Yamaha has assembled an incredible team of the most
skilled and knowledgeable people we have, along with
the best we have to offer in technology to offer highest
quality instruments available today.
Yamaha guitar development is centered around our
Yamaha Artist Services Hollywood (YASH) facility in
Los Angeles.
YASH is Yamaha’s custom shop and handles Yamaha’s artist relations.
Planning, concept, design, prototype production, and research are all done here. We gather the best minds in their fields; from professional musicians and engineers, to specialists in woods, finishes, pickup and hardware design, and set out building prototypes, playing, evaluating and repeating the process over and again until all agreed that everything was right.
Located in the heart of LA’s music scene, Yamaha Artist Services Hollywood, or YASH as it is known, is a state-of-the-art research and development center and home to the Yamaha Guitar Custom Shop.
The shop is run by a special team of top guitar designers and craftsmen, who work with artists to design and create innovative instruments and features utilizing the facility’s wood and metal shops, electronics lab, photo studio, display and evaluations rooms, and recording facilities.
Artist feedback plays an important role in the design and development of any instrument or feature, and particularly at YASH, it is the most meaningful and effective way to refine new products.
Many of Yamaha guitars are initially conceived. developed, tested, evaluated and brought to perfection here, by a top-notch team of professionals.
- My function is to coordinate closely with Yamaha Japan and make best use of the location of YASH for both R&D and AR. I also do design, prototyping and technical evaluations for guitars working with John Gaudesi & Mike Tempesta involving many great artists here.
- My main function here at YASH is to administrate and facilitate all projects in support of our R&D and Artist Relations in coordination with our international design and marketing teams. I am also responsible for managing and maintaining the YASH staff and YASH facilities.
- My name is John Gaudesi and my title here at Yamaha is Custom Shop Manager - Design Engineer for guitars. I participate in the design process for new products. This includes the prodution of prototype instruments as well as writing the programs and suppervising the opperation of our CNC machinery along side designing and winding custom pickups. I have been a part of the Guitar Development Team for 10 years now. My duties also include interacting with our artists and building their custom instruments and electronics.
- My responsibilities at YASH include acquiring and maintain our artist roster for electric, bass, and acoustic divisions, help plan and coordinate promotions, clinics and artist appearances , create and manage artist content for marketing and promotional purposes, including advertising, website interviews, contests and all photo shoots, and help with product development and artist prototype evaluations. It’s a pleasure to work with artists of such high caliber on a daily basis and I look forward to expanding our artist roster and raise awareness of Yamaha product worldwide.
Yamaha Music Craft is a special facility located at Yamaha’s corporate headquarters in Hamamatsu Japan.Assembled here, is a team of world class luthiers and master craftsmen whose purpose is to create the best instruments available today.
Guitar production here absolutely depends on the craftsman’s senses. From wood selection to the final inspection, each stage in the manufacturing process involves the highly refined skills of our experienced luthiers.
Machines and leading-edge technologies do play a vital role here, but there is no substitute for the skills and sensitivity of our master luthiers.
It is here that the all of Yamaha’s high-end guitars are brought into being, through a union of modern technologies like A.R.E and I.R.A that only a company like Yamaha is capable of developing, and the high level of craftsmanship and traditional skills that our master craftsmen possess.
