A Brief History of Yamaha
Yamaha's history began when its founder, Torakusu Yamaha, a watchmaker by trade, repaired a broken reed organ in 1887. Torakusu was captivated by Western science and technology and had a talent for recognizing business potential. While fixing the reed organ, Torakusu made a blueprint of its inner workings so that he could create his own prototype. However, his first organ was criticized harshly for its poor tuning, but undaunted, and with no formal musical training behind him, Torakusu began studying music theory and tuning.
After seemingly endless struggles, Torakusu was finally able to complete the organ. It’s easy to see how he came up with the concept of the tuning fork mark, inspired by the difficult experience of studying tuning while holding a tuning fork in his hand.
The range of Yamaha products in now vast and varied, and the company has more than 20,000 employees worldwide. In addition to a full range of music instruments, you will find motorcycles, sports equipment and electronic equipment in the company’s product portfolio. Yamaha’s first trumpet – undoubtedly now the most widely used brass instrument – was only first made in 1966, 50 years after the death of Torakusu. Not ones to rest on their laurels, Yamaha keeps close to its founder’s keenness to innovate; in the last few years they produced a digital saxophone, which was met with a lot more enthusiasm than that first organ...