Me: I need a trumpet, a xylophone, full drum kit, an electric guitar, a full PA system and a grand piano for my jazz show
Yamaha: I got you
Me: I also need a motorcycle to get there and a set of golf clubs for Sunday
Yamaha: I gotchu there too
Me: I want to play games until I get fat
Konami: yo, there you go
Me: damn, that was a bad idea, I need to go work out in a gym
Konami: I’m way ahead of you
Bally: What if we offered the same thing, but also with casinos and crappy sports channels?
I love how these logos often still reflect the initial small scale business, a Yamaha motorbike still features a trio of tuning forks for music. A Mitsubishi… anything… has the three propellor blades of a Zero fighter plane. I made that second one up but apparently it’s three Oak Leaves or Water Caltrops, a simple and enduring symbol.
I was going to point out the BMW Propeller but apparently it’s a myth from 1929 and now my day is ruined.
ITT: people who are surprised large manufacturers manufacture lots of things.
East-Asian megacorps are kind of on a different scale if you’re not used to it though
There’s a reason that popular Cyberpunk looked to Japan for inspiration when it comes to end stage capitalism in a digitally connected world.
The assumption was that these Japanese style megacorps would segregate and dominate the internet, in the way we’ve mostly seen tech-bro startups manage.
Honestly I prefer the cruel indifference of the Cyberpunk musings on megacorp dystopia than what we’ve got.
Hold up before you place the order! I need train carriages, a supercomputer, radiotherapy equipment, nuclear power plant, aircon, self propelled artillery and an escalator. Don’t ask me why.
Samsung though: phones, tanks, healthcare equipment
🇺🇸 : So they can autonomously democratize some of the oil trapped in the Middle East and then bring it back home, too? 🇺🇸
They are. That’s all we buy for TVs. Monitors are great too. Have super fancy ones at work. Not that I go to the office much, because that place sucks.
My Samsung fridge has been fantastic over the past 10 years but for one thing. The control panel is borked so I can’t actually change any settings lol. But as it stands, doing a solid job.
Me: I need a flute for my orchestra performance
Yamaha: No problem, here’s our 800W Series.
Me: You wouldn’t happen to know where I can
get a heavy 600 cc sport bike with the stop speed of 260km would
you?
Yamaha: You’re not gonna believe this
Yamaha often gets overlooked for instruments, I think a lot of this is that we don’t expect a company that makes jetskis and motorcycles to also know what they’re doing with guitars, saxophones, and pianos, but they actually make good quality stuff.
It’s more accurate to think of Yamaha as a conglomerate that owns several different companies. It’s just that a lot of those smaller companies are also named Yamaha
Fun fact, the Yamaha logo is an image of three tuning forks, laid atop each other.
I have a yamaha saxophone, it is one of their intermediate ranges (I forgot which one since I am living overseas). Sound quality is excellent. I play classical saxophone, and it produces this great warm tone (I have no idea how to describe it) that is excellent for this purpose. I am not sure about jazz though.
In terms of pianos and keyboards, maybe, but those also aren’t overlooked, they’re broadly considered among the best you can get. They own Bosendorfer now too, btw. Drums are just fuckin expensive in general, and most drummers I think you’ll talk to are generally aware of them along with the likes of Pearl and DW.
You might be talking about guitars and basses, which would be fair, most people don’t associate Yamaha with guitars and basses. The thing is, the most expensive non-signature Pacifica currently in production is like $750 and comes with Duncan pickups and a Wilkinson trem. And even the Revstars, which are out of my price range, come in quite a ways under comparable Gibsons.
I don’t know which products you’re thinking of but at least for bass guitars (which is my instrument) they’ve got stuff ranging from less than $200 up to just under $2000. My upper-mid tier bass cost just under $900, but sounds and feels better than Fender basses that would cost $1300 or more. Not to mention better designed. Compare that to other top tier production models from Fender, Gibson, Musicman, Rickenbacker etc… They’re all between $2000 and $3000. Musicman might be the only one of those that can claim to be better built consistently.
They often get overlooked because, in my experience (guitars and violins) they tend to sound like hot garbage. Good for entry level but not much else.
Can’t speak for Guitars and Violins, but their drum hardware is top notch amazing stuff
I’m a bass player so I’m only aware of their guitar models, haven’t ever played them myself (and honestly I lack the experience with guitars to tell a good one from a so-so one). But their BB basses are great and have been for a long time. I bought one for less than $900 a couple years back and it sounds and plays great, and is just a really well designed instrument. They’ve implemented a lot of stuff that legacy companies like Fender or Gibson should, but won’t (6 bolt necks with miter attachments at the end, angled slots for through body stringing, string trees that actually retain strings well for a good break angle above the nut, reversible bridge saddles)
I also love that all of the greatest Toyota car engines have had Yamaha heads.
This reminds me of around 2000, when I had a Daewoo television, and then my mind was blown one day when I saw a Daewoo car. Who makes televisions and cars? Daewoo apparently.
Ever hear of Daewoo Heavy Industries? They make excavators, railcars and ships
I’ve had a good chuckle many times about people buying Japanese cars and dismissing Korean manufacturers as rubbish.
Guess who made the Mitsubishi Lancer engines for over 20 years? Hyundai. Which always seemed odd because Mitsubishi is no slouch when it comes to heavy manufacturing.
Suzuki SV650 motorcycle engines, which has a cult following? Also Korean manufacturing.
Asianometry has an interesting video on the rise and fall of Daewoo that is definitely an interesting example on how not to run a business.
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