Thoughts on the new Yamaha Revstar?

StudioES

@ltf3 said:

@StudioES said:
@ltf3 Beautiful Revstar. What is the Strat in the background? Headstock looks different. JV?

Not sure what JV means?

It is a '72 - 73' hardtail Strat ( no whammy bar ) which I've had for most of my life! Found it it a local shop that sold organs and pianos for a couple of hundred dollars ... way back in 1981 (?). I replaced the pickups with Kinman vintage style single coil noiseless pickups which make it sound like a million bucks ( kept the original hardware of course ).

But it does have a thin neck ... there's a noticeable gap between the neck and the body where the neck slots in. Pretty common from Strats of this age ... sloppy manufacturing basically.

It's been extremely solid however ... travelled the world, been heavily played and had lots of 'adventures'. ha. A real trooper.

Hardtail Strats are hard to find. And you've had one for decades, traveled around the world. Very cool. There must be a lot of memories in that guitar.

When I saw your photo, I noticed its headstock was curvier, like a lot of the early Fender Japan guitars. And some 70s USA-made Fenders.

About the sloppy neck to body fit, that's the first thing I look for when picking up a bolt-on neck guitar. Has that ever been a problem with your Strat in all of the years that you've had it? Like the neck shifts slightly throwing off the intonation, tuning, etc.

StudioES

The Revstar's body shape is similar to the Yamaha SG models from the 60s-80s. Carlos Santana used to play one live before he got the PRS deal.

Montreal_Music

@StudioES said:
The Revstar's body shape is similar to the Yamaha SG models from the 60s-80s. Carlos Santana used to play one live before he got the PRS deal.

If the fretboard is ebony, it probably cost 3K.

The guitar is almost perfect. The input jack, why?

StudioES

Have you checked out the Ibanez Artcore (and upper-class Artstar) models? They're usually a great value.
https://www.ibanez.com/usa/products/category/hollow_bodies/

michael_m

@StudioES said:
The Revstar's body shape is similar to the Yamaha SG models from the 60s-80s. Carlos Santana used to play one live before he got the PRS deal.

There are more Yamaha SG players than most people realize. For some reason they became a favorite of guitarists in post-punk bands in the late 70s and early 80s.

ltf3

@StudioES said:

About the sloppy neck to body fit, that's the first thing I look for when picking up a bolt-on neck guitar. Has that ever been a problem with your Strat in all of the years that you've had it? Like the neck shifts slightly throwing off the intonation, tuning, etc.

Once …. first time I travelled overseas via air with the trusty strat. Though I packed it extremely well in its case I didn’t know to loosen the strings. I arrived , unpacked it and soon started playing it. I suddenly became aware that the high e string was odd. In fact it was barely over the fretboard by the last fret! If I fretted it on the 14 th fret or so, the string slipped off the fretboard!

Anyway I took it to a well known guitar store and the repair person looked at it and asked if it had been on plane. I said ‘yes’ then he quickly brought the guitar down on his knee … as if to break the neck off … it made loud pop… and he gave it back.. all good as gold.

Then I was instructed about why guitar strings should be slackened off before flying. Good lesson.

Been fine ever since. It’s actually very good at staying in tune over time. I suspect it’s too scared to go out of tune after the chiropractic experience of the past 😉

dreamcartel

Ask on SevenString.org if it is a good deal. That’s what I do when I can’t find the Google info that usually take me to they site

They have info about all things guitars and basses and amps and mic and even some production stuff. Now iOS but thats why we are here!

I say get it for stainless steel. If you don’t like it you can return it guitar center ?

StudioES

@ltf3 said:

@StudioES said:

About the sloppy neck to body fit, that's the first thing I look for when picking up a bolt-on neck guitar. Has that ever been a problem with your Strat in all of the years that you've had it? Like the neck shifts slightly throwing off the intonation, tuning, etc.

Once …. first time I travelled overseas via air with the trusty strat. Though I packed it extremely well in its case I didn’t know to loosen the strings. I arrived , unpacked it and soon started playing it. I suddenly became aware that the high e string was odd. In fact it was barely over the fretboard by the last fret! If I fretted it on the 14 th fret or so, the string slipped off the fretboard!

Anyway I took it to a well known guitar store and the repair person looked at it and asked if it had been on plane. I said ‘yes’ then he quickly brought the guitar down on his knee … as if to break the neck off … it made loud pop… and he gave it back.. all good as gold.

Then I was instructed about why guitar strings should be slackened off before flying. Good lesson.

Been fine ever since. It’s actually very good at staying in tune over time. I suspect it’s too scared to go out of tune after the chiropractic experience of the past 😉

Glad to hear that it hasn't been a problem with your Strat, other than the one flying incident.

In the 90s I bought a 70s Telecaster Thinline RI which was in its first year of production at the Ensenada Fender plant in Mexico and it had the neck pocket gap and the neck shifted on me several times while playing. It had the 3-bolt neck attachment rather than the more common 4-bolt.

StudioES

@michael_m said:

@StudioES said:
The Revstar's body shape is similar to the Yamaha SG models from the 60s-80s. Carlos Santana used to play one live before he got the PRS deal.

There are more Yamaha SG players than most people realize. For some reason they became a favorite of guitarists in post-punk bands in the late 70s and early 80s.

Didn't know that. Interesting.
A lot probably ended up in pawn shops. Plus they're a lot less expensive than a Les Paul.

I'm not really a big fan of these double-cut guitars. It's looks like they're missing the top of their head.

michael_m

@StudioES said:

@michael_m said:

@StudioES said:
The Revstar's body shape is similar to the Yamaha SG models from the 60s-80s. Carlos Santana used to play one live before he got the PRS deal.

There are more Yamaha SG players than most people realize. For some reason they became a favorite of guitarists in post-punk bands in the late 70s and early 80s.

Didn't know that. Interesting.
A lot probably ended up in pawn shops. Plus they're a lot less expensive than a Les Paul.

I'm not really a big fan of these double-cut guitars. It's looks like they're missing the top of their head.

John McGeogh and Stuart Adamson are two that come to mind, but I’m sure there were more. I just seem to remember a lot of them around in that era.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@Montreal_Music said:

@StudioES said:
The Revstar's body shape is similar to the Yamaha SG models from the 60s-80s. Carlos Santana used to play one live before he got the PRS deal.

If the fretboard is ebony, it probably cost 3K.

The guitar is almost perfect. The input jack, why?

That's why God invented right angle plugs!

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@ltf3 said:

@StudioES said:

Anyway I took it to a well known guitar store and the repair person looked at it and asked if it had been on plane. I said ‘yes’ then he quickly brought the guitar down on his knee … as if to break the neck off … it made loud pop… and he gave it back.. all good as gold.

See, I would have taken the guitar into the back room and done that out of sight of the customer.