This is typical of the piano industry at the moment. However, the truth is that a Chinese manufacturer bought up the name and started making pianos bearing that brand.

For instance, the names Gors & Kallman or Weber might suggest that those pianos were made in Germany. The manufacture location of a piano is much more important than the name written above the keys. I’ll now waffle on a little bit about issues relating to this question in general. What I am certain of is that all of my own reconditioned Yamaha U1 pianos which I have in stock are 100% genuine Japanese made pianos. I suspect/hope it is Japan but I need to do more research. But Kemble have now closed that factory and moved their production out to Indonesia (oh dear!) so I’m not exactly sure where the new UK ones are made any more. Up until a couple of years ago, your brand new Yamaha U1 would have been made by Kemble for Yamaha in the Kemble factory in Milton Keynes. Summary: The Yamaha U1 has been made in Japan for decades but more recently Yamaha have started to use local factories all over the world for their U1 production. I’ve given a slightly waffly, long-winded answer below so I thought I’d give a quick summary to start with just in case you are in a hurry.

I’ve been stocking Yamaha U1 pianos since 2004 and I am often asked whether they are made in Japan, Indonesia, China… or Milton Keynes! So I thought I’d make this little page to help other people find the answer to this common question.

Yamaha u1 manufacture date