How did Yamaha, an engineering manufacturer for the Japanese/Axis supercede the United States and Europe as the predominant maker of musical instruments?

by SomeFreeTime
rocketsocks

This is just a quick interjection to point out that you've got the order of some things wrong here. Yamaha began making musical instruments before it made heavy equipment, this is why the corporate logo is three interlocking tuning forks. They began making organs and pianos around the turn of the 20th century, and guitars not long after that. They only began making motorcycles and other internal combustion engine driven equipment in the 1950s. (How they became a dominant maker of musical instruments is still a whole other story, however.)