The PDF link is in the description now. I’m aware in the before/after comparisons the before clips had more reverb. I don’t think that affects the core sound. I also forgot to mention that Chris Buck has a 3 way switch and two volume pots. Which is also a good solution so long as you can live without a tone control.
He no longer has it. He explained it recently he didn't like the volume volume setup and had it restored back to the normal revstar setuo with volume and tone pot.
The only one I found to be a necessary improvement was position 4, because it's got that chimey funk sound. But since it's just a high pass filter, I think EQ is enough.
I prefer the stock sounds too, but it's a matter of taste. About focus switch, it really shines on high gain, bringing you to humbucker territory. That's the brilliance of this guitar - you don't need to grab another axe on the gig to play heavy riffs. Just pull the switch.
Having just ourchased this guitar and tested it extensively last night - I would note that the push/pull mechanism works great with overdrive, and best on the bridge pickup. It gives a sort of filtered tone that sounds great. It doesn't work well on clean settings, but you get good results with gain. The pickups themselves sound great ( mine were already set at a perfect height) the volume knob is fantastic as well, the treble bleed works very well. I wouldn't change a thing on this guitar,except maybe locking tuners to make string changes easier.
Just a little feedback to say I wired in your full mods version into my Revstar with the humbuckers and it works fine. Better then fine, as its an improvement over stock. Removing the transformer takes out 3 oz in weight by itself and good riddance to it and same goes for the pull switch that always sat higher than the volume knob. So I have your EZ mods in my P90 Revstar and now will upgrade it to the full mods version too. I used Korean made Alpha full size pots in audio taper and they provide a very nice amount of friction when turning. They also have the advantage of fitting the oem knobs so eliminates the need to fit something else. The Revstars look stock but sound better without the transformer and the phase shifted positions 2 and 4. Thanks so much for making this info available as I'm loving my Revstars even more!
I have a question as I want to do the full mod to my humbucker revstar also. I believe the humbuckers are 4 wire so would I be able to wire the push pull to split the coils?
Wow what a quality video this is, Lyle. Really love this. The diagrams helped me pre-think about the changes without getting distracted by the real-world objects, so that when I see the actual object I can understand the explanation better. Great for learning. And the drawings are very clear! Then, the video itself - great lighting, smooth editing. I mean, the shots of the guitar and then Logan look so excellent. Then, Logan playing so you can hear the end result, with the explanations drawing my attention to whatever is of import. And not to leave out the narration, which sounds clear and rich as always. This must have taken you a ton of time to create for us, but wow, the quality is unmistakable. Very impressive.
I played my share of crummy, sub-$500 to $1000 guitars as a young guitar player. We have come SO far, now I want a Revstar even more. Excellent video, Lyle.
From Leo: Nice work. The 2 and 4 engineered positions made really useful tones. I had never considered the 470 K resistor in parallel for the common middle position. The additional load really chops off some of the harshness on the higher frequencies. I think I will try to add that to a traditional 3 way switch. Thank you for your careful and clear explanation.
Ohhhh MAN!!! Dude you're my hero! I REALLY like my Revstar but have the same issues you did with it but had no idea how to simplify the mess under the hood. I'll DEFINITELY be looking into making some of these changes in the near future. Thank you again for such deep knowledge matched with high quality diagrams and video. You're setting a new higher standard for the rest of the UA-cam's to live up to.
I decided a while back, my next guitar purchase will be a Revstar. I just love the look and design, and price is great for its quality. Jack Thammarat sold me on its quality and sound, along with C Buck. He is such a monster player. So is Jack.
To my ears, almost if not entirely universally the sound is more 'open and airy' with the mods. Took off a bit of what I would describe as a very light weight blanket over the tones from the stock guitar and opened it up overall. Thank you for your efforts in documenting this, sir!
