• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Anybody else notice the sharp increase in Yamaha popularity and value?

#61
I've noticed it a bit. I think people are getting tired of choosing basses based on the head stock decal and starting to notice other brands that make great instruments.

If Yamaha continues to be a "hidden gem" brand that's fine with me.

I remember when I was doing an hour long radio show with a two piece band I was in, and the host asked me to do a slap line for him since he was fan of the funk. After some playing we took a break and one of the guys in the office came in and said how much he liked my fender's slap tone.

I said, "Thanks man, but it's a Yamaha."
-It's a what?
"It's a Yamaha, not a fender."
-Oh. I didn't know they made guitars. That sucks.

I was just sighed and smiled.

I mean, how could this suck?!
DSCN1411.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Heavy Blue
#65
8liter said:
I've noticed it a bit. I think people are getting tired of choosing basses based on the head stock decal and starting to notice other brands that make great instruments.

If Yamaha continues to be a "hidden gem" brand that's fine with me.

I remember when I was doing an hour long radio show with a two piece band I was in, and the host asked me to do a slap line for him since he was fan of the funk. After some playing we took a break and one of the guys in the office came in and said how much he liked my fender's slap tone.

I said, "Thanks man, but it's a Yamaha."
-It's a what?
"It's a Yamaha, not a fender."
-Oh. I didn't know they made guitars. That sucks.

I was just sighed and smiled.

I mean, how could this suck?!
DSCN1411.jpg
Click to expand...

Especially with BB series (both Michael Anthony inspired, like the 614 in your pic, and Nathan East inspired, just like mine)
IMG_1388.jpg
Yamaha simulated a true Fenderish sound: whenever I owned BB614 (old violin sunburst one) I put a push/pull volume on/off switch to disengage 3 band equalizer (while pictured BBN5 is passive) and this could let me compare its sound in both flat active (all knobs at center detent and volume pushed) and passive (volume pulled): it really was a somewhat MIJ Fender Jazz special, d'you remember those? Precision alder body with Jazz neck/rosewood fingerboard? Think about a present Duff McKagan's Precision
Pictured BBN5 (it's from 1995) looks like a 5er G&L JB2 (model that doesn't exist) and sounds a cross between it (G&L it's ash, Yamaha alder) and Fender MIJ (inline machineheads) 5er
So yes: being it a "pro" to some or a "con" to others, Yamaha passives (no TRB, and due to its furious DiMarzios no Attitude)
sound very very Fenderish

Cheers,
Wallace
 
#66
Their high end basses are great!
Their entry level equipment is also quite good.
If Ebay is an indicator the prices are up on used Yamaha basses and they seem to be moving. I would only be interested in the TRB6 product line. That said, the Yamaha's of yester-lore are for the most part MIJ, while at the present Yamaha is using factories in Korea and Indonesia, perhaps India to produce current products. I would have to visit a few stores to check quality but I think the production quality remains at a high level, especially those following the Leo Fender philosphy of a quality/cost effective assembled instrument.
 
#67
8liter said:
I've noticed it a bit. I think people are getting tired of choosing basses based on the head stock decal and starting to notice other brands that make great instruments.

If Yamaha continues to be a "hidden gem" brand that's fine with me.

I remember when I was doing an hour long radio show with a two piece band I was in, and the host asked me to do a slap line for him since he was fan of the funk. After some playing we took a break and one of the guys in the office came in and said how much he liked my fender's slap tone.

I said, "Thanks man, but it's a Yamaha."
-It's a what?
"It's a Yamaha, not a fender."
-Oh. I didn't know they made guitars. That sucks.

I was just sighed and smiled.

I mean, how could this suck?!
DSCN1411.jpg
Click to expand...


Hang on let me just wipe the drool off my chin real quick.
 
