Very interesting Bill. I thought for sure Europe was the biggest market for high-end Yamaha arrangers. Could you provide some statistics that show Yamaha sells more totl arrangers in Asia than in Europe Bill? I always heard that Europe was Yamaha's gold mine when it comes to the likes of the T1/T2/T3, etc.

Here are all the countries contained in Asia:

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.

I would think only a handful would be interested in something like a Tyros3 but I could be wrong Bill. It would seem to me that most of those countries would relish a Korg over a Yamaha any day of the week because of Korg's propensity to include a wide range of Asian type sounds and the ability of Korg's arrangers to change tuning scales to those preferred and listened to in that part of the world. OTOH, Europe would tend to use many of the traditional tuning scales and/or traditional sounds in my opinion, and therefore the T3 would be more highly coveted in Europe. I realize that Yamaha probably sells a lot of T3's to their own Japanese people but is it the same T3 model with the same name that Yamaha ships over here to North America and to Europe? Would Yamaha still call it a Tyros3 for the ones they sell in Japan?? I tend to think it would have a special name or branding but (if they actually did sell it under a different name in Japan) it would be considered the same basic instrument I suppose with the same basic innards. But I digress...

So you say they sell more in Asia huh?

Statistics or some kind of proof to back up that statement would sure help in solving this puzzle if there are some stats available Bill. Thanks.

Best,
Mike