Yamaha has had a high end “craft built” line for a number of years and has been a very serious builder of concert pianos for decades. The concert grand, the CFIII (CF3) has undergone a number of iterations and experiments, resulting in the model CFIIIS that has been the flagship for the last 8 years or so. This year Yamaha is unveiling, both at NAMM and at the Frankfurt show,  the newest version called the CFX (X, not 10) and 2 smaller models with the same construction techniques, the CF4 and CF6. While there was a lot for Yamaha to talk about at NAMM this year, they did focus a lot of attention on these new pianos, hosting a press conference at which Mitsuru Umemura, the President of Yamaha Corporation global spoke and pianist Frederic Chiu performed. The performance (short but effective) was repeated at the Yamaha Dealers breakfast on

In a nutshell, the S series are Yamaha’s concert level, hand made pianos. Made in a separate factory, these 3 models, the S4 (191 cn, 6’3″)  , S6 (212m, 6’11″) and CFIIIS  (275cm, 9′) (pronounced C F three S)  are made using techniques that would be familiar in any high end piano factory. Lots of hand chisels, a relaxed but intense pace working with materials that are chosen with less regard to the price. The result is a piano with much more character, range and overall playing quality with the distinctive sound Yamaha strives for in their concert instruments.

I worked for for Bosendorfer during the Kimball years.  That, in my opinion, was a much less logical combination than Bosendorfer and Yamaha and there were plenty of jokes (Kimball-dorfers, Bosen-balls). But, in fact, Kimball was a wonderful steward for Bosendorfer, probably a better steward of Bosendorfer than of their own brand. I believe that a large part of our US market presence today is due to the tremendous investment in Bosendorfer marketing that Kimball made 25 years ago. You can accuse me of smarmonisoty (I made part of that up) at this point, but I believe that Yamaha will be a similar steward (and I sincerely hope so for the sake of my career). There is an important aspect to the value proposition, beyond the simple profit and loss accounting, that just makes sense. Yamaha is deeply dedicated to the world of serious pianos and music making and has demonstrated that