Yamaha Corp. of America is preparing to move into its new headquarters, a 75,263-square-foot two-story building at a campus that spans over 14 acres in Buena Park.
The project, with Gensler as the architect, aims to expand the local capacity to supply musical instruments and sound gear located on Orangethorpe Avenue, just north of the Artesia (91) Freeway. It was built by Brea-based KPRS Construction Services Inc.
Yamaha employees are moving into the new corporate office in April, which was built on the same lot as the old HQ. The new building houses all of Yamaha’s sound and music teams for the U.S. – the company has a local headcount of about 350 people.
The newly constructed 75,263-square-foot facility is one of three buildings on the campus and is dedicated to administration and corporate offices while a separate building on the east side was also renovated to house warehouse operations such as inventory and deliveries and the IT and logistics divisions. It includes an atelier that services products for Yamaha artists, or partners, and a few meeting spaces as well.
The new HQ “definitely shows our commitment to Orange County,” Yamaha President Tom Sumner told the Business Journal.
The construction comes at a time when demand for musical instruments is returning to normal after the pandemic caused entertainment venues to close and industry-wide supply chain disruptions.
“People after the pandemic, the first thing they wanted to do is get the heck out of the house, right?” Sumner said, referring to the resurgence of live events and concerts that he confirmed is still going strong.
“People are getting back to some of those other things, the hobbies, and we’ve been trying to appeal to players in a variety of ways,” he added.
The company is also looking to expand students’ access to music by launching more programs at schools that go beyond the traditional band and orchestral music. This includes partnering with educational programs to support options like banda, mariachi or modern band.
In total, Yamaha counts over 4,000 SKUs (stock keeping unit) ranging from a $150 acoustic guitar to a $200,000 sound system all manufactured in different countries such as France, Malaysia, Austria and Japan.
“We’re feeling like 2025 is a year where we at least get back some stability,” he said.
Hits of the Show
Yamaha Corp. of America is a unit of Yamaha Corp., which was founded in 1887 and is based in Hamamatsu, Japan. While revenue at Yamaha America isn’t broken out, the publicly traded parent company recorded revenue of 462 billion yen (USD $3 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 (Tokyo: 7951).
Yamaha debuted 26 new instruments and audio products this year at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in January, where it had a wing on the third floor of the Anaheim Convention Center to showcase Yamaha-manufactured items for attendees and retail partners to test and see in person.
“We came out with an acoustic guitar that’s called a transacoustic guitar, which is probably the hit of the show,” Sumner said during an interview at the January event.
Introduced a few years ago, the transacoustic guitar has reverb and chorus effects built into it to remove any need for external gear. This year’s edition, the TAG3 C, features a built-in looper and Bluetooth support.
“It’s right on the face of the guitar, but it is such a compelling product,” he said.
The Buena Park company also won a Best in Show award for its marching drum carriers this year.
“We really think that it’s going to help more schools be able to offer marching arts to students, because this is a much more ‘utility version’ than what’s been offered before,” said Garth Gilman, Yamaha’s corporate vice president of sales. “It seems boring, but it’s actually pretty exciting to us because of what it represents.”
Another highlight this year was Yamaha’s DTX6 electronic drum set that is designed to resemble the playing of acoustic drums and includes a kit modifier allowing the player to sample, mix and blend resonances and noises while playing.
The manufacturer also had two grand pianos played by artist Alicia Keys on display near the entrance to its exhibition space.
Representatives at Yamaha’s booth kept very busy this year with both show attendees and the company’s dealers who come out to see the new products. Gilman reported a 14% increase in meetings with the company’s B2B customers this year.
NAMM is also a good place for new businesses to become authorized dealers to carry Yamaha lines of equipment, according to the executives. The company has a network of more than 2,000 dealers and retailers.
“We have them come in here because Anaheim is a place that draws in businesses from everywhere, and they can have that discussion,” Sumner said.
The Musicians’ Music Man
The NAMM show 2025 marked a special record for Yamaha Corp. of America.
Since 2018, Yamaha has overseen the Anaheim Convention Center’s grand plaza stage during the annual National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention. Each year, a 4,096-square-foot stage is built to include all Yamaha-made instruments and sound systems for performers and the engineers to use.
This year, Yamaha brought two of its artist partners to perform during the show weekend – gospel singer CeCe Winans and composer and songwriter Jon Batiste, on Thursday and Friday night, respectively.
Those two evenings were the two largest attended concerts at NAMM ever, President Tom Sumner said.
“We had over 9,000 people,” he added.
“(Batiste) was very excited to come play for the NAMM crowd because it’s all musicians, so people were really engaged,” Sumner said.
The performer later went on to play on a custom-painted Yamaha silent grand piano while singing the National Anthem at this year’s Super Bowl game.
For Garth Gilman, Yamaha’s corporate vice president of sales, the grand plaza stage is also an opportunity for the company to showcase its commercial audio products.
“You’re talking about very, very expensive systems that take a long time to set up and to make sure that they are regulated and tuned just for a specific venue,” Gilman said. “To see all of the Yamaha digital consoles working in concert with our NEXO Line Array speakers, and having that experience, it’s a great thing to point out to a lot of folks that don’t realize we’re in that part of the business too.”