Thanks for taking the time to record the efforts you've made to make a great guitar more to your liking😎👍 BRILLIANT 😃👍 Have a feeling that this recording is gonna be saved and shared around the world😃👍👍 Personally am saving this in case I want to do the changes in the future.👍👍 The Revstar RSS02T has become my #1 non-vibrato equipt guitar😎👍 😎✌👍❤🖖
This is a rabbit hole. I once had one of my Ibanez (HSH) with a 13 coil selection mod. And I gave up adding serial and vary-tone options when the schematic became spaghetti and required drilling my beautiful translucent red finish. Now it is stock wiring with mellower pickups. I ended up with the conclusion that too many options will make you waste more time fiddling with knobs and switches than actually playing. That "preset" you made was a good idea.
These Kinman pickups and wiring really shine in the Revstar wow! Great video thanks again for this thoughtful comparison and all the details on your mods.
I'm listening on very high end studio monitors and I find the Kinman pickups to be very sterile. Very clean an lean and pristine... but sterile... not much warmth, and they seem to have lost any of the hints of "vintage" tone vibe. Nothing wrong with this at all if that's the tone you are going for, but I prefer the neck pup especially to have a bit more warmth and vintage feel. I don't mind making the bridge a little brighter though.
Really appreciate your opinions on this and very interesting take on it. I actually like mine stock and see some of your flaws as positives. The treble bleed does thin out the sound, which allows me to get a single coil sound by winding the volume back. The boost circuit then throws it back past p90 into thick humbucker territory. The tone control is really responsive to finesse this. I’m agreed the 2 and 4 positions are a bit too weird for me, but I hear they sound good with very high gain. Great content 👍
Very, very nice. I like the idea of the 5-way being a gradual blend between the pickups. I have always had a difficult time liking 2 pickup guitars with 5-ways, such as newer PRS Customs, but I will definitely keep this wiring in mind in case I get a guitar like that!
Wow, this is a great example of how to be a solid dude. Providing the pdf along with the video and explanation is above and beyond. Sounds great, Lyle! Thanks for sharing all this with us! Very cool 🎸 Do you recommend using EMI shielding? I copper taped my 57 reissue strat, and it doesn't seem to change anything with the 54 custom shop pickup sound/hum. It did wonders for my stock 66 vox hurricane, though. Is there something in the way different pickups/bodies are built that make EMI shielding pointless for some and useful for others? I followed Gerry Hayes' 'Complete Guitar Wiring' book, a great resource for anyone who tinkers.
Thanks man. PDF coming, gotta finish an amp first. Well-done shielding is always a good idea unless it’s a very valuable vintage instrument. But shielding keeps out environmental noises. It won’t stop single coil buzz.
I made it to my p90 strat, it's a really great upgrade, and a very clever move. It's sounds clearer and less fat, i think it's really great for clean sounds lover. The rock/overdrive lovers would maybe prefer the original layout. I keep the two different switch blades for change it easily if i want... Thanks a lot Lyle.
This presentation has inspired me to try some different wiring on my original Fender WRHBs . I had already started going down a bit of a rabbit hole when I discovered they originally came with 1 Meg pots, but you just opened up an other avenue to contemplate. Thanks, I will be watching this one a few more times and downloading that PDF.
You have done MAGIC and I LOVE it!!! And you are sharing it all for free!!! Thank you so much, this is amazing knowledge!!! I appreciate you sharing your work so very much, thank you again!!! :)
I think one major issue with comparing the tones here (before and after) is that with the various resistors placed in series with both pickups after the mods, the volume/gain levels are quite different so it's difficult to compare before and after versions. There are some parts where I preferred stock, but that may well be due to the thin-sounding low-volume version of the 'after" mod. Definitely, some of the modded version sounds are better, with more tonal balance but it is hard to tell with the drastic volume difference at play here
Well, the volume difference between positions 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 in the final version is about the same volume difference you’d find between the same positions in a Strat. So not drastic. Yes, it’s lower than the stock 2 and 4 positions, but it also doesn’t sound notched and honky. Positions 1, 3, and 5 are the same level as stock.
