Drawing inspiration from London and Tokyo’s vintage street-racing motorbikes, Japan’s heritage of engineering excellence and the 50-year legacy of Yamaha guitar craftsmanship, every detail of each Revstar model has been carefully engineered to bring out the unique personality of each guitar in the lineup. From the curves and contours of the ground-up body design to the distinctive colors and finishes and custom-wound pickups that perfectly match the guitar’s character, the Revstar collection comprises a diverse lineup of instruments as unique as the guitarists who play them. This is Revstar — meet your other half.
Racing Forward, Looking Back
The Revstar bears some resemblance to Yamaha’s sought-after and long-discontinued SG series. But a glance past the basic contours reveals that the Revstar has a unique profile all its own, with subtle offset curves and a subdued cresting-wave curvature that looks like a tip of the cap to Rickenbacker’s 325. In a tie to Yamaha’s equally celebrated and successful history as a motorcycle manufacturer, the guitar also borrows understated styling cues from ’60s café racer motorbikes.
On this particular guitar, styling features included a grey/blue “Rusty Rat” satin finish accented by two gloss racing stripes, an anodized aluminum pickguard, and minimalist-chic volume and tone knobs. It tastefully balances influences from Yamaha’s design heritage and ’60s Southern California guitar and car culture, though I noticed that the satin finish tended to pick up a lot of finger smudges, so a little vigilance is needed to keep the guitar looking minty. Thankfully, a beautiful, textured hard-shell case is included.
Get Your Motor Running
Given Yamaha’s track record for high quality—particularly on Japan-built instruments—the Revstar didn’t let us down. The construction is almost flawless. Frets are perfectly seated and smooth over the length of the neck. The factory setup is excellent. And top-flight parts like the TonePros AVT-II bridge help make the Yamaha stage-ready right out of the case.
The Revstar is a performance-oriented machine that you can really fly on. Its mahogany 24.75″ scale set neck is thick yet comfortable, and has a nice, flattish 13.75″ radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets that is made for blazing. The neck joint is carved to allow for excellent upper fret accessibility. In addition to the easy-to-play neck, a lot of thought was put into the guitar’s overall ergonomics. A belly cut in the back and a forearm contour on the guitar’s flat-topped body make for a very comfortable playing experience.
General Specifications
| Scale Length | 24 3/4″ (628.6mm) | |
|---|---|---|
| Neck | Mahogany | |
| Fingerboard | Rosewood | |
| Radius | 13 3/4″ (350mm) | |
| Construction | Set-in | |
| Frets | 22, Jumbo | |
| Body | Maple top, Mahogany | |
| Tuners | Die-cast | |
| Bridge | Tonepros AVT-II | |
| Pickups | VH7+ ; Vintage output humbucker with antique finished cover | |
| Pickup Switch | 3 position lever | |
| Controls | Master Volume, Master Tone (Push-Pull, Dry Switch) | |
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