Lado Guitars
Lado Musical Inc. is the official company name of what is otherwise known as Lado Guitars or J.K. Lado & Co. (as seen on early-model headstocks), owned and operated by Joe Kovacic - more commonly known as Joe Lado - in Ontario, Canada.
Joe Kovacic and the Lado story
Joseph Kovacic was born in Croatia in 1945. After serving in the Yugoslav People's Army, he began training as a luthier at the Zagreb School of Guitar Making in Zagreb, Croatia, followed by two years additional training at Crossman Guitar Works in Vienna, Austria.
Joe immigrated to Canada from Croatia in 1968 and began working for Turner Musical Instruments, a division of Gibson Guitars for two years, followed by a job with Hagström Guitars as an inspector for one year.
In 1971, having reached a workable level of English, Joe began his own business called Joe's Strings from a basement shop on Gerrard Street, in Toronto, ON
In 1973, he formed Lado Musical Inc. and opened a retail shop on Kingston Road, in Toronto. In addition to building Lado Guitars, Lado had an exclusive repair contract with C.F. Martin Guitars for all of Canada.