#69
Bongolation said:
That's pretty much true, and notice how people here are resistant to giving up the fanboy fallacy of Yamaha quality exceptionalism when brands A, B, C, D through WW are all off the identical production lines and made by the identical underpaid Asian workers. Maybe Yamaha pays for a little tighter QC, but I doubt it. There's a lot of crappy Yamaha product out there, same as everyone else's.

When people bray about quality, the first thing they have to do is convince me they objectively understand what good build is actually about, and fully 95%+ of those here are more or less in the dark about that. The second thing they have to do is convince me that they've seen and scrupulously, dispassionately analyzed enough examples to have a valid general viewpoint of the product.

Perhaps Yamaha produces designs that have some advantage, but other than that, they're in precisely the same boat as everyone else is who farms out their production to the same distant plants.

It's interesting -- or perhaps depressing -- to me to see how people desperately struggle to justify their pitiful loyalties to "brands" that are little more than marketing fictions, never mind how much bandwidth is burned here in those efforts. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Actually, Yamaha had some of their own factories. I recall the factory in Kaohsiung, Taiwan being an example. Not a ton of musical products in general are made in Taiwan, aside from some Yamaha instruments (not anymore) and Roland products.

I remember because when Yamaha shut down their Taiwanese manufacturing and moved everything to Indonesia in 2008 or 2009, my Taiwanese ex was pretty disappointed. Taiwan has a big sense of national pride, and I think this made national news there.
 
#70
Yamaha has kind of fallen off the face of the earth. They had great instruments keyboards, guitars and basses and especially drum kits. You just don't see guys using them compared to their former popularity. Not sure why. In the 70s , 80s and 90s, lots of Yamaha gear.
 
#71
Dbassmon said:
Yamaha has kind of fallen off the face of the earth. They had great instruments keyboards, guitars and basses and especially drum kits. You just don't see guys using them compared to their former popularity. Not sure why. In the 70s , 80s and 90s, lots of Yamaha gear.
Click to expand...

The keyboard thing is kinda interesting. I'm seeing a tonne of NORD gear out there when for years NORD stuff was pretty limited in view. I still see tonnes of Yamaha drums. Yamaha jumped on the pointy-headstock thing just like everyone else in the 80s and 90s. Lots of guys who started with Jackson/Charvel upgraded to Yamahas in those days.

Yamaha basses were always under-marketed. I suppose they figured sticking a Yamaha bass up on the rack next to a Yamaha guitar would get it sold. Apparently it frustrated the YASH/Yamaha R&D guys to no end as they were taking apart Alembic electronics to learn how to make bass pickups and electronics. Real sleeper instruments!

One thing I've noticed on the social aspect of using/playing Yamaha gear is that other musicians, notably horn players, keyboard players, and drummers seem to be quite impressed with the sound of them. I pretty much sound similar with all basses but a lot of the guys who see I play Yamaha really like the "name" and speak of the brand fondly.
 
#72
Bongolation said:
Zero increase in popularity or value local to me. They're a hard sell in my market as anything but a beginner's instrument.

Yamaha quality is mostly myth ("Yeah, they're no-soul, but they're really well-made" is the standard bubba lore). They contract to the same mills as everyone else and those contractors screw up like they do with everyone else. There may be a little additional pre-ship re-inspection, as Ibanez and Schecter do with their product from the identical contractors, but in 2012 there's not anything to differentiate Yamaha quality from other brands.
Click to expand...
That is incorrect. Yamaha now manufacture all of their guitars and basses in house. Ibanez, Schecter and many more are made by Cort. Others are made by Samick. But as of a couple of years ago, all Yamahas are made by Yamaha.
 
#73
4StringsEnough said:
That is incorrect. Yamaha now manufacture all of their guitars and basses in house. Ibanez, Schecter and many more are made by Cort. Others are made by Samick. But as of a couple of years ago, all Yamahas are made by Yamaha.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? The wording printed on the back of their basses seemed to say (paraphrased) that they're made "to spec" ... not BY Yamaha themselves...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back