Pecknel Music: A beat that goes on for 65 years
Winston Churchill once said, "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
The quote should be emblazoned on the walls of Pecknel Music. The musical scale of the company's 65-
year journey to becoming one of largest music stores in the South has more highs and lows than a
Mozart Opera.
The family-owned business has grappled with fast-changing retail trends, struggled with messy internal
issues and twice teetered on the brink of closure. Through five decades, Pecknel's culture of dogged
determination, unflagging customer service, gritty work ethic and commitment to music education have
helped the company endure the hard times and prosper during the good.
The company was founded in 1959 By George Peck. A native of Lewes, DE, Peck attended Maryville
University in St. Louis, Missouri where he played in the band.
While the nation was gripped by The Great Depression after he graduated, the number of high school and college bands were blossoming, particularly in the densely populated Northeast.
The entertainment offered a brief respite from the economic woes. The groups, too, were a source of community pride.
Peck saw an opportunity in the thriving market and joined Conn-Selmer, an Indiana-based manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands, marching bands and orchestras and moved back to Delaware.
Gregarious and affable, Peck was a natural salesman. He traveled throughout the region, helping bands to form and selling equipment.
Like major league baseball, most college and high school bands went by the wayside at the breakout of
World War II. Many musical instrument manufacturers converted their factories to support the war effort.
By 1945, though, Americans began to return to normal life. And, once again, bands began to
flourish. Peck turned to teaching in the years following the war and served as a band director in
Delaware and Richmond, Virginia before moving his family to Concord, North Carolina where he took a position as band director of Concord High School.
During his stint at Concord, Peck grew his contacts in the music industry. By the late 1950s, the
entrepreneurial spirit stirred once more.
"My grandfather talked to two of his suppliers and said he was thinking about opening a company to
expand music education," says Scott Peck, who served as President of Pecknel from 1987 to 2016. "They thought it was a great idea and said that Greenville was an open territory that had great growth
potential."
Joined by partners Robert Crainshaw and Jerry Nelson (the "nel" in the company name), the trio
founded Pecknel Music Company and opened shop on Washington Street in downtown Greenville in
1959. George's son, Nick Peck joined the fledgling business that year as a salesman. Success came easy in those early years. George Peck and his son, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, were hard-driving, friendly and began to grow a customer based in South Carolina.
Nick spent his first years with the company on the road, making stops at nearly every high school in
South Carolina where infant band programs were sprouting.
"Those were the early days before interstate highways," Nick Peck told the Greenville News in 2000. "A
drive from Greenville to Columbia meant stopping at a lot of little towns in between."
In 1961, while working a parent night in Hanahan, South Carolina, Nick Peck received a phone call from
his father. George told his son that he was sick with Leukemia and wanted him to move his family to
Greenville to manage the company. Nick packed up his white Dodge Wagon and made the move.
George Peck died the next year and Nick, then 29, succeeded him as president. Like his father, Nick was
a natural salesman and promoter. Peck had a booming, radio-like voice, a sharp memory for names and unbridled enthusiasm. And he continued to spend most of his time on the road, courting band directors,
developing deep friendships and, of course, making sales.
"In those days, that person-to-person contact was very important. It meant something. Business was
done on a man's word and his handshake," said Scott Peck. "A lot of that is lost today."
Expansion and Growth
The 1960s and 70s were boom years for Pecknel. The economy was generally good, and South Carolina
had a growing manufacturing base. Across the state, high school bands and orchestras were sprouting
by the hundreds. And the company rode a wave of raising sales.
In 1964, Peck shuttered the downtown Greenville store and purchased land on Greenville's fastest-
growing suburban fairway, Pleasantburg Drive, for a new headquarters. At the time, merchants in
downtown Greenville were shuttering their stores and moving to the suburbs. And Pleasantburg Drive
was the hot area. The city's first strip shopping center sprouted there in the early 1960s. Botany Woods,
an upscale subdivision, would soon follow. The new headquarters, just a hundred yards from the Lake
Forest Shopping Center and across the street from Bob Jones University, included a warehouse, small
auditorium, teaching and practice studios, a music library, offices and plenty of retail space.
In 1968, Pecknel opened a store in Columbia. Eleven years later, another was added in Charleston. In the
70s, the business, which had carved out a profitable market in selling sheet music and marching band
equipment, expanded operations by marketing orchestral equipment. Nick Peck was becoming a giant in
the industry and was elected president of NASM (National Association of School Merchant Dealers) and
president of NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants).
At the office, Peck had a demanding, disciplined presence.
"He used to say that there was no use for excuses," said Scott Peck, who began working at the company
as a high school student. "Whiners don't make it. You've got to buck up and get with the program. That's
the way it was. He was from a different generation. Everybody respected him, but some feared him."
Outside of the business, Nick Peck was a fixture in the community and a leading advocate for music
education. His company sponsored music lectures and series, funded music scholarships and founded a
program to introduce grade-school children to music. For many, Peck was best known as the voice of the
Clemson University Marching Band. For nearly 30 years, his booming voice introduced the band to
cheering fans at Death Valley. In a 1970s game, he adlibbed the phrase "the band that shakes the
Southland" during a halftime introduction. The phrase stuck and is still used today.
Scott Peck, Nick's son, joined the family business in 1982. A graduate of the University of South Carolina,
the younger Peck studied international business in college and went to work selling art and frames at a
popular art store in Columbia. As a college student, he began work in the Pecknel warehouse but
assumed managerial responsibilities at the Charleston store after leaving his job in Columbia.
Transition and change
The 1980s were a transitional, and sometimes difficult, period for Pecknel. Peck had constructed a company that was centered on personal relationships. But the coming computer age made those connections less important. Competitors crowded the market. So did competitive bidding. Pecknel's profit margins became tighter. And the company struggled with implementing a modern software to track sales and inventory.
By 1987, Peck, who had guided Pecknel for nearly 30 years and had bought out the company's original investors Robert Crainshaw and Jerry Nelson, wanted a quieter life and asked Scott to relocate from Charleston to take over as president and chairman. Scott worked under his father for one year and became president in 1988.
Expansion and Growth
Today, under the leadership of the third generation, we continue to uphold our commitment to music education, providing quality instruments and services to over 1700 schools in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina
Comprehensive Services for Musicians
At Pecknel Music, we offer a wide range of products and services to meet the diverse needs of our customers:
Instrument Rentals: From beginner to professional, we provide a vast selection of band, orchestra, and fretted instruments.
Music Lessons: Our experienced instructors offer lessons in guitar, piano, strings, and more, catering to all skill levels.
Instrument Repairs: Our skilled technicians specialize in repairing and maintaining instruments, ensuring they perform at their best.
Sound System Installations: We design and install professional audio systems for schools, churches, and other venues.​