More reasons
Why
Ed Roman refuses to buy products made by large corporations
Brussels, 16 July 2003
Commission fines
Yamaha millions for restrictions of trade and resale
price maintenance in Europe
The European Commission has
decided to impose a fine of € 2.56 million on musical
instruments manufacturer Yamaha for restricting trade
within the European single market and fixing resale
prices in certain EU countries for such products as
pianos, guitars and oboes. Although the restrictions
were of a serious nature, they seemed to be limited to
certain dealers, products and countries rather than the
result of a deliberate strategy, and appear not to have
been implemented in full. Furthermore, as soon as the
Commission intervened, Yamaha took steps to end the
restrictions and to redesign its European distribution
system.
Yamaha sells under a selective
distribution system a whole range of traditional and
electronic musical instruments and equipment in Europe,
such as pianos, electronic organs, guitars, saxophones
and violins. The company is the European market leader
for most musical instruments.
After an investigation, the
Commission has concluded that Yamaha has violated
European Union competition rules by entering into
agreements or concerted practices aimed at partitioning
the market and fixing resale prices.
Such practices had the object of
restricting competition, within the meaning of Article
81(1) of the EU treaty and Article 53(1) of the European
Economic Agreement, in Germany, Italy, France, Austria,
Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and Iceland.
The restrictions took different
forms at different times and in different countries.
They included obligations on official dealers to sell
only to final customers; obligations on official dealers
to purchase exclusively from the Yamaha subsidiaries;
obligations on official dealers to contact Yamaha before
exporting via the Internet; and the fixing of resale
prices.
Agreements and/or restrictive
practices partitioning the European market and fixing
resale prices constitute a violation of EU rules,
according to an extensive case law.
Although the infringement was
qualified as serious, some of the contractual provisions
were applied to only a limited number of dealers and
products, were not systematically included in all Yamaha
agreements throughout the EEA and have not been
simultaneously implemented.
The fact that Yamaha terminated a
majority of the restrictions as soon as the Commission
intervened was also considered a mitigating
circumstance.
Another Happy Customer
I will keep this brief as I know you receive a lot of e-mail. I was in Vegas
this past February and I purchased a left-handed Blues Deluxe from you.
I just wanted to tell you that after playing this guitar for a few months, I can
honestly say that this guitar was one of the best investments I have ever made
in my life. The action on this guitar is unreal and sound only gets better as I
play it more and more. I haven't even changed the strings on it yet as they
still sound like the day I got the guitar. My speed has just about doubled as
well.
It is extremely difficult (nearly impossible) for me to find quality
left-handed guitars, and I just wanted to thank you for keeping them in stock. I
have 3 friends who play lefty as well, and they are all jealous of me. I know
for a fact that you will be receiving business from one of my friends who plans
on going to Vegas this September.
Thanks Ed (and Scott too),
-Paul
Buffalo, NY
How do you make a guitarist's eyes light up?
Shine a flashlight in his ear.
What's the range of a Gibson Les Paul?
Depends on how far you throw it.
Why are so many guitarists jokes one liners?
So the rest of the band can understand them.
What's the difference between a guitar player and a bag of
garbage?
The garbage gets taken out at least once a week.
What's black and blue and laying in a ditch?
A guitarist who's told one too many drummer jokes.
How many guitarists does it take to change a light bulb?
At least 2000: one to change the bulb and 1999 to insist how much better they
could've done it!
Late one day a local pub saw six guys walk in, obviously in
pairs of two, sit down and order their favorite after-work drinks.
The first two to seat themselves and be served by the
bartender were two guys working at a major university whose I.Q.s were so high
they could hardly be measured! They began discussing from Quantum Mechanics to
the fine points of Particle Physics, either one as brilliantly as the other.
The bartender then went over to the next pair who were
"regular guys" with ordinary jobs, with average I.Q.s, schmoozing about how hard
it was today to keep up with bill payments, how high taxes were, how corrupt
politicians were and all the day-to-day struggles most everyone has.
The last two the bartender served were two very badly
educated, ill-mannered dolts with very low I.Q.s that could barely be measured
on any I.Q. test. As soon as they'd ordered the bartender overheard one say to
the other, "Oh, hey, I meant to ask ya, do you use flat wound or round wound on
your bass?"
A guitar player
comes to the doctor and complains about a serious deterioration of his memory.
He especially has a hard time remembering correct changes and is afraid to lose
all his gigs. Since the doctor can't find the cause, he asks the guitarist to
leave behind his brain for a week in his lab for more detailed examinations.
After seven days the guitar player fails to show up, and even
after 2 more weeks there's no sign of him. Finally the doctor runs into him on
the street, grabs him and asks: "Excuse me, but your brain is still waiting for
you to stop by and pick it up, so why don't you show up?"
The guitarist says, "Well, I think you can keep it; I finally
switched to bass..."
A man gives his son an electric bass for his 15th birthday,
along with a coupon for four bass lessons. When the son returns from his first
lesson, the father asks, "So, what did you learn?"
"Well, I learned the first five notes on the E string." Next
week, after the second lesson, the father again asks about the progress, and the
son replies, "This time I learned the first five notes on the A string."
One week later, the son comes home far later than expected,
smelling of cigarettes and beer. So the father asks: "Hey, what happened in
today's lesson?"
"Dad, I'm sorry I couldn't make it to my lesson; I had a gig!"
A tour manager comes across the guitarist and bass player
fighting at the side of the stage and pulls them apart asking what the problem
was.
"That bastard detuned one of the strings on my bass", says the
bass player, "And we're on stage in five minutes."
"So what's the problem?", asks the tour manager.
"He won't tell me which string it was he detuned", said the
Bassist.
What's the difference between Rock music and a machine gun?
The machine gun only repeats 10 times per second.
Contact Ed Roman for this Rick Neilson
Replica Hamer Guitar
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