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Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 7:36 am
by SquareWaveFuzz
So Yamaha have probably succeeded at securing my brand loyalty with these

Supposedly an homage to the Yamaha Superflighter (which I bought one of the other month) but they seem to be suspiciously Reverend-ised, with a Reverend style bass contour that they're calling a "dry switch"

But seeing as they're cheeep and it could keep my superflighter company, I'm definitely getting the RS420 after Christmas

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:28 am
by friendship
The name and even the body is pretty Reverend, I wonder if they were outsourced for the design of these. They look great and the price is really good. I wonder how the necks feel.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:20 pm
by kosta
If you're in the UK, there's a guy on Gumtree up near Newcastle with an insane stash of vintage Yamahas for sale.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:28 pm
by waltdogg
Dang I want one of the models with an adjustable hardtail.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:23 pm
by SquareWaveFuzz
kosta wrote:If you're in the UK, there's a guy on Gumtree up near Newcastle with an insane stash of vintage Yamahas for sale.
Just had a look at these, impressive collection, but they're all priced a little high for me.

I got my Super Flighter SF500 for £300, he's got one in a less rare colour for almost double that

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:02 pm
by kosta
Yeah, he's got that stuff priced at a premium for sure. Crazy collection.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:30 am
by UglyCasanova
Great look! Digging that dull blue-ish grey finish. :drool:

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:59 pm
by SPACERITUAL
Donovan and myself were just discussing me and we both really liked the aesthetics but felt the price was a little high. Alhough compared to schecters i guess the price really isnt. I assume these are made in korea?

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 7:58 pm
by D.o.S.
SPACERITUAL wrote:Donovan and myself were just discussing me and we both really liked the aesthetics but felt the price was a little high.
This is probably your most revealing post ever.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:10 pm
by Chankgeez
:lol:

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:24 am
by DrMabuse
SPACERITUAL wrote:I assume these are made in korea?
Japan for the top of the line model, Indonesia for the rest. Seems like it takes most countries 10-20 years to really hit their stride making guitars. Japan was there by '78, Korea got there maybe 10 years ago, and the higher end Squiers speak well of China these days. Not sure how close Indonesia is, maybe this line is the one that'll show they've arrived. In another 10 years, all import guitars will be built deep underground by Morlocks.

The name Revstar just screams "look at me if you're considering a Reverend!" On the one hand, Reverend should take it as a compliment, Yamaha is basically going after their customers. On the other hand, it's got to suck to be a relatively small company going up against a behemoth like Yamaha. I think Gibson was the last company Yamaha copied in both name and form, so Reverend is in pretty good company.

I bought a Sensei recently before these came out. It's an awesome guitar, and after seeing these I'd buy the Sensei again. Now if I'd bought one of the older Sensei's without the forearm carve, I might feel a bit different.

Bottom line: only one of these companies has ever made a Ron Asheton signature model. The other company will never be quite as cool.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 10:05 am
by SquareWaveFuzz
TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that the Sensei was inspired by the Yamaha Superflighter anyway, for the body shape at least

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:50 am
by rfurtkamp
Indonesian stuff is stupid solid - they've been making stuff for more than the ten year span already (import acoustics that were..mostly junkers started popping up on my radar in the late 90s), and CNC machining has cut a lot of the learning curve off as has better management/oversight.

The Squier VM stuff is MII. MII Mustang replaced my MIJ '69RI one without question as go-to 'stang (still have both).

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2015 9:34 pm
by repoman
The Korean made stuff in the mid 90s was very good....Korean stuff now has kind of entered a phase kind of like mid to late 70s MIJ? Maybe not *quite* as good, but similar. I think you can get a good instrument made in China (like an Edwards) or Indonesia, but there is still a strong possibility you'll get something kinda of crummy. The 2 MII guitars I had (VM Jag/EpiLP) were a far cry from the mid 90s Korean stuff (relative similar price point) and disappointing even considering the really cheap price.

Re: Yamaha Revstar?

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 3:57 pm
by JereFuzz
That RS502T in Bowden Green is awesome. I never thought much about Yamaha previously (either good or bad) but after buying a junked Yamaha Pacifica (1988) online for $60 and refurbishing it, I was extremely impressed by the guitars. Narrow and thin (though not Wizard thin) necks with 13.75" radius, solid construction, and many after market parts FORCED me to buy a new Pacifica 112J for a whopping $209! (with stand, soft case, strings, etc.) Upon researching Yamaha guitars I run into the Revstar line and immediately put it on my wishlist. If it comes close to the Pacificas (it does have a 13.75" radius) I think any owner would be happy.