Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Yamaha U3 piano made in Taiwan

In almost 25 years, I have never come across a U1 or U3 which has not been produced in Japan (at least here in the UK). Yamaha in Taiwan does produce pianos and piano parts, but not for their top models and I'm pretty certain they weren't around 20 years ago. I've also come across some evidence of a certain amount of cloning going on, so maybe "Taiwan Yamaha U1" pianos might not even have anything to do with Yamaha. BTW this cloning has also happened in China with some electronic Yamaha keyboards.

Yamaha states on Yamaha's website "Taiwan Yamaha was the first Yamaha piano factory outside of Japan and has been producing upright pianos since 1969." This statement from Yamaha, and the existence of the pianos I have seen, establishes clearly that they are all too real.

It does stand to reason that more of the pianos manufactured here in Taiwan would stay in Asia than get shipped halfway around the world. It would be interesting to ask Yamaha, or research what models were made at the Taiwan Yamaha factory over the last 39 years. Yamaha seems rather proud of the factory in their press release.

If you come to Taiwan I will be happy to show them to you so you can decide if you deem them authentic. Or if you speak Mandarin, you could also find piano dealers here on the internet, phone them up, and they would probably humor you by confirming what it says on the plates of the pianos in their inventory.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/PressReleaseDetailPF/0,,CNTID%25253D563068%252526CTID%25253D551576,00.html

That could explain why these pianos never appeared in Europe. Non-Japanese models for Europe tend to be built by Kembles in the UK. (The old Eterna range being an exception to this)

I am with athomik. I doubt if the U series is manufactured in the Taiwan. I find U1 to be manufactured in Indonesia is merely a marketing strategy. U1 is one of Yamaha best selling model, and now they are trying to make more people to buy that model, thus they bring U1 to Indonesia, and label them as U1J, to prevent confusion.

From that article, why shouldn't they say they manufacture U1 instead of the M thingy? Certainly readers will be more convinced if they come to know the Taiwan factory manufactures U1 rather than the M series..

I also doubt if the Taiwan factory assembles the pianos or builds the pianos. As far as I am concerned, for the Indonesia factory, they just assemble the pianos and build the cabinets only. All parts, actions, soundboards are from the Japan. A way for the Japanese to ensure the quality control.

Anyway, thx1138, I thank you very much for letting us know that Yamaha does have a factory in Taiwan. Who knows tomorrow a Vietnamese will tell us that they have a Kawai factory!

Today Yamaha has manufacturing facilities at:
Kemble in U.K. since 1986
Hangzhou in China since 2003 ("H" serial prefix)
Xiaoshan in China since 1997
Taoyuan Hsien in Taiwan since 1969 ("YT" serial prefix)
Hamamatsu in Japan
Kakegawa in Japan since 1965
Iwata in Japan since 1966

Here is the line up of products distriubted into the U.S.:
M460, M560, P660 series are built in Taiwan.
CN116, P22, T118 series are built in China.
T121, U1, YUS1, U3, YUS3, YUS5 are built in Japan.
GB1 built in Indonisia
All the rest of the grands in Japan

I am told that some manufacturing is being phased out of Hamamatsu to expanded facilities in Kakegawa over time.

Yamaha had a joint venture factory with Pearl River in Guangzhou, China from 1995 - 2007. They build one model only to ship to U.S., the UP-125M1. I was told they built other models for far east distribution.

Yamaha's factory in Thomaston, GA, U.S. was closed March 2007. That factory built M425, M500, P600, T116, and P22 series instruments.

Wow, facts!.
Thanks, Marty.

A question. I know U2 is not marketed in the US. Is Yamaha still making that model in any factory and if so, where?

Hi Marty:
Do you have info like this for Kawai also?????
do they have any factory in other countries???
Thx

Sedum:

In today's market I am puzzled why anyone would bother to look at a 20 years old piano when 'as good' or even better pianos are available on the market - new.

Will one day half of the piano owner population of North America touch their head in bewilderment of what they were doing?

