History Of Yamaha Corporation

Vintage Yamaha Guitars

The Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments and electronics.

History of Yamaha Corporation

Yamaha was founded in 1890 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as Nippon Gakki Company, Limited in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer is still reflected today in the group's logo — a trio of interlocking tuning forks.

After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (aka Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honor of the founder. It was a 125cc, single cylinder, two-stroke, streetbike patterned after the German DKW RT125 (which the British munitions firm, BSA, had also copied in the post-war era and manufactured as the Bantam and Harley-Davidson as the Hummer). In 1955, the success of the YA-1 resulted in the founding of the Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

Yamaha has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments (including Pianos,"silent" pianos, drums, guitars, woodwinds, violins, violas, celli, and vibraphones), as well as a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, Audio/Visual, computer related products, sporting goods, home appliances and furniture, specialty metals, machine tools, and Industrial robots.

In October 1987, on its 100th anniversary, the name was changed to The Yamaha Corporation.

In 1989, Yamaha shipped the world's first CD recorder. Since then, Yamaha has purchased Sequential Circuits in 1988 and bought a significant share (51%) of competitor Korg in 1989–1993.

In 2002, Yamaha closed down its archery product business, that was started in 1959. Six archers in five different Olympic Games won gold medals using their products.

It acquired German Audio Software manufacturers Steinberg in 2004, from Pinnacle Systems.

In July, 2007, Yamaha bought out the minority shareholding of the Kemble family in Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd, Yamaha's UK import and musical instrument and professional audio equipment sales arm, the company being renamed Yamaha Music U.K. Ltd in autumn 2007. Kemble & Co. Ltd, the UK piano sales & manufacturing arm was unaffected.

On December 20, 2007, Yamaha made an agreement with the Austrian Bank BAWAG P.S.K. Group BAWAG to purchase all the shares of Bösendorfer, intended to take place in early 2008. Yamaha intends to continue manufacturing at the Bösendorfer facilities in Austria.The acquisition of Bösendorfer was announced after the NAMM Show in Los Angeles, on 28 January 2008. As of February 1, 2008, Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH operates as a subsidiary of Yamaha Corp.

Yamaha Corporation is also widely known for their music program that began in the 1980s.

Other companies in the Yamaha group include:

* Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH, Vienna, Austria.
* Yamaha Motor Company
* Yamaha Fine Technologies Co., Ltd.
* Yamaha Livingtec Corporation
* Yamaha Metanix Corporation
* Yamaha Pro Audio

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