When did LP move production overseas?

[DanielDickens]

Hi,
I've got an LP Matador bongo set that is hand dated 9-10-93. Does this mean it was made in the United States? When did LP move production overseas?

[Anonimo]

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[Mike]

DanielDickens
Some one put date on the drums LP has been making products overseas since late 60's specially Matador. LP never put date on drum they manufacture.

WRONG! All of LP´s quality congas have got the date of the shell production written inside.

[bongosnotbombs]

Matador's have been made in Thailand since Cosmic Percussion made them. I just had a set of CP Matadors that were labeled made in Thailand.

[Anonimo]

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[pavloconga]

All 4 of my LP Palladiums has the date written inside of the drum at the bottom

[Mike]

As I said, the shells of Matador to Giovanni congas have got the date. Leedy maybe right though that the congas manufactured in the US do not have the date written inside: I still have some Garfield congas that are the 20th anniversary model, thus from 1984, and they do not have the date written inside.

Well, back to the original question: LP moved their production overseas pretty early. It´s a story of globalization...

Martin Cohen´s story
Moving to a modest house in Maywood, N.J. in 1963, the Cohens launched their cottage industry while Martin was still working as an engineer. "There were bongo shells drying all over the backyard all summer," Marilyn remembers. They risked it full-time starting in 1965.
While he desperately wanted to make congas, he lacked the money to buy the wood-working equipment to produce the shells. In a moment of inspiration, he began experimenting with a fiberglass conga shell and in 1968 unveiled his first fiberglass conga. Building a fiberglass conga required a smaller capital investment than a wooden one, and fiberglass was also easier to finish.

By 1969 they were big enough to open a small factory in nearby Palisades Park.

Around 1980 LP expanded again and had three plants in the Meadowlands vicinity of Garfield, New Jersey.

In the late '70s, as woodworking and metal fabrication and plating facilities began to close in the U.S., LP was faced with a tough dilemma: Raise prices dramatically, reduce quality, or find other sources of supply. In 1983 a conga and bongo manufacturing facility was established in Thailand.

Since the 1990s, to support its overseas manufacturing effort, LP has maintained its own research and development group in New Jersey. A staff of machinists and engineers are capable of executing highly complex products, from the initial concept to final tooling. The precise tooling, produced in New Jersey, is critical to maintaining quality at the plant in Thailand.

In October 2002, Kaman Music Corporation purchases Latin Percussion. Last but not least: Fender acquires LP through Kaman 2007.

Sources see here:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3289&p=44043&hilit=martin+cohen+production+thailand#p44043

[Anonimo]

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[Mike]

Mike
I ask someone here at LP they mark all out going of US for inventory tracking US, since it based here it they have a different type of inventory track system in US. Dates inside are the dates ship to destinations of distributors , not manufacture dates.

Aha, interesting, thanks for that info! That would mean the shells are all made in the US?
Weird, importing the "Thai oak" to the US first and then sending them to distributors after assembling them.
But I guess that is the way it works.

[Anonimo]

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[vxla]

So leedy, are you saying that the date inside my drums does or does not exist? It certainly looks like it exists, and I'm certainly in the US.

[Anonimo]

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