Really enjoyed positions 3 and 5, then position 4. I preferred original position 1. I was indifferent to position 2, new ou original. Congrats for your efforts and detailed documentation, 50's wiring fits very well in revstar. You've made a great contribution for this guitar!
I just have my guitar tech do this changes and I can testify this was the best decision I could've made. The tone came alive, positions 2 and 4 are now usable. I removed the push pull cause it really didn't make sense to me, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the push pull instead. Bottom line: do it, this guitar needs it!
great suggestion for the revstar! tried the wiring changes with mine (stock pickups) and am going to stay with them. already wanted to sell the guitar. thank you very much sir!
I like the Revstar original sounds, also I like the boost switch. But your classic wiring combined with the unique pickup 5-way switch adds a very nice touch. I seem to get overwhelmed with my casino, having to blend the pickup volumes on middle position, this would be a great alternative! I am buying this guitar very, very soon so thank you for the informational video!!
I found your videos very interesting. So, thank you for doing all that work. My personal subjective conclusion about the guitar, & its many tonal manifestations, is that (to my old ears) it sounds either too muddy or too aggressive depending on which position you choose.
I’m gonna steal that idea for the 2 and 4 positions, that sounds awesome. Also 100% agree with the 50s wiring being superior. I used to try to throw treble bleeds in everything but the 50s wiring is just simpler and preferable.
The amount of time I spent thinking about what that transformer was doing when I first saw this guitar is embarrassing to admit. Thanks for breaking down the wiring so that nerds like me can sleep better at night.
The new pickups made a big change too. My understanding is in positions 1 and 5 the new wiring doesn't have any impact and they sound very different to the stock PUs. I hear less mid rangy and more treble, more "clear".
I just got the Revstar II standard and in love with the guitar, but the "focus switch" isn't so great. I probably won't get the new pickups (cause the originals sounds good) but thank you for sharing this mod. It turns a very good guitar even better...I got mine for 570 new!
Wish I had discovered your channel back when I was figuring all this out through trial and error. I didn't know how the revstar was wired but I think I would have made similar changes, that pos 3 mod is something I wouldn't have thought of.
Thanks Murray. Yamaha actually did something similar in the previous version of the Revstar and in the new lower priced version, though Yamaha made it kind of drastic. Rickenbacker also did things along these lines, but most “guitar wirers” don’t play around with caps as filters.
@@PsionicAudio Yeah I stick to pickups because there's not a lot going on in terms of circuitry, the interesting stuff is way they're effected by resonant frequencies, that's something I'd really like to test scientifically. It's something I can definitely feel in the way they play but no ones seems to have done any solid science on guitars specifically.
Well, the “simple” passive guitar circuit is pretty complex in that it has inductance, resistance, and capacitance in a very changeable network. The math gets complex.
@@PsionicAudio Thats very true, then you've got magnetic fields that you can manipulate also, its not voodoo there's just a lot more going on than meets the eye.
Call me contrare, except for your treble bleed mod, I actually like the stock wiring and thought several wiring mods lost some of the tone complexity of the original. I also noticed annoying sonic "fuzz", especially on the trebles, that seemed worse after the mods. I would assume that was the amp, not the pups, but it biased me against the mods. I'll have a relisten with different headphones that might change my mind. Good video!
Just to let you know, if you plan to go to Japan. I picked up my Revstar last week for 592 USD out the door at the flagship 12 story Yamaha Ginza store. Versus 880 in the states. Weak yen, strong dollar, and no tax when I showed then my passport. Beautiful store and building it is. You can get the pro, Japan made for about 1400. They have some beautiful custom 'not for sale' Revstars on display. Unfortunately, the Yamaha museum is in another city.
Great video, thank you! Still, I prefer the stock setup. Phase shifts sound really interesting and the passive boost is useful for jazzy tones. Each to their own.
