Yamaha Pianos

The piano industry in Japan was slow to gather momentum during the later years of the 19th century. Early development of the piano was very much a European affair. At the Paris Exposition in 1878 a Japanese square piano (not a Yamaha) was exhibited. In 1880 Torakusu Yamaha began making Western musical instruments.

Beginning by building an organ, and confident enough of its qualities, he carried it over the mountains of Hakone to the Music Institute for their inspection and approval. Perhaps unkindly, the organ was harshly criticised for its poor tuning. This set-back only spurred Tarasuku on to further studies. Like any self-respecting musical instrument maker, he began studying music theory and tuning!

After much hard work, he mastered the basics and was able to apply his newly acquired knowledge and deeper understanding to making his western musical instruments.

Piano tuners are almost duty bound to approve of Yamaha's using tuning forks in their logo - after all, it emphasises the fundamental importance of tuning!

The 3 tuning forks of the Yamaha Logo represent the 3 pillars of the business - technology, production and sales. They also symbolise the essential elements of music: melody, harmony and rhythm.

He began production of pianos in 1900 and by 1910 he was making 600 pianos per year. The 20th century threw up many challenges for the piano industry - especially in Japan. Yamaha lost a factory to fire in 1922 and and office to an earthquake in 1923. The second world war was no less devastating. After the war, Yamaha restarted production with the benefit of casting their own metal frames.

The constant quest for product improvement has borne fruit in Yamaha's unquestionable reputation for consistency and a rugged reliability. Their pianos have become an industry bench-mark standard.

Yamaha Serial Nos.

Directory of Piano Makers

© Steve Burden

Tuning Stability

Dear Tuner's Blog, 

Our School Piano never stays in tune for very long. It was bought brand new about 10 years ago, and has never settled down. Buying a new piano, we expected it would at least hold its tuning, but we have been disappointed and find it hard to understand. Could you please explain what is going on here. Thanks,

…School.  

Tuner's Blog replies…

There are many reasons why a piano will not hold its tune. A piano could be affected by one or by the whole list of these reasons. The number of possible combinations and variations of these problems, while not infinite, is very large, so reducing a reply to a universally applied single reason is impossible.

Tuning stability will depend on:

1. The condition of the piano strings 
2. The piano being kept in a piano-friendly environment
3. The piano being in good mechanical condition.

With a new piano, (10 years old makes this still a very young piano!) one can expect the strings NOT to be a problem.  

Pianos are not generally moved about, they are almost considered a fixture. In a School, the hall often becomes a thoroughfare. A piano will not take kindly to coping with all the temperature fluctuations that even humans would find uncomfortable. This is bound to affect tuning stability.

The mechanical condition of the piano is probably where most tuning stability mischief has its source. Every moving part of the piano action, directly or indirectly, has an impact on tuning stability. Poor alignment of parts, sluggish centres, even dried-out grease where springs are in contact with action parts, all affect how the hammer strikes the string and consequently, on the tone and tuning. 

With a newish piano, there will be nothing wrong with the design of the action, there will be little or nothing that can visibly be pointed at and accused of being the root of the problem. Getting what is a very sophisticated piece of engineering to work flawlessly takes many hours of skilled labour at the piano factory. If this close-up attention to detail is not done - despite whatever quality controls there may be - in the end, the poor customer has to deal with the upshot.

Very few modern pianos with tuning stability issues cannot be vastly improved by going the 'extra mile' in getting the basics right. It is frustrating that manufacturers and retailers can be so focused on pushing pianos through their doors that they seem to care very little about whether or not the piano is really ready to go.

For the end users: private owners, schools etc. a bad taste is left in the mouth! They ought not to be spending more money before they can properly enjoy the piano they bought!•

© Steve Burden