The Yamaha Revstar Guitars



A picture seen all over Yamaha promotional material.

Launched with much fanfare in 2015/16 the Yamaha blurb was full of things like this.

Inspired by the stylish lines and effortless performance of the Café Racer bikes that colored the streets of 1960s London, the Revstar Professional wholeheartedly embraces the concept of being a stripped down, tuned up high performance package of sublime guitar craftsmanship. Hand-selected premium parts and materials combined with an ingenuity and know-how that reflects Japan’s detail-oriented engineering ethic, ensure that this guitar is true to the ethos of the Café Racer—function, character, and style to burn.

What is for sure is that this was the first completely new Yamaha Electric Guitar range for many years. There were many models and variations with some additions and changes until the relaunch in 2022. 8 models appeared as new in the 2016 catalogue.

All models had the same basic body and neck shape reminiscent of some early SGs or SFs and had the following common specs
Set in neck with Gloss Polyurethane finish
24.75" scale
Nut 43mms Urea
Fretboard Rosewood 13.75" radius
22 Frets
Headstocks quite plain with Tuning fork logo on the front and Model, Country of origin and serial number on the back.

Here's the rest


Model RS320 RS420 RS502 RS502T RS620 RS720B RS820CR RSP20CR
Body Nato Gloss Finish Maple/Nato Gloss Finish Maple/Mahogany Matt Steel Wool Finish Maple Mahogany Gloss Finish Flamed Maple Mahogany Matt Steel Wool Finish Flamed Maple Mahogany Matt Steel Wool Finish Maple/Mahogany Matt Steel Wool Finish Maple Mahogany Matt Steel Wool Finish
Neck Nato Nato Mahogany Mahogany Mahogany Mahogany Mahogany Mahogany
Tuners Diecast Diecast Diecast Diecast Diecast Locking Diecast Diecast Diecast
Pickups HH3 Ceramic VH3 Alnico VP5+ Alnico P90 VP5+ Alnico P90 VH5 Alnico V HBs VT5 Alnico V HBs VH5 Alnico V HBs VH7 Alnico HBs
Controls 1V 1T 3way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch* 3 way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch 3 way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch 3 way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch 3 way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch 3 way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch 3 way 1V 1T push-pull dry switch 3 way
Bridge Tailpiece Tune-O-Matic Stopbar Tune-O-Matic Stopbar Adjustable Wraparound Tune-O-Matc Aluminium Tailpiece Adjustable Wraparound Tune-O-Matic Bigsby Satin Nickel Tone Pros AVT-II Satin Nickel Tone Pros AVT II
Pickguard 1 ply black 3 ply black 3 ply black 3 ply cream 3 ply black 3 ply black Aluminium Copper
Fret Size Medium Medium Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo
Colours at Launch Black Steel, Red Copper or Stock Yellow Black Steel, Fired Red or Factory Blue Shop Black or Billet Green Bowden Green Brick Burst or Burnt Charcoal Ash Gray or Wall Fade Rusty Rat or Steel Rust Brushed Black or Steel Rust
New Colours 2018 Vintage White and Ice Blue Maya Gold Black Snake Eye Green Vintage Japanese Denim and Shop Black
All are made in Indonesia except the RSP20CR which is made in Japan and has Yamaha AIR System

Some useful info on the bridge on the 820CR and the P20CR from Yamaha forum member P90_luv from Tonepros
They replied it's their Gibson/Epiphone AVT2 model with metric studs. The satin/nickel finish is not available for the Gibson bridge or studs which are exclusive to Yamaha. They offered a PRS AVT2 satin bridge where they would substitute the needed metric (non-satin) studs for the Gibson (American thread), satin studs. That sounded pretty good. I asked what the difference is with the Paul Reed bridge. Seems fitment is different the PRS has a longer scale and the "home" mounting position is further away from the neck. The Gibson version is shorter where the PRS bridge may not slide up far enough for proper intonation? Basically, they may work. So its an AVT2 Gibson/Epiphone model to be safest and will absolutely fit.

And on the nut from Saul on the forum

As a few people have now asked about replacing that pretty awful Urea nut that is fitted to the revstar range of guitars I thought it would be useful to post this info.
The only model of revstar that comes with a good quality TUSQ nut is the top of the range RSP20CR and as all the revstar range share the same nut dimensions it would make sense to order the part for the RSP20CR and fit it to whatever model guitar you own.
So these are the details you need: TUSQ XL BT-6041-00 43mm(Bl)Part Number: WU137900
Update and correction January 2026
George from Russia has sent me this information
There's a small error on your 1st generation Revstar page regarding Graphtech replacement nuts, it is listed as TUSQ XL BT-6041-00 but that's the part number for the low end Pacifica necks (012-612VII), the correct PN for Revstars should be PQ-6114-00 for the light one and PT-6114-00 for the dark one.
Thanks George



The Yamaha Musicians Forum has lots of threads on Revstar Mods upgrades etc. See my links to access or better still join and ask your questions. Lots of knowledge there.


*The dry switch here is some blurb
Designed especially for Revstar, Yamaha's proprietary Dry Switch gives you the versatility of a coil-split, but with a tone that's miles ahead. Using a passive filter circuit painstakingly designed to give the perfect frequency response, the Dry Switch filters out low frequencies to give the punch and clarity of a single-coil pickup minus the inevitable hum and hollow tone often associated with split humbucking pickups. And because it's a filter circuit, the Dry Switch works on both humbuckers and P-90s for a totally unique, usable tone.
Engaging the switch lowers the Bass frequencies by about 4Dbs.


The switch


The RSP20CR




The 820CR Rusty Rat top and Steel Rust


720B in Black


620 in Brick Burst



A 502 Top and a 502T


A 420 in Maya Gold


Lastly a 320
Interesting that only the mid range have block inlays on the fretboard.

Various other models were introduced mainly at the 2019 NAMM
RS720BX
This is a variation of the 720B differing only in having a non flamed Maple and Mahogany gloss finish body. Guitar available in Vintage White
RS702B
Identical to the 720BX except for the pickups which are VP5n: P-90 Type Single-Coil/Alnico Vs a 3 ply cream pickguard and the colour which is Black
RS502TFMX and RS520TFM
All as 502T except

502T 502TFM 502TFMX
Body Maple Mahogany Flame Maple Laminated/Maple/Mahogany Flame Maple Laminated/Maple/Mahogany
Finish Gloss Polyurethane Hand-Brushed Satin (Steel Wool) Finish/Polyurethane Hand-Brushed Satin (Steel Wool) Finish/Polyurethane
Pickguard 3 ply cream 3 ply cream 3 ply black
Colours as above Vintage Japanese Denim Ash Gray


The 720BX


The 702B



A 502TFM and 502TFMX
On to the second series

The Custom Models
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