YAMAHA RSS02T £649

Yamaha’s Revstar range gets a serious makeover and much more

- Dave Burrluck

Back in 2015, Yamaha took the wraps off its Revstar range, their first new electric guitar design in over a decade. It involved substantial R&D, not to mention worldwide evaluation sessions with industry insiders and artists, and the final designs mixed up Yamaha’s long guitar history with a dash of motorcycle ‘café racer’ heritage and a flavouring of Japanese craft styles.

Seven years on, here is the Revstar Mk II. Outwardly similar in style these are far from a refresh: the new guitars amount to a substantial redesign. There are fewer models, too (nine in total, including two left-handed models), and the range is split into three levels: the start up Element, the meat-and-potatoes Standard, as with our reviewed RSS02T, both made in Indonesia, and the top-level Japanese-made Professional.

Pulling our RSS02T from its quality gigbag, it appears very similar to the previous style but the changes start with that double-cut body shape which here is slightly enlarged in size. It’s also a chambered design with a thin maple cap all hidden under the faultless gloss finish. Chambering can be used to reduce weight but here it’s about improving the resonance and response informed by Yamaha’s Acoustic Design process. Our sample has a very mainstream ‘solid body’ weight of 3.55kg (7.81lb).

Like the original Revstar, the Mk II models centre on a Gibsonesque scale length of 24.75”, the mahogany neck is glued to the body but again hidden from view are two carbon graphite reinforcing rods either side of the truss rod to, primarily, increase stability. The Revstar’s original neck shape from the 500-series models upwards is changed here to a less chunky profile with a slightly narrower nut along with a satin finish to the neck back.