REVIEW: Yamaha Revstar Element RSE20

We reviewed Yamaha’s Revstar Element RSE20 electric guitar. 

It’s available in our store! 

Check out the review below: 

Here’s a transcript of the review: 

Today we’re demoing the Revstar Element series. They’re brand new in our shop, and we’re super excited to have these guitars in stock. These are ones that we’ve been looking at for a long time, and a super unique guitar from the electric Yamaha range.  This is the Element – this is the entry-level Revstar guitar, but the bar is set high with the Revstar line and the Element really delivers. It’s a super well-playing and well-constructed guitar. It has, through and through, the Yamaha quality and attention to the features, and the pricing that we really appreciate. 

They do such a good job of delivering consistency and high quality, and that holds true really well with this new Revstar unit. These guitars really have a particular aesthetic.  I mean this one really jumps out, right? They actually come in a really sweet variety of colors. This is the yellow, we also have it in black,  blue, and white, so it really covers the range of different vibes that you would want, from sort of more dialed back and mysterious,  to this one which I really love.  This neon yellow goes absolutely crazy. Kudos to Yamaha for making some really great and unique color choices that match the uniqueness of this guitar. 

It’s got a really distinct body shape.  It’s somewhat like an offset double cutaway guitar. I don’t even know what I could really compare this to – you know there are other guitars that are out there that might have a similar sort of look to it,  but the Revstar really is sort of in a league of its own.  They are really nicely contoured with chambering in the body which make it very nicely balanced and a really just comfortable weight, so I like that a lot. Contouring on the back and on the front as well is just a little bit here for your armrest, and these guitars also feature a double racing stripe up the middle,  which I think looks fantastic.  It sort of hearkens back to the automotive, and I know it kind of is inspired by vintage motorcycle aesthetic, so I really can’t argue with that. It’s super cool set-neck construction, so it’s got a really nice neck joint meets up with the body here, and it’s got just easy access all the way up to the 22nd fret with jumbo fret, and the first real major difference maker to me that I noticed when I picked up this guitar was actually the paint treatment.  The finish treatment on the neck – I really am not sure what this is but it is different from the glossy finish on the body, so on the neck it’s more of a matte finish which is just so comfortable. Your hand doesn’t stick to it or slide around on it the same way that it would with a glossy finish.  This matte is just so super comfortable, and it kind of reminds me of just lightly finished treated wood. I don’t know what they’re doing to get this textured matte finish on it, but it really does a good job. 

It’s got a a substantial neck size, very comfortable –  not like a thin neck profile, it’s more of like a C shape, but again, pretty unique neck profile. I guess I could maybe make the comparison to sort of like an SG type of neck profile, but it really takes on its own sort of thing with the connection with the body joint and the feel of the neck with the treatment. It’s super comfortable playing guitar, 22 jumbo frets, a rosewood fingerboard, and then the guitar is made of mahogany with chambering to balance it out and give it some nice resonance. 

It’s a really great body design. This is actually the slightly updated version of the Revstar. It’s just got a slightly different profile than the original release. Yamaha made some improvements with the release of this current version of the Revstar. Chambered mahogany is a really great wood choice and it’s super stable and very resonant and sturdy. I just love the construction throughout with the full mahogany and the set neck joint. Jumbo frets too are just a really needed feature. I really appreciate having that on most of my modern instruments. All of the Revstars use a Tune-O-Matic style bridge. They also have these kind of cool tuners with it’s sort of like a resin tuning peg which just looks nice. 

Onto the electronics – these are all NI5 focus mid-range and sort of a full spectrum humbucker. 

It’s  just like a standard kind of humbucker sound that will do everything that you need a humbucker to do, and I’ll do some different tones as well to kind of give you a sense of the sound, but I wanted to really feature just how nice and kind of bright they sound. You know, playing clean and that’s really what I look for in a good instrument, one that’s going to respond well to my playing and reward me for good technique and that’s what these pickups do. 

They sound clear throughout – you know, all of the different notes, the chords, the low, low ones pick up great.  The higher notes come out perfectly, and then what you get from there is the ability to access your different combinations. It’s got a three-way selector switch.