The story
Founded by bassist Dan Lakin and luthier Hugh McFarland in 1994, the company's name, pronounced "lake-land", is a portmanteau of "Lakin" and "McFarland", the surnames of its founders.
Lakin and McFarland began developing the first Lakland prototype in January 1994 and showed it later that year at the July 1994 NAMM Show.
The pair launched Lakland in 1994 with a $20,000 home equity loan and Lakland basses went into production in the United States in 1995. In 1996, the company became a unit of A. Lakin & Sons, Inc., a tire recycling company founded by Lakin's grandfather Abraham Lakin in 1919.
McFarland left Lakland in 1997. In 2001, Lakland introduced the Skyline Series, a lower-priced alternative to its U.S.-made basses. Manufactured in South Korea, the Skyline Series helped the company break even for the first time in 2003. Production of Skyline Series basses was moved to Indonesia in 2008.
In April 2010 the company was acquired by Chicago-based Hanson Musical Instruments. Hanson, a maker of electric guitars and electric guitar and bass pickups and electronics, had been Lakland's primary supplier of bass pickups and preamp products since 2005. Lakland was renamed Lakland Guitars LLC and while the Lakland brand name remains, signature model names—such as the Bob Glaub, Duck Dunn and Joe Osborn basses—were given numeric designations. Lakland executive John Pirruccello was named president.
Owners of Lakland basses and others interested in the Lakland company and its products formed The Lakland Owners Group. It is not affiliated with Lakland Guitars, LLC.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lakland, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3