I love the changes and the tips for sure! The only think I didn’t care for was the new bridge pickup by itself. I felt like it was super thin and gutless, but I don’t the wiring or anything was at fault. Just my 2 cents 🤷♂️
I have the standard and I thought the pups were just okay. The tones through the capacitor just seemed dark and muddy to me. I swapped out the pups with the Fishman fluence P90s and wired it using the push pull pots on both volume and tone to open up all the variation of the fluence sounds (each pup has three tone settings). I also added the fluence universal battery pack, and was able to fit it all in the existing cavity without any additional drilling. It sounds fantastic, and has zero hum.
Nice change.. the only position that seems like a toss up was the middle selector with the new pickups and wiring. All the others were clear winners to me.
Awesome job with this! I’ve been waiting to see what your changes were because I’m gonna give my Revstar the same treatment with the soldering iron. :)
“When you pause on UA-cam it greys out…” yes it does, but then click once on the picture and the picture goes back to looking normal. Just thought you’d like to know.
Nice upgrades. Sounds la lot smoother and warmer. Have you ever reviewed the Revstar with HB's? Guess I'm just not a fan of the single coil sound. Thanks
5 for effort, 5 for thinking😁 But I do think the stock wiring sounds better, I suppose its what you are going to play that matters. I love your video tough, really helpful for my lp project😁👍 This new sound you get from this revstar is between a strat and a banjo😆 lol good for some music👍 Ps more videos, music is doing and playing while trying ds Excuse my bad English😔
The stock knobs won't fit typical pot shafts? That is pretty disappointing. Thanks for the diagrams, this is exactly what I was looking for being a Les Paul guy 👍
I noticed the playing demos are very "percussive" semi chicken pickin centric through just about all positions... so of course making all positions sound less bassy and more mid/upper mid centric makes that percussive playing sound better. However, would have been nice (especially on the neck pickup) to show some more articular and longer soft blues notes to see the difference. Some players may prefer the warmer tones for blues and jazz on that neck and the middle positions I think.
Was wondering about this. I knew the Yamaha's were made well but never loved the sound out of them. Thought about grabbing one and throwing some burstbuckers in it. Make it sort of SG-like.
50's wiring ftw. I like the blend options you did with the 5 way, very nice. I actually like the boost thing with the transformer, if I get one of these I'll have to tweak it to leave that somehow, not a fan of the cheap push/pull pots it has stock. Would be nice to hear what it sounds like into some gain.
I’ll do a video with some gain soon. Logan’s not a rocker but I think the sound of a guitar into a clean great Deluxe Reverb tells 90% of what you need to know. As to the transformer, I prefer a cocked wah.
I had talked myself into the Standard Revstar based on P-90s, stainless frets and build quality. I talked myself out of it based on weird electronics (mud boost switch), skinny neck and >8lbs. I don’t want to buy new music gear (like guitars, pedals and amps) that requires modifications to sound good. But I’ve only seen demos and reviews of this; I haven’t had opportunity to play this new generation of Revstars.
Thanks for this fantastic video. You should do more guitar reviews as I don’t have much of a clue what you’re talking about with amps.😂 I have this guitar! As you said it is a great guitar but I too felt there were few usable pu positions and especially didn’t like the boost too much. I may give these mods a go if I get the inclination. Thanks again!
Quick UA-cam hack when the video is paused/gray. If you click on the picture after pausing, the gray will go away. Click back on the picture to get your play button back. Good luck.
Very nice changes, I like the new sounds more. That treble is more realistic for sure. I have this kind of silly idea to rewire my strat but need to figure out how. I want to go to a 3 position switch and do a blender, but blending the neck in on every position instead of the middle pickup as is usually the case. I rarely use the Hendrix/SRV tones but it would be nice to have neck and bridge together.
Ok some feedback on trying out your mods. I have just completed the EZ version of the mod, but also fitted new full size pots in, (for the full install later) and scrapped the transformer. I have ordered a Superswitch which I will fit the components to for the full mod conversion when it arrives. This way I get to test out both versions of your mods. Wow, I did not expect such an improvement just by removing the volume bleed and adding a 470k resistor in parallel in the center switch position. It growls in the center position now without needing much drive. Its like discovering an old friend again and it will be hard to go ahead now and do the full mod as I'm enjoying this EZ version. Thanks so much for the great ideas and the great sounds it produces.
