LIBERTY
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CO:
Chicago,
IL company founded in 1926 from the joining of two Boston firms--NOKES
& NICOLAI, and JOSEPH PACHECO with the Liberty Rawhide Company-a
major Chicago supplier of banjo and drum heads from 1920. Contemporary
articles state that Liberty had purchased the "stock and
good will" of the other two companies, and moved the stock
in trade and equipment to new quarters in Chicago; each man
was to have responsibility for his own end of the business,
while John W. Placko, president of Liberty, was to supervise
the manufacture of the drum and banjos heads. Within a year
the new company had failed and was sold at auction, in August,
1927; since the factory and most of the machinery were new,
there was great competition for the assets, which were finally
purchased by Slingerland.
MAY
8, 1926 The Music Trade Review source
New
Liberty Musical Instrument Co, Merges Several Weil-Known Companies
New
Concern Offshoot of Liberty Rawhide Co., and Includes Nokes
& Nicolai, Boston Drum and Banjo Makers, and Joseph Pancheco,
Stringed Instrument Maker
CHICAGO,
ILL., May 1.—The recent incorporation of the Liberty Musical
Instrument Co., of this city, 1431-35 West Austin avenue, merges
several well-known companies for the purpose of manufacturing
a complete line of stringed instruments, drums and drum and
banjo heads. This new company is an offshoot of the Liberty
Rawhide Mfg Co., well known manufacturer of drum and banjo heads;
Nokes & Nicolai, drum and banjo manufacturers, of Boston,
and Joseph Pancheco, manufacturer of stringed instruments, of
Maiden, Mass.
The
machinery and equipment of the Eastern concerns are being shipped
to the new factory of the Liberty Musical Instrument Co., which
has been added to the old plant of the Liberty Rawhide Mfg.
Co. at 1435 West Austin avenue and which is nearing completion.
This new factory has been under construction for the past six
months and has been built in accordance with the most modern
plans for the manufacture of the various instruments that the
company will offer to the trade. It is two stories high, has
a sixty-foot frontage and has been so constructed to build additional
units from time to time as the business demands.
The
plant formerly known as the Liberty Rawhide Mfg. Co. will continue
to be used to manufacture the various brands of heads, while
the new plant will be divided into sections for the manufacture
of stringed instruments and drums. In addition to the present
machinery and equipment of the consolidated companies, new machines
and improvements are being added to give the company large production
facilities, while the personnel of the new company will include
the heads of the various companies that have merged into the
Liberty Musical Instrument Co.
John
W. Placko, formerly president of the Liberty Rawhide Mfg. Co.,
will be president of the new incorporation. Mr. Placko is well
known to the trade and has had a wide experience as a manufacturer
of drum, banjo and ukulele heads. Under.his direction the Liberty
Rawhide Mfg. Co., which he organized about five years ago, has
had a rapid growth, culminating in this latest consolidation.
S. E. Kostelny, who has been associated with the Liberty Rawhide
Mfg. Co. since its inception, will continue as assistant to
Mr. Placko and will now take active charge of the drumhead manufacturing
department of the new company.
Mr.
Kostelny is well qualified for this position, as he entered
the business as an apprentice when a young boy. His close association
with Mr. Placko has given him the wide experience and knowledge
of the drum-head business. E. J. Nokes, formerly of the firm
of Nokes & Nicolai, of Boston, will act as superintendent
of the drum factory. Mr. Nokes has had wide experience in this
particular branch of the business, and as head of the Boston
concern has conducted a drum factory for the past eighteen years.
J. Pancheco, who has been in the musical instrument business
for the past fifteen years, originally learning the business
in his father's factory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and who has
also conducted a banjo plant in Maiden, Mass., for a number
of years, will have charge of the stringed instrument department,
which will manufacture a complete line of stringed instruments,
including banjos, ukuleles, guitars and mandolins.
The
officers of the company state that the factory will be completed
about June 1 and that production will be well under way by August
1. In the meantime samples of the various instruments have been
made up in the Eastern plants before the machinery was taken
down for shipment to Chicago. There will be several new styles
added to the banjo line, it is announced, which will embrace
a number of original improvements, and will be introduced early
in the Fall.
OCTOBER
23, 1926 The Music Trade Review
Liberty
Co. New Plant Now at Full Production
New
Addition Gives Company 20,000 Square Feet of Additional Manufacturing
Space
CHICAGO,
III., October 16.—The new factory of the Liberty
Musical Instrument Co., 1431-35 West Austin avenue, is now operating
on a full production schedule in all departments to meet the
demand for Liberty instruments. The new addition to the old
plant, which was started the latter part of last year and recently
completed, adds fifty feet to the front orders received for
all lines," said Mr. Placko. "Although the departments
are working to capacity we are not able to supply the present
demand.
I
am now planning a trip throughout the West and will introduce
the catalog to the Western trade and from present indications
we expect an unprecedented demand for Liberty products."
of the building, giving a total frontage of ninety by 115 feet.
The building is two stories high and has a total floor space
of 20,000 square feet. The new building not only provides additional
space for the manufacture of drum, banjo and ukulele heads,
of which the company is a well-known manufacturer, but departments
have been installed for the manufacture of banjos, banjo-ukes,
guitars, drums and accessories. Modern equipment and facilities
provide an unusually large production of all instruments.
John
W. Placko, president and founder of the company, returned recently
from a successful Eastern trip. He planned to visit the Western
trade on his initial trip in covering the United States, but
changed his plans and made an Eastern trip first. "That
the trade was impressed with the first samples of Liberty instruments
is emphasized in the number of orders received for all lines,"
said Mr. Placko. "Although the departments are working
to capacity we are not able to supply the present demand. I
am now planning a trip throughout the West and will introduce
the catalog to the Western trade and from present indications
we expect an unprecedented demand for Liberty products."
