Yamaha Revstar RS820CR Electric Guitar, Brushed Black

The workmanship is near perfect. The frets are a mirror shine and the action plays like a guitar with a world class setup. I may have been a lucky one, but honestly this guitar was just excellent out of the box. It receives more attention from other musicians than you would expect due to its unique appearance in a field of Les Pauls, Strats and Tele's out there.The guitar was much lighter than I expected given the mahogany and maple combination. The body cut and subtle taper for your elbow is very comfortable. While it has the same scale length as a Les Paul, the reduced weight and contours allow it to be more comfortable in both a standing or seated position. The fretboard has an interesting radius (its almost flat!), which I have found to be very nice. The neck is substantial without being too thick/fat.Pickups are from the same manufacturer as the PRS SE Korean guitars. I find those guitars wonderfully crafted (probably superior to the Yamaha in some ways), but the tone (to my ears) is superior and more balanced here. There is more low end on the neck pickup, and the bridge pickup just cuts like a knife without being too twangy or shrill.In essence, as you likely will see in Youtube videos, this guitar sounds like a middle ground between the PRS and a Les Paul. Leaning more toward Les Paul. When you pull the low-end cut knob, the guitar leans more toward the PRS sound, albeit with the shorter scale length bringing its own characteristics. When I hand it to Les Paul players, they can get Les Paul tones out of it. When I hand it to a PRS fan, they say it comes close, but hey, can't please everyone.Side Note From The Somewhat-Thrifty Musician Inside Me: I don't know if upgrading to the 820 from lesser models is really worth it. The maple/mahogany/pickup combination is available on lower models (confirmed on the Yamaha website). This one just adds the (very impressive) hand finished / brushed effect and the anodized aluminum pickguard.I'm really happy with it. I hope, if you choose to get one, that it arrives in the condition mine did.

Yamaha has a reputation for delivering a surprising amount of value at given price point. The Revstar series is no exception. Revstar is a relatively new series of guitars that Yamaha introduced in December of 2015. The range covers a pretty broad spectrum of price points. Of the models offered here, the most noticeable differences are that the RS420 and below, are made of Nato-Wood, and have Medium frets. The RS502 and up are mahogany and feature Jumbo frets. The Bridge-types and pickup combinations vary as you work your way up the line as well. The one in this review also came with a padded gig-bag, and a small bag of tools for adjustments.I got the RS820 in Rusty Rat, and then handed it over to the fiancé, a bit of a guitar expert, who was extremely pleased with the guitar (yeah, he put together the review). His words: the neck is a C-shape and has a nice heel-contour for easier access at the higher frets. The body has some nice contouring so it's comfortable to play sitting or standing. The neck-pickup has a warm fat tone, and the bridge pickup is tight and defined. Visually, there's a lot of nice detail, from the contrast of the finish with the polished stripes, to the pickup covers, to the brushed anodized-aluminum pickguard.Overall, this guitar looks and sounds great, and really delivers on value for the price point.

I've been wanting one of these for a while, finally snagged one from Amazon after searching every possible store. Since it was the last one in stock, I knew the one I was ordering was going to have some sort of issue but took the risk anyway. Sure enough, there was cosmetic damage on the body near where you attach the top strap, but gosh darn I love this guitar anyway. Hoping to do a custom art project to repair the cosmetic damage, since returning the guitar would mean I'd have to wait months for a new one.5-stars for the revstar, 1-star for shipping and storage.

I sent it back because the guitar quality was very poor. I the neck binding was damaged in 5 or more locations. I do not know how this was shipped from the factory and sold into the market with damage. Yamaha needs better quality controls.

I have this and a Gibson Les Paul Studio. The tone on this guitar is not as bright as the Les Paul but it still sounds great. The build quality is also very good but it is somewhat heavier than my Les Paul. I love the color and the black stripe accent.