Yamaha's website has always been bare bones. Even true of their most complex synths.

 

lol… try Antigua Winds if you want a completely out of date website and want multiple emails and phone calls ignored.

Yamaha does seem to be pretty bad for such a large operation.

Even worse to me was Rampone & Cazzani. I was ready to order a copper R1 after really loving how they played at NAMM but after a few unanswered inquiries my ardor has cooled.

I’ve got some great altos anyway.

Forgot to add that I’ve only had to contact Yamaha once for parts.

Needed a couple of silver plated key guard screws for the 62S and I got them in a hurry!

 

Forgot to add that I’ve only had to contact Yamaha once for parts. I needed a couple of silver plated key guard screws for the 62S and I got them in a hurry!

Yes. Every time I've needed parts from Yamaha they are super helpful and ship quickly.

 

Years ago l needed an action part for a Yamaha grand piano. It was about 20 years old. They said there were 3 examples available. None would fit my needs. I ended up doing a Fankenstein hack job on 2 new parts to get something that resembled what I needed.

 

What is it that you're missing that you can't get?

 

Quality informed information about certain woodwind products. I finally went to a music store and found someone who actually knows Yamaha to answer my questions.

 

I only deal with buying parts via that website and it works fine, at times I had to call to speak to a sales rep, there are several robo prompts you gotta get thru but I always eventually reached someone who seemed to know what they were doing.

 

I weaved my way through and found the parts ordering section. Finding a Yamaha sales rep at a music store that actually really knows the products has been the struggle. I found the information I was seeking.

 

Band instruments are more craft than tech. There's a culture and tradition with craft-oriented people - to be word-of-mouth, personal/phone based, and leery of electronic media. Tech people are in general more oriented to sharing information.

The internets are full of flakes, and flakes can be risky for craft and related people. Not just for transactional reasons. Info and knowledge are helpful to players and buyers, but they might just be shopping around and sucking up your time - say wanting data that you know won't help them if they can't try a piece of gear. They might also be looking for proprietary info. Maybe on behalf of a competitor.

My point being, LOTS of people on the craft side are less than communicative with their market. And they have reasons.