YAMAHA REVSTAR
YAMAHA REVSTAR
88
GUITARIST JUNE 2022
10
voice. Frankly, the Standard sounds huge,
especially when you engage position 2 with
that slight honk. That said, it just might be
the most Marmite feature on these new
guitars, and we’re sitting on the fence.
Unfortunately, during our test time it
emerged that the RSE20’s humbuckers
were off-spec – a shame because the guitar
itself is really quite superb, not least at the
price. If its correct pickups go down the hot
vintage vibe of the Standard (which we’re
told is what they should do) then combined
with the Dry Switch, which thins the sound
for a more ‘Fender’ vibe, the RSE20 might
well emerge as a serious bargain and a really
excellent modding platform.
Verdict
Creating a successful new guitar design on
an international level is far from easy and
a major reason why so many makers stick
closely to designs that, in many cases, are
more than five decades old. Revstar might
not have changed the guitar landscape, but
there’s a sense of progression here, certainly
not desperation to save a sinking ship.
We don’t really buy the new chambered
design as a method of substantial weight
reduction. None of the guitars are that
much lighter than the first iteration, nor are
they lightweight; the ‘right weight’ is closer.
They feel business-like, fit for purpose
without being overweight. But even the
lowly RSE20 has a lively response, the
sort of thing you’d experience on a higher
level instrument. The Standard takes that
foundation and adds the graphite neck
reinforcement (at worst some insurance
for the neck staying stable) and stainless-
steel frets, and the Pro model simply
refines those features for a guitar that easily
competes at its price point and higher.
Sounds are well chosen and very
mainstream, but the five-way switching is
a viable take on the usual offering, and the
treble bleed circuits help to retain clarity at
lower outputs. Do we miss some true single-
coil sounds on the humbucking models? A
little. And as fans of the original Dry Switch,
we’re only just getting our heads around the
new Focus Switch. That said, if you wanted
to convert Focus to Dry it’s easily done with
just a couple of very cheap components.
One of the sales slogans of the original
Revstars was ‘Just Different Enough’, and
that’s not been forgotten on these second-
generation models. They’re not trying
to be ‘better’ versions of a classic design.
Instead, in typical Yamaha style, they are
refreshingly very much their own thing,
underpinned by excellent build quality
with a unique feature set.
11
11. Like the original
Revstars, on the RSE20
we get a three-way pickup
selector switch, master
volume and master tone
with a pull switch to
engage the Dry Switch
high-pass lter, as used
on the original models
10. Another feature retained
from the original series,
this tailpiece reinforces
the Café Racer in uence
of the initial concept.
It was designed by Piotr
Stolarski: “Originally,
the idea was to have the
strings anchoring through
the body or to attach
them to the tailpiece, like
a convertible. So, the nal
design is adjustable –
higher or lower – but not
string-through,” he said
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GIT485.rev_yamaha.indd 88GIT485.rev_yamaha.indd 88 12/04/2022 15:4412/04/2022 15:44