@@PsionicAudioYeah, I ordered the 5 position superswitch as I'll keep the ez mod oem superswitch and then have both ez and full, easy to swap in and out. I'm also thinking about doing the ez mod on my humbucker version of the Revstar. Have you tried it on the humbucker version? Never used the transformer so happy to remove it and save the weight :)
Great stuff! Would you suggest similar mods to the humbucker version of the Revstar including a pickup swap? And maybe removing the transformer altogether? Thanks!
Thank you. All I can say is that the mods would work on the HB version and I would do that to own I owned. But if you like the stock sound that’s fine too. I haven’t played the HB version so I don’t know if I would like the stock pickups, but again, that’s subjective. This client wanted noiseless P90s so the Kinmans were chosen. You can remove the transformer if you don’t use it - it just adds a bit of weight. Or leave it. Sorry to be all “it depends” but realistically that’s the answer.
@@PsionicAudio thanks for getting back to me. As you say, it’s a subjective thing. I’m a bit torn as it’s lovely guitar to play and very well made but it seems to lack a bit of zing overall and unless I have a sudden conversion to jazz I can’t ever see me using that boost!
nice changes, i can see myself do something like this with 50's wiring, i think ill be swapping out the 5way with a 3way switch. pickup swap for sure not sure what maybe lolars
50s tone circuit is awesome if you never move the tone pot from 'dimed' position but if you use the tone pot the volume changes! That's the reason for the modern tone pot wiring scheme.
Just watching your video and at 4:09 I noticed in the slow shot of the wired in pots, you have the volume pot (terminal 2) appearing to be connected to ground. That would obviously result in no output to the jack so just curious what that shot shows? Interesting changes and great sounds, so I think I will try your full mods with my Yamaha P90s and see how it goes. Great video and excellent detail for someone like me to follow and install. Thanks for making it available.
Yes, Vol just below 3, T just below 6, B just below 5, reverb was just under 3 here was a tiny bit higher in the last video (the before clips). Pretty much a “flat” Deluxe Reverb setup (the amp has no bright cap - YMWV if your does).
I hope someone from Yamaha is watching 🙃. It's gonna be my next guitar but it will take some time because of my current Pacifica 311h, which is absolutely perfect.
This is a very impressive instrument out of the box (with minor setup adjustments). Heard great things about the PRS SE DGT but haven’t tried one. So much better than the Hondos of the past…
Hello there...great video, and thanks for creating it. My Revstar started having component issues a couple months back. Switch is scratchy, and the push pull for the boost is sticking. I decided that if I was going to replace the components that I might as well try something different. I almost exclusively play in position 3. I like the tone, and well...the lack of hum. Finding your video, I have a couple questions. First and foremost, when removing the existing parts, I noticed a couple extra ground wires coming from the pickup area. As you know, both pickups have their positive, and then the negative, heat wrapped together....but, in addition to the bridge ground that comes from a hole near the volume pot, there are 2 additional black wires coming from the same hole that the pickup wires come from. What are these wires? they were connected to ground on the back of the pot, so obviously they are ground wires. I haven't removed the pickups (not swapping pickups, just pots switch and jack.) Are they grounds connected to cavity shielding, or something? And question 2...of the thousands of resistors I have collected from building pedals for a couple years, I have no 270K resistors. I know you mentioned that the choice of resistors can be variable. What effect does a slightly higher value or slightly lower value (240K) have on the tone in that particular switch position. Ok, third bonus question....does the type of 10nF capacitor make any significant difference? I have Monolithic Ceramic, Polyester Mylar, Polyester Box Type, regular Ceramic Disc, Tantalum...does it really matter which I use...pros and cons?
