Giving the words „yamaha mustel“ in the search machine www.google.com, you will find first „An Overview of Yamaha Celestas“. In addition it is written that in 1989 Yamaha received a request from the MUSTEL company asking Yamaha to carry out repairs work for the Mustel Company….
This information is not true. The Director of the Mustel company, Mr. Michel Peron, certified us as follows: “herewith I certify in my position as the Director of the firm Mustel S.A. that the Mustel company never contacted the well known Japanese firm Yamaha“.

In the article “ An overview of Yamaha Celestas” there are further extremely incorrect and untrue statements. It seems that Yamaha has obviously an object in view, to damage our company:
It is Charles Victor Mustel and not Auguste Mustel who applied in Paris for the Celesta patent in 1886 and which has been granted the same year in October. Victor Mustel writes:
“The invention for which a patent is being applied is a new musical instrument I name „Celesta“. The sound is produced by metal bars A and B hit by piano hammer (C) positioned in a very special way). The hammers do not hit the bars vertically like in the upright piano or from the bottom like in the grand piano but from above as published in the drawing attached to the letter of patent showing the characteristics of the action”.
Copy of this patent with the drawings can be seen on our web page, www.celesta-schiedmayer.de.

The predecessor of the celesta, the Dulcitone (tuned forks instead of metal bars), has not been invented in 1860 by Victor Mustel but buy Thomas Machell (1841 – 1915). The company. Thomas Machell & Sons was established in1879 in Glasgow. The Typophone has been invented by Mustel. He applied for a patent in 1865 which has been granted in 1868.

Besides the incorrect information concerning the history of the celesta, YAMAHA points out that “Competitor celestas suffer from a number of limitations”. Considering that for Yamaha the company Mustel is since 1970 out of business, these negatives comments are obviously aimed at us. These limitations concerning our instruments do not exist.
In the contrary of what Yamaha pretends, it is doubtless that rapid passages can be played on our instruments and that the volume moving across the keyboard can be controlled. Further the comments from Yamaha telling that performers cannot play soft balanced chords, loud expressive play, trills, glissandi on our instruments, are unfounded.
Yamaha spreads unreliable comments which are degrading and damaging our company and our reputation. This kind of promotion is not acceptable and prohibited by law.

As already mentioned, Mustel never contacted Yamaha with a request to carry out repair work. According to the statement of Yamaha, it is to understand that based on this request, Yamaha is manufacturing a celesta with a new design, which means that just the outside appearance of the instrument has been modified, keeping the Celesta-Mustel Action inside. This understanding is reinforced through the description of the celeste given by Yamaha in the same article as follows:
“The celeste sound is produced by steel bars which rest on felt rails over hollow wood resonators. The steel bars are struck from above by felt-covered hammers which are connected to a keyboard by means of a complicated mechanism”

Everyone will admit that the description of the celesta in this article from Yamaha is correct and think that Yamaha manufactures a celesta with a Mustel-Celesta Action. But Yamaha manufactures another instrument, a glockenspiel with a grand piano action, where the bars are struck from the bottom and names this new instrument Celesta or/and Cel..

Since Victor Mustel, the inventor, clearly excludes in his patent the installation of a grand piano action in the construction of the celesta, it is misleading according to the fact that Yamaha manufactures a glockenspiel with a grand piano action and names this instrument Celesta. For a better understanding of the situation, a Clavinova is not a Piano and cannot be sold under the designation Piano.
 
Our company established in 1735 in Erlangen, since 1809 in Stuttgart, manufactures the Celesta since 1890. Yamaha used to buy instruments from us. Yamaha started to manufacture a glockenspiel with grand piano action in 1992.

20.03.2009

Elianne Schiedmayer
Geschäftsführende Gesellschafterin
Schiedmayer Celesta GmbH
Schäferhauserstr. 10/2
73240 Wendlingen
HRB 225560 Amtsgericht Stuttgart
www.celesta-schiedmayer.de