Yamaha Revstar Standard Review
The latest iteration of the Yamaha Revstar, introduced in 2022, received quite a bit of hype upon the initial reveal and release, with many outlets and reviews praising the new line. Shortly after this initial burst of hype though, the Revstar series seemingly ceased to garner much spotlight, aside from the occasional glowing endorsements from diehard Revstar fans/players such as Chris Buck and Matteo Mancuso.
Though I had never played the earlier iterations of the Revstar, which also has its fair share of fans, I always thought they seemed cool; a very interesting blend of unique yet familiar, a hard balance to achieve. As an avid fan of Les Pauls and other similar guitars, the Revstar checked a lot of boxes for the things I usually tend to enjoy in an electric guitar. With the introduction of stainless steel frets on a sub-$1000 guitar, I had a feeling the new Revstar Standards would be a great value proposition assuming the rest of the guitar was built well. Fortunately, Yamaha delivered.
Construction
Chambered Mahogany Body w/ Maple Top
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Mahogany Neck w/ Rosewood Fingerboard
24.75” Scale
Stainless Steel Frets
Tune-O-Matic Bridge w/ Stop Tailpiece
PPS Nut (42 mm)
Yamaha VH5 Pickups
5-Way Selector Switch
“Focus” Switch on Push/Pull Tone
This particular Revstar has been built incredibly well, especially where it counts. The fretwork is excellent, with each fret being crowned, dressed and properly leveled. All hardware and electronics, subjective considerations aside, have worked flawlessly in my time with the guitar. The Revstar has also been an incredibly stable guitar these last two years and hasn’t needed a truss rod adjustment or a setup tweak in that time. Whether this is due to carbon fiber neck reinforcement, good quality woods, or just luck, this level of stability is definitely a pleasant surprise, especially given the guitar’s price.
Despite the overall great construction quality, there are a few minor aesthetic issues that betray the fact that the Revstar is a comparatively more affordable guitar. I found 2-3 small, black dots on the top of the body that are noticeable when holding and playing the guitar, but they are small enough to where an audience would likely never notice. There was also a very small chip in the paint underneath the tailpiece of the tune-o-matic bridge, but again, this is something only the player will ever notice.
Feel
In addition to being a fairly well-built guitar, I also think this Revstar feels great to play. The neck definitely may be on the thicker side compared to some modern guitars, but I personally don’t find it overly thick. To me, it feels like at its thickest point, the 12th fret area, the neck may be just on the upper end of what many would consider to be a “medium” thickness. That said, I have been finding myself enjoying thicker guitar necks as of late, so it is possible that may be slightly skewing my perceptions a bit.
The other more modern appointments also help contribute to a great playing feel. Stainless steel frets are always a blessing in my humble opinion, as they are more wear resistant and feel much smoother than nickel frets, even very well-polished nickel frets. The satin finish on the back of the neck is also very smooth, and sliding up and down the neck feels great. All the body contours and cutaways also help make this a very comfortable guitar whether sitting down or standing up, even though the body itself may be slightly larger than some other modern guitars. Finally, the body chambering helps make this guitar incredibly acoustically resonant, and as someone who loves “alive” feeling guitars, the Revstar certainly ticks that box.
Sound
While I’m definitely a big fan of how the Revstar plays, I do have some mixed feelings about the tones on offer here. I found that I actually enjoy the more traditional humbucking tones in positions 1, 3, and 5 on the selector switch. To me, the VH5 pickups sound somewhat like a cross between a filtertron-style pickup and a slightly more overwound PAF, and thanks to this voicing, I can see these pickups being useful in a wide variety of genres. I may end up swapping out the pickups at some point, but overall I would say I’m satisfied with the core tones.
Outside of the more traditional tones, I was less impressed by the other tonal offerings. I’ve never been a big fan of out-of-phase sounds, so I don’t really care for positions 2 and 4. To me, these positions have a very unpleasant midrange honk while also sounding strangely hollow. The focus switch was probably the most disappointing feature for me though, because on paper, I love the idea of what it offers. Having a small transformer in the guitar that can act as a passive boost sounds amazing, as you don’t have to be mindful of batteries or need an external drive pedal. In practice however, I found the focus switch makes the tone far too muffled and dark, so I’d rather use a dedicated pedal to boost my signal without worrying about clarity loss.
Conclusion
Overall, I greatly enjoy the Yamaha Revstar Standard, even with its minor aesthetic flaws and my misgivings about some of the available sounds. I’d even go as far as to say that despite these small issues, this guitar might just be my personal favorite guitar (that I’ve tried) under $1000 . It feels very familiar to something you’d see from the Gibson side of things, but with modern features that make it distinct from those more traditional instruments.
In the time that I’ve had it, this Revstar has proven to be an incredibly reliable guitar, and I look forward to seeing how Yamaha continues to iterate on this platform in the future. I’ve now become a fan of the Revstar line in general and would love to try some of the other models like the P90 version or the higher end Revstar Professional. Hopefully, the Revstar proves to have some staying power in the guitar world, as I think this is a fantastic guitar especially given its price.
