I was a big fan of almost all Yamaha instruments. Except for the flutes... never liked them all that much.
Then, one day, I was at my district repair shop with an alto sax, and happened to notice that, even though it was a Yamaha, it said, "maid in China." Hmm, why is that? And why was I at the repair shop with it? dunno... but I was wary of some of their stuff after that.