Posted by Dave on July 04, 1999 at 23:25:32:
In Reply to: Yamaha?? posted by Curious... on July 04, 1999 at 22:10:46:
I have very limited experience with Yamahas but a lot of the "bashing" I hear is from repairmen who have a different perspective on quality control matters than most of us. I tend to listen carefully to competent repairmen when they say they are constantly doing work on or hearing of problems with Yamahas. Repairmen are a close-knit fraternity, and when they share stories of common problems with particular horns, I tend to listen carefully. This can no longer be termed "bashing", but professional experience. Comments from honest repairmen hold a little more weight with me than someone who owns the instrument in question. I will always defend what I own because I bought it, therefore I may not be the most unbiased judge of my Holton.
I guarantee you the Yamaha you are buying (even the "custom" horns) are NOT the same instruments that the aforementioned professionals are using. I concur with the praise thrown at these artists, especially Roger who, to me, sounds almost identical to when he was playing Mirafones. If a typical Yamaha horn takes a week to construct, my guess is Roger's would take at least a month.