Hi,
Could some kind person give me a run-down on the setup at the Kemble/Yamaha business at Milton Keynes? I have been told several times, by piano salesmen no less, that Kemble hasn't made pianos for a few years, yet there is a website and they respond to brochure requests. Are UK Yamahas and Kembles made on the same production lines? Are many Kembles sold, and how many UK Yamahas? Are Kembles and UK Yamahas slowly merging to be the same core with just different finishes? Why is the Kemble K121 so much more expensive than the Yamaha P121NT for instance? What sort of sway do the Kemble family exert these days? Anything else I've forgotten?
Rgds.
Kemble/Yamaha tie-up
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Barrie Heaton
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The Kemble factory is run by the Kemble Family Brian Kemble is the SEO
Back in the 70s Yamaha needed a Partner to distribute their pianos in Europe and Kemble needed a Partner to distribute their pianos in Japan Now in the 80’s Yamaha needed a production plant in Europe to get round the E10 form So Kembles started to make Yamaha under licence However, production at Kembles was not that organised so output was not high Yamaha invested in Kembles and did complete re tooling of the factory and introduced more productive ways do doing some jobs. In return Yamaha got 37% ish of the shares of Kemble also some Yamaha staff came over to over see quality control Yamaha did the same with Schimmel in the 90s
As to production both Kemble and Yamaha are made at the same factory. However, on the Kemble some of the parts are Yamaha and some of the parts come from other parts of the world like the bass strings for one so prices are bound to be different.
Barrie,
Back in the 70s Yamaha needed a Partner to distribute their pianos in Europe and Kemble needed a Partner to distribute their pianos in Japan Now in the 80’s Yamaha needed a production plant in Europe to get round the E10 form So Kembles started to make Yamaha under licence However, production at Kembles was not that organised so output was not high Yamaha invested in Kembles and did complete re tooling of the factory and introduced more productive ways do doing some jobs. In return Yamaha got 37% ish of the shares of Kemble also some Yamaha staff came over to over see quality control Yamaha did the same with Schimmel in the 90s
As to production both Kemble and Yamaha are made at the same factory. However, on the Kemble some of the parts are Yamaha and some of the parts come from other parts of the world like the bass strings for one so prices are bound to be different.
Barrie,
Barrie Heaton
Web Master UK Piano Page
Web Master UK Piano Page