What happened to Yamaha?

Re: What happened to Yamaha?

John_L said:
This sort of follows on from the PRS thread. But back in the early 80's Yamaha were the number three quality guitar maker with the SG and so on. Before starting his factory PRS attempted to do a deal with them but didn't get the money he wanted (I bet he's glad he didn't now) and by 87 Yamaha had an odd shaped guitar and a couple of Ibanezalikes as their top of the line guitars. They attempted to get back in on the game with the PRS challenging MSG designed by Martyn Booth but never supported it. Now although Yamaha are king of the starter guitars and have reissued the old SG they have a tiny market share and nothing like the respect they had in the early 80's.
What is more puzzling is that they have just given up on guitars really, Brass instruments, Woodwind, Pianos etc… they are highly respected for their top quality instruments. But nothing in their guitar range comes close. It's odd.
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These are all pretty damn good. The SA2200 is a personal fav of mine

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musi...es/el-guitars/hollow_body_series/?mode=series
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

I should ask my good friend John to come on here and post. He has been with Yammy since 1980. He has gotten me guitars and amps. He is still energized about his company.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

Well, unlike Gibson, or Fender, Yamaha is into everything, motorcycles, snowmobiles, jet ski, chainsaws, pianos, musical instuments, and a ton of other things.
Someone there probably figured out that the guitar market was a very small percentage of the company income, and a very small slice of the guitar market, so, they have concentrated on the higher ticket items, and a greater profit margin- all about the overall company bottom line.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

Well, they're still in the game, they just save the full-line guitars for the Japanese home market. Much like marvar stated, they're only gonna export the stuff that sells.

Think about it... you can set up a full backline with nothing but Yamaha-brand products. Guitars (acoustic and electric), basses, drums, acoustic piano, keyboards, PA (mixer, amp, speakers).
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

i wish they'd still make the SA2000 from back in the day - total 335 killer .. shouldve talked my uncle into selling me his :D

i wish they were more available in stores to play ... i wanted to try a mike stern sig tele clone forever but never came across one ... same with the frank gambale sig model they did .. iirc, both of these came stock with Duncans .. i know the stern had a 59 in the neck not sure what it had in the bridge ... the gambale had JB in the bridge and hot rails in the neck and middle

they do make some amazing basses too but one rarely sees em in stores

whenever you came across them, it wasnt hard to find quality in their line, for sure ...

t4d
 
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Re: What happened to Yamaha?

Yamaha still makes great classical guitars and steel string acoustics. But it's a bummer they still don't make a high-end Pacifica. Loved that model! Also have always wanted a higher-end SG series, but those things are pricey!
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

Yamaha does make THIS which has always caught my attention..

wes.jpg
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

As we all know, aceman is synonymous with Les Paul type guitars. However...

I had a Yamaha Pacifica 712 that i got in a pawn shop for $150. I replaced the bridge bucker with a DiMarzio PAF Pro, and it had two obviously DiMarzio stacked silent single coils. In addition, there was a Wilkinson Bridge and Spertzel locking tuners. It had perhaps THE best feeling/playing neck I have ever experienced.

It hung in a Sam Ash for a couple of YEARS. Tragedy. It was a phenominal guiatr tonally, feel-wise, and you could Van Halen up with that trem and it stayed in tune. 80's whammy metal to Floyd and SRV - it had the tone feel and playability.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

Yamaha had decent Gibson clones in the late 70' and early 80's with their SG-2000 series. The SG-2000 was a cross between a Les Paul and an SG. However it was closer to an Ibanez Artist than a LP or SG.

During the 70's - 80's Yamaha had a lot of horrible bolt-on electrics. The problem was their electronics couldn't be replaced with standard single coils or humbuckers. Also their hardware was completely proprietary and couldn't be upgraded or replaced. Also these guitars cost more than the mass produced, off the shelf component guitars. Don't get me wrong the guitars were well built and incerdibly durable, but they had a neck profile which was completely uncomfortable. Their necks were like baseball bats with either a traingular or rounded ridge down the middle for the trusrod. I always despised that neck profile!

After Ibanez rose to market prominence and displaced Kramer with its RG series, the same design staff went to work for Yamaha and that's where you get the Pacifica series and later RGX-RGZ series from Yamaha. The problem with Yamaha during the 90's is they drastically cut the quality of their materials and manufacturing processes in order to make a larger profit margin. Even their artist models had plywood bodies and photo flame tops. Don't believe me? Take a look at anything with a woodgrain from Yamaha during the 90's! The problem was the price of these artist models wasn't much different than something with a real wood cap. If Yamaha would have kept the same materials and standards as their earlier Pacifica's, they would have given Ibanez a serious run for their money. Instead they decided to cede the electric guitar field to Ibanez and pursue other instrument markets.

What's the lesson? Don't compromise and don't shift focus. Yamaha survived losing the electic guitar battle to Ibanez, because they were diversified. Kramer died because they didn't have anything else other than electric guitars. Yamaha just decided to play a different game, because they could! Hooray for bean counters! Too bad for guitarists! :-(
 
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Re: What happened to Yamaha?

Yamaha have given up on quality guitars? What a load of bollocks. Play an Aex 1500 or a TVL and see if you still have the same opinion.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

gibson175 said:
Yamaha have given up on quality guitars? What a load of bollocks.
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Should a manufacturer be judged by one current model from their line? Or should they be judged by sum of their current line? If you look at the sum of Yamaha's electric guitar line, it's pretty poor.

What I don't like about Yamaha's current line is there are starters, which are overpriced and there are serious instruments, which are underpriced. The starters are far too available and the serious instruments are hard to find.
 
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Re: What happened to Yamaha?

I let my Yamaha SG2000 slip through my finger in the late 90's and regret it immensely…almost as much as the 68 SG that I old in the late 70's…will I ever learn?
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

d1dsj said:
That's the same colour as the one I had but mine was a hardtail. :fing2:
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The vibrato bridge of my YSG vibrato has been "upgraded" using a Tremol-No gadget. :D

I also revised the control wiring and fitted D*M***** EVO2 and Al DiMeola signature HBs. Through valve amplification, the guitar makes noises ranging from smooth Fusion to scratchy John McGeoch (Magazine, Banshees).
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

I'm quite happy for people to diss Yamaha until I've manage to purchase a SG 1000 at a really great price!! ;)
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

1421xl1.jpg


wedbb6.jpg


To me, this was the highlight years of Yamaha.

I so wanted both of those guitars.
I would drool over them in the music store.

I still have that catalog.

I wish Yamaha would bring them back.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

I really wish they would reissue the SG series in North America. I'm pretty sure they have a bunch of models in Japan, here though we only get the one with the $3000 price tag. I've played a couple of the 80's ones and they are nice. Good pickups, nice hardware, coil splitting, and a beautiful fast neck. They really were improved les pauls in my opinion, all the tone without the limited neck access.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

kherman said:
1421xl1.jpg


wedbb6.jpg


To me, this was the highlight years of Yamaha.

I so wanted both of those guitars.
I would drool over them in the music store.

I still have that catalog.

I wish Yamaha would bring them back.
Click to expand...

I would rock both of those guitars.
 
Re: What happened to Yamaha?

HELLO!

Man that 1412 looks great (both in appearance as well as spec-wise).
Yep, that's one Yamy I wouldn't mind getting my paws on...
 
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