Chicago Musical Instruments Co. (CMI) was a musical instrument distributor, which at times had controlling interests in

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

Guitars (1944 to 1969),

Standel The Standel Company is an American company that makes guitar amplifiers. It was founded in 1953 by Robert "Bob" Crooks in Temple City, California. Standel (a portmanteau of ''standard'' and ''electronics'') was the name of Crooks' side-business ...

, Lowrey, F. E. Olds (brass instruments), William Lewis & Son Co. (stringed instruments), Krauth & Beninghoften, L.D. Heater Music Company,

Epiphone Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...

Guitars, Selmer UK, and other musical instrument brands.

History

CMI was established in 1920 by Maurice H. Berlin, founder and president. In 1944, CMI took over controlling interests and marketing of the

Guitar Company, then known as Gibson Inc. CMI expanded Gibson's Kalamazoo, MI, plant at 225 Parsons Street by 15,000 square feet in 1945, and changed the logo on Gibson headstocks in 1947. In 1949 CMI appointed as president of Gibson

Ted McCarty Theodore McCarty (October 10, 1909 – April 1, 2001) was an American businessman who worked with the Wurlitzer Company and the Gibson Guitar Corporation. In 1966, he and Gibson Vice President John Huis bought the Bigsby Electric Guitar Company. At ...

, who would lead Gibson until 1966, overseeing many classic Gibson guitar designs, such as the

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

, the

ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...

, the SG, and others. CMI acquired F. E. Olds and Son brass instruments shortly after World War II. CMI acquired

Guitars, a former competitor of Gibson's, in 1957. The Epiphone name brand came to be used largely for marketing budget versions of classic Gibson designs, originally made in the Kalamazoo plant but since the 1970s in Asia. In 1969, ECL, a South American beer and cement company, acquired a majority of CMI shares, and the two companies merged in July of that year. The new company was renamed Norlin Corp (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsHarvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

)

History

See also

References

Further reading