold used instruments as a hobby while working at his father's tire recycling business on the north side of Chicago. Through the instrument business, Lakin met bass repair technician Hugh McFarland, who developed what would become Lakland's signature fretwork. In 1994, the two launched the company with a $20,000 home equity loan.

Lakin capitalized on his experience selling used instruments and pored over the product reviews in Bass Player magazine for ideas. Ultimately, he wanted an instrument that offered the best of old and new.

"We wanted to retain that quality fret job, but we wanted to offer the player some of the other features they liked right out of the box," Lakin said. "We were looking for the feel of an old Fender Precision bass but with modern electronics."

Lakland wasn't successful overnight. To turn a profit, it would take 10 years, generous family financial support (Lakland was absorbed as a unit of the tire recycler in 1996), a lawsuit (Lakland's initial headstock design was considered too close to Fender's, a situation Lakin quickly settled) and, eventually, private investors who bought the company in 2001. Meanwhile, the buzz surrounding Lakland grew, and Lakin learned from his mistakes.

The company's now sitting in a prettier position. According to Lakin, the business will post $1.3 million in sales this year, putting it in the black for the first time.

The Outsourcing Advantage
Much of the reason for the turnaround can be credited to Lakin's decision to outsource some of the work on the instruments.

For the US models, instead of creating every bass from scratch, Lakin began outsourcing certain fabrication work, including the cutting of the body, carving of the neck and paint job. The in-house production facility retained control over the final sanding, placement and leveling of the fingerboard, fret job, installation of all electronics and final assembly.

The result was more efficient and standardized output that didn't sacrifice the quality of Lakland's signature fret job and electronics. But for Lakin, it wasn't enough.

"We had developed a certain pickup configuration - the Music Man pickup in the bridge position and the J pickup in the neck position - and other companies started coming out with lower-end models with that same configuration, " he said. "They were capitalizing on what we had done in the low end, and people could afford those basses but not ours."

So, Lakin launched a midrange-priced bass line. "It was risky because when you have a brand name that's already strong, you don't want to take the chance of wrecking that," he said.

Developed with the help of importer-exporter Westheimer Corp., the midrange Skyline Series is constructed using North American wood and features the same design as the US basses, but is assembled overseas. Once the instrument arrives in Chicago, the company's eight builders work to install its electronics and make sure the frets are leveled within specification of Lakland's US models.

"We say on the back of the headstock that the Skyline basses are 'Crafted overseas, but designed in Chicago,'" Lakin said. "A lot of work goes into those Skylines, anywhere from one to six hours once it arrives in Chicago. The final product came out better than I ever thought it would. Now we can order as many as we need to."

Skylines range in price from the $950 standard four-string model to the $1,799 deluxe five-sring model, while the US models - marketed toward working professionals and serious hobbyists - start at the $3,100 Bob Glaub Signature bass and go to the $4,200 Hollowbody Deluxe.

Aiming For The Top Spot
Lakin says the company now retails 16 models and is developing a 10th anniversary model, The Decade, currently in prototypes. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Lakland will also host a concert featuring several artists endorsers, including Donald Duck Dunn and Signature artists Darryl Jones and Bob Glaub.

But even with the company turning a profit, Lakin still isn't satisfied.

"We need to increase our distribution and keep going the way we're going," he said. "We need to be No. 1 now. I know that's a lofty goal, but that's where we want to go."