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| Possibly the most common Globe instrument I see 1929 advertisement for the Banjo Ukulele Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
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| 1929 Advertisement Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
For further information on ukuleles, please consult Lardy's Ukulele Database. It will be worth your while
Company History
The Globe Music Company was a manufacturer of affordable instruments from Chicago. They are not very well known and I suspect many of their instruments are attributed to more familiar manufacturers like Kay or Harmony. Yet Globe was a large enough operation to attend meetings of musical instrument dealers and manufacturers along with big players such as Grover, Harmony, Jackson-Guldan, Vega, Waverly, Regal, etc [3]. They are most known for their ukuleles, especially their banjo ukulele with that wacky headstock (pictured above), but they did produce mandolins and guitars.
Their instruments were finished in Pyralin which is based on nitrocellulose [6]. Many of them also had celluloid nuts.
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| 1930 Advertisement for stenciled guitars (Model 520 is pictured) Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
- 1908 - The factory was located at 162 E. Superior St with 36 employees, all adult males [2]
- 1914 - The factory was located at 217 W. Superior St with 23 employees [1]
- 1915 - The factory moves from Chicago (where it had been for 25 years) to St. Charles [7]
- 1918 - Globe is incorporated in St. Charles with a capitalization of $25,000 [8]
- 1919 - Globe is in the process of constructing a building in St. Charles, Illinois [12]
- 1923 - An addition is built onto the factory which doubles the floor space [9]
- 1926 - Banjo ukuleles are introduced (including the octagonal banjo uke) [5]
- 1930 - Harmony, Regal, and Globe banded together to 'stimulate the sale of ukuleles' with the creation of a "vacation special" ukulele retailing at $2.98
- 1931 - The factory's was located at 103 N 11th St in St Charles, Illinois [11]
- 1932 - A fire damaged the factory but the loss of property was deemed "not great" [4]
- 1934 - The Operadio loudspeaker company and Globe seem to move out into each other's factories [10]
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| 1930 Advertisement for the "vacation ukes" Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
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| 1928 Advertisement for the Florence Tenor guitar Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
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| 1926 Advertisement for their La Pacific line of instruments Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
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| 1926 Advertisement for the Octagon Banjo Ukuleles Image Credit: Music Trade Review |
Sources
[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=Gm1KAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA595&dq=%22globe+music+co%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD3Nb2sfHuAhWbXc0KHZHdDyoQ6AEwB3oECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=%22globe%20music%22&f=false
[2] https://books.google.com/books?id=wPVZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA473&dq=%22globe+music+co%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXgaW0s_HuAhUQXM0KHeFNC9I4ChDoATACegQIAxAC#v=onepage&q=%22globe%20music%20co%22&f=false
[3] https://presto.arcade-museum.com/PRESTO-1930-2248/03/
[4] https://presto.arcade-museum.com/PRESTO-1932-2265/11/
[5] https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1926-83-12/41/
[6] https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1929-88-29/97/
[7] https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1915-60-18/35/
[8] https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1918-67-1/07/
[9] https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1923-76-18/26/
[10] https://presto.arcade-museum.com/PRESTO-1934-2274/12/
[11] https://presto.arcade-museum.com/PRESTO-1931-2258/07/
[12] https://books.google.com/books?id=lptQAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA19-PA22&dq=%22globe+music+co%22+st+charles+illinois&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi18pX1uPHuAhWCAZ0JHeDWC1YQ6AEwAnoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=%22globe%20music%20co%22%20st%20charles%20illinois&f=false
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