[we're doing it right now concerning some other matters... ]

In the Orient, pianos of this vintage are thrown out lock-stock-and-barrel, conveniently ending up over here.

For a reason.....

Norbert

Kawai has manufacturing facilities in:
Japan since 1927
Malaysia since 1991
North Carolina, U.S. 1988-2004
Indonesia since 2001
China since 2004

Thanks Marty.
Good to know.

thks for sharing these information
its better that yahoo
... so theres many things can't be yahooed or googled, doesn't means the info does exsist

just like Nike shoes, they can be made anywhere, vietnam, indonesia, where else?

i often come across nike sports shoe with the bottom sole detached eventhough its just a year plus old. i tried shoe glue and what have you, but it doesnt work for long... then i use the unthinkable .. toilet silicon glue !! super flexible, super sticky, most of all, it doesn't separates anymore !!

Made in Taiwan? not bad. many good quality bikes are made there too, Giant, strida ....

I am an American pianist and teacher recently relocated to Taiwan, and was just given a tour of the Kawai factory near Taoyuan by the plant manager. They are the sole distributor for Kawai in Taiwan. They assemble pianos there, but all the parts are out-sourced. He said there is also a Yamaha factory near there that works the same way. The action and bass strings come from Japan, some parts from Taiwan, the rest China and elsewhere in SE Asia. Also they seem to have a big business in rebuilding 10-30 year old pianos, with new glossy paint but same old action. I asked how to tell if a Kawai is made in Taiwan, and he said by the ser. no. and model. The ones I saw on the floor assembly line were KU-2 and W-1 verticals. The ser. nos. began with S. I saw a room for winding strings on what seemed to be a previously mated harp and soundboard, which was then bolted to the case. The action was put in, set up and tuned, and that seemed to be the extent of their production. Sorry I can't speak with a tech's perspective, but I hope the info is useful to some.

Sorry this is OT, but I had the exact same problem on 2 pairs of Nikes recently, and spent dumb money at the cobbler just to have the sole separate the very next time I wore the shoes. Was thinking of using epoxy, but I will try silicone as well!

I have also just visited a piano dealer in Taipei (Musicpro) where I played a Yamaha U3 stamped "Taiwan" on the harp. The dealer explained to me the piano was assembled at the Yamaha factory in Taoyuan, Taiwan in 1974, the case made in Taiwan, and all else came from Japan. This was done to avoid import duties of an assembled piano.

yes the U3 was and still is, I believe, manf. in Kaosuing, Taiwan. A Taiwanese friend of mine brought on over as personal effect when he immigrated to Los Angeles. Not a bad piano...[his is about ten years old] I have played it.
I does have the TY serial number, I called him to confirm that.
He also told me that the Taiwan U3 is about half the price of a Japanese made one in Taipei when purchased new.

Thanks for that comprehensive information on factory locations. Just want to add that, we have the information on the lines currently produced in those factories. But what models they produced historically during previous decades remains undocumented.

I was at a store in Taipei today that had a Yamaha U3 for $2900 and a G3 for $7700. I will find out more details and serials but they basically said they were "demo models from Japan". They did indeed seem quite new and as such indeed manufactured in Japan (in concordance with the information above). The hammers seemed fine but I am no expert. Can anyone offer an opinion on these "demo" instruments, what treatment they may have received or how played out they might be? They also had similar Kawai but the action on those seemed stiff.

After reading all that I've read (and maybe I haven't read enough), I am now officially totally KONFUSED! I have a YAMAHA U3, Serial #H2698***. What is the likely date of manufacture, and where was it manufactured???

Is the piano from the late 1970s or is it 2004 or newer? That much should be obvious. If it’s from the 70s, it was made in Japan. I’m not aware that newer U3 are assembled in the Hangzhou factory.

Here’s information for the US market:
https://usa.yamaha.com/support/finding_age_of_yamaha_piano/index.html

The piano appears to have been manufactured more than likely in the 2000 era. It's an exceptional reconditioning job for sure, so it's difficult to tell. My suspicion is that it was probably made in China, but I'm not sure, hence the reason for my reaching out to the club