YAMAHA Revstar Standard RSS02T Electric Guitar, Swift Blue

3/20/2023-
The newest renditions of the Yamaha Revstar series includes 3 price tiers starting with the Element, then the Standard and finally the Pro. This is designated in their model numbers as RSE, RSS and RSP.

The Element and Standard are both made in Indonesia whereas the Pro version is made in Japan and costs almost 3 times as much as a Standard. I am focusing on the Standard (RSS02T ) mid-priced level in this review which currently sells at about $800. street price.

-Mahogany double cutaway and contoured single bound body with a maple cap,
-Body is chambered and voiced.
-Either 2 Yamaha P90s or 2 Yamaha Humbuckers,
-Guitar is still somewhat heavy at around 7.5-8.25 lbs.,
-Carbon-reinforced 3-piece bound neck with rosewood board and matt finished profile,
-Stainless Steel frets seated very well and polished,
-5 position switch with position #2 & #4 being slightly out of phase,
-1 volume knob, 1 tone knob, a passive Focus “boost” circuit when the tone control is pulled out,
-The tone control is a push/pull “Focus” switch which uses a signal boost transformer located in control cavity. This uses your amp to boost the guitar’s signal passively approximately 6db.
-24.75″ scale length- same as a LP.
-Deluxe gig bag included with case candy (huge owner’s manual!),
-Conflicting info on the neck stiffeners being either carbon fiber or graphite, but either works well.
-2-way truss rod (I believe- I only needed to make a minor adjustment, but the rod was very effective).
-Tune-o-Matic style bridge has no weirdnesses in the screws or slop in the saddles and its height posts screw into counter sunk anchors in the body for a stable bridge mount and a very clean look.
-Frets checked for level with a Fret Rocker and all were within spec..
-Fret ends are painstakingly rounded.
-Body finish, binding, chrome, wood quality, nut and tuners all very well done. A quality instrument!!!
-Comes with Elixer 10-46 condom strings.

SOME NEGATIVES that killed it for me….
-High factory action and the Intonation was only fair with the factory set-up. After a very careful Pro set-up, now all chords chime up the neck and the action is excellent. The nut looks to be a man-made dull black graphite type and it needed some recutting as the B slot was much higher than the G or E. Even so, there was no string snags at the nut when tuning.

Typically, P90s have some high-density foam under them for 2 reasons, one to keep the pup from vibrating which causes uncontrolled feedback and 2, to tension against the 2 height adjust screws which keeps the pup tight in its cavity so it can’t get accidentally pushed in. This is the way Gibsons usually are. Cheap guitars, like Guitar Fetish and Amazon cheapies that have p90s often use 2 springs instead of foam to hold up the pup which works but makes the pups much looser to the touch. This Yamaha has real loose springs making the pups feel cheap to me-like they’re toys and if accidentally touched they cocked (get stuck in a weird position) in the overly-tight pup cavity. I don’t know if the loose pup mounting springs are a part of the “tuning” by Yamaha, so I’m hesitant to mess with it. I would think not.

Believe it or not, I returned this Sunset Burst RSS20T and exchanged it for a Flash Green RSS20 with humbuckers, which I then returned 2 days later and bought a Strat. While I love P90s in the neck position, the Yamaha bridge P90 I found to be somewhat lackluster. It didn’t sound like a good ole’ P90 in that position to me. I picked up the green RSS20 and found different issues…. Now it sounds like I’m bashing these guitars. Please remember, I come from a “repair” viewpoint, as I’ve been repairing guitars for 47 years professionally, so take it for what its worth.

The first thing was this brand new $800. Revstar RSS20 was cutting out intermittently. This was due to the factory using shielding paint in the cramped output jack cavity. If the jack isn’t oriented just right on the jack plate, the jack’s hot tip comes in contact with the shielding paint, thus, grounding it out and leaving you sounding like Buckethead uncontrolled. I personally dislike shielding paint as it’s a cheap way to make a guitar electrically silent (at the expense of reliability- how many pots have I seen become loose and twist til they ground out the lugs against shielding paint- I see this ALL the time). Good shielded braided wire (like and older LP) is the correct way to keep most guitars quiet electrically IMHO for several reasons which I won’t get into here. And BTW, Yamaha used the cheapest of Asian-made jacks, NOT a reliable Switchcraft #11 or even a clone. For $800. these guitars should come with a Switchcraft double-sprung #11 1/4″ jack or one of the new-fangled multi-contact jacks in it… PERIOD. And ditch the shielding paint in the jack cavity for God’s sake as it’s unnecessary!

The next bummer is VERY opinionated (sorry)…. The Focus switch I found to be useless, annoying and unnecessary as well as the slightly out-of-phase tones on position 2 & 4 on both guitars. While many players would call this “versatility” it reminds my of a 18 speed bicycle… 6 ways to get to gears you don’t use much. Activating the Focus switch sound exactly like deactivating the Focus and rolling off half the tone while simultaneously boosting the volume on your amp. I don’t need this for any reason, like ever. Like with a Tele, keep it simple and you’ll always know where you stand. Too much on-board theatrics and things get fuzzy in a pinch. PLUS, IMHO no one makes a good quality push/pull pot, and to help prove that point, both the Revstars I tried both had scratchy tone pots, even after cleaning them. Lastly on the electronics bashing I’m doing here, who tf wants a transformer in their guitar for a passive super-mild boost? It’s a neat trick of wiring but it’s just utterly useless to me. I wish I loved the way this guitar functioned electrically, but naw, I just personally couldn’t get by this at this price point. OKAY…. one last point here… Matteo Mancuso is one of the hottest players on YT. He is stupid amazing and he is also a Yamaha endorsor and Revstar RSP player. Do you EVER see him play with the Focus switch on any of his RSPs? Nope!

The RevStar is perfect for my use. I am working from a bedroom and can’t disturb everyone else with my acoustic instruments. I am using it with a NUX MP-3 and headphones as a practice setup. I also play it bare to work on fingering and it provides enough acoustic sound (chambered body) to provide feedback. It provides everything that I need and doesn’t break the bank. This is a gig ready instrument with a decent provided gig bag as well. You can have your cake and eat it on a budget. There are three tiers to this lineup and this is the middle tier. I sit quietly in my room jamming with a deluxe reverb amp and nobody else can hear.

This is a beautiful instrument and great to play. I’ve been more of an acoustic player and this is only my second electric in 20 years but I couldn’t be happier. Maybe one point to consider is that it does seem a little thick up the neck but not crazy. It’s not a factor for me, but some may not prefer that. Otherwise it sounds and feels amazing. I recommend this guitar.

absolutely love this guitar
looks and sounds so very good

Revstars are great guitars … only gripe is the pickup switch end knob came off. Will contact Yamaha regarding that but otherwise 5 stars.