The Yamaha Corporation

The Yamaha Corporation manufactures a diverse range of goods from musical instruments through to electronics related goods, motor bikes and cars, it started life as a Japanese manufacturer of piano and reed organs in 1890 and back then was known as The Nippon Gakki Company Ltd. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected in the logo - a series of interlocked tuning forks

Yamaha has grown steadily over the past century and is now the world's biggest manufacturer of musical instruments including the following range:

• Pianos
• Drums
• Guitars
• Woodwind
• Violins
• Violas
• Cellos
• Vibraphones

On the 100th anniversary the company was re-named to today's title - The Yamaha Corporation.

Yamaha Differentiators

Over the past 40 years Yamaha have given the music retail industry a wealth of exciting an innovative products, perhaps the first of these was the Yamaha SG2000 electric guitar which made its debut in 1976 and can best be described as a kind of double cut-away Les Paul type electric guitar with a thick Mahogany body. The other Yamaha technical revelation of this era was the Yamaha CP70 Electric Grand Piano - the first electric grand of its type in the days prior to sampling.

In the early 1980's Yamaha started the digital synthesizer revolution with the release of the DX7M electronic keyboard that used their patented FM synthesis technology and its typical percussive electric piano sound was subsequently used on a host of hit records in the UK and US throughout the eighties

In the 1990's Yamaha released yet more high tech keyboards, synths and drum machines and started the genre that has subsequently become known as Home Keyboards - this is basically an entry-level type keyboard -usually with a hard plastic outer casing, plastic keys and a number of pre-set sounds, pre-set rhythms and a set of integral speakers. It was also during the 90's that Yamaha started to get an impressive reputation for their Acoustic Grand Pianos as artists such as Elton John and Billy Joel endorsed the brand.

Yamaha Today

Today Yamaha is as popular as it has always been, recent products such as the Yamaha Motif keyboard workstation range along with the MM6 and MM8 synthesizers continue to keep Yamaha at the forefront of music technology. Other keyboards such as their CP300 stage piano series and PSR Portable keyboard collection also mean there's a keyboard available from Yamaha for almost
any budget.

Guitar-wise Yamaha electro-acoustics have become very popular within
the last 10 years particularly the APX and CPX ranges whilst the
Yamaha Silent Guitar range continues to impress on a world-wide
basis. One thing is for sure, Yamaha will undoubtedly continue to
amaze us with new and innovative products for years to come.