Most carbon resistors are 10% tolerance (or +-27K for a 270K). The author zeroed in on a value using a pot so his final value of 270K is probably spot on. You can series/parallel various resistors to get exactly 270K (ex. a 240K in series with a 27K should be within 10% of 270K), but would need an ohm meter to verify the actual (not calculated) resulting resistance. (Grab a basic electronics manual for the series and parallel resistance and capacitance formulas.) Then again +-10% might be close enough.
Love, love , love your channel. Thinking about upgrading my new revstar, I am immediately upgrading the tuners, but I have the humbuckers and would love the option of getting rid of the pull boost, any schematics for up grading the electronics with this? Thanks for your channel!
exactly what Iooked for... Got one in a trade... P90s too noisy and yeah those out of phase sounds suck. Great guitar overall however and nice to play.
Do u have some good recommendations for someone to start getting into soldering and electronics. Something like a good book to learn the basics from, or website, or channels? I really want to start learning. Start with something small like making patch cables for my pedal board then work up to the point of modifying my own guitars and go from there. Your Revstar mods sounds fantastic btw. 😁
I think Yamaha got it right tbh. All of your revised tones sound thin on this demo and lack the character that the originals have. I own the pro version the rsp02t and it’s stunning all stock. Can’t imagine why you’d change the pickups! The only thing I’ve done is adjust pickup heights and replace strings 😊
IMHOP I find the new wiring too tame?-quite and takes away from the P90's punch to cut through a dense mix especially live and it loses the "wildness" of a P-90 pick ups but horses for courses as they say
That’s not the new wiring, that’s the owner’s choice of pickups. It’s a cleaner neck than many p90s and I set the bridge to match. But if the amp was turned up more, they roar. I’ll be showing that in a future video. But this was the Logan show and he’s not an aggressive overdrive guy.
The PDF link is in the description now.
I’m aware in the before/after comparisons the before clips had more reverb. I don’t think that affects the core sound.
I also forgot to mention that Chris Buck has a 3 way switch and two volume pots. Which is also a good solution so long as you can live without a tone control.
He no longer has it. He explained it recently he didn't like the volume volume setup and had it restored back to the normal revstar setuo with volume and tone pot.
It would have been nice to hear the mods with the same pickups.
Hey @PsionicAudio How could I do a coil split mod using the existing push pull?
Maybe I am the only one, but I liked the original p1 sound more. Sounded warmer and fuller to my ears
Yeah, me too, along with position 2. Also, the focus mode is great if you play higher gain.
The only one I found to be a necessary improvement was position 4, because it's got that chimey funk sound. But since it's just a high pass filter, I think EQ is enough.
I prefer the stock sounds too, but it's a matter of taste. About focus switch, it really shines on high gain, bringing you to humbucker territory. That's the brilliance of this guitar - you don't need to grab another axe on the gig to play heavy riffs. Just pull the switch.
I'm so very happy that I had you modify the electronics. What a difference. I'm very pleased. Thank you again Lyle.
Having just ourchased this guitar and tested it extensively last night - I would note that the push/pull mechanism works great with overdrive, and best on the bridge pickup. It gives a sort of filtered tone that sounds great. It doesn't work well on clean settings, but you get good results with gain. The pickups themselves sound great ( mine were already set at a perfect height) the volume knob is fantastic as well, the treble bleed works very well. I wouldn't change a thing on this guitar,except maybe locking tuners to make string changes easier.
"Flaws" is an overstatement.
Just a little feedback to say I wired in your full mods version into my Revstar with the humbuckers and it works fine. Better then fine, as its an improvement over stock. Removing the transformer takes out 3 oz in weight by itself and good riddance to it and same goes for the pull switch that always sat higher than the volume knob. So I have your EZ mods in my P90 Revstar and now will upgrade it to the full mods version too.
I used Korean made Alpha full size pots in audio taper and they provide a very nice amount of friction when turning. They also have the advantage of fitting the oem knobs so eliminates the need to fit something else. The Revstars look stock but sound better without the transformer and the phase shifted positions 2 and