Deconstructing Product Design

Silent Cello SVC-200

Yamaha, 2002

1. Replicating the performance of a long-standing product through a different means Is a design strategy that can dramatically expand a performance envelope and address otherwise intractable problems intrinsic to the traditional product design. Such was the case with molded plywood chairs, microwave ovens, and digital cameras, and such is the case with the Silent Cello. Shigeto Nomura, general manager of strings, guitar, and percussion exports for Yamaha Corporation of Japan, comments: “[Professional cellists] needed an instrument to practice at a hotel or at midnight, and they also saw great potential for big stage use with other electric instruments … Acoustically, we used natural woods, spruce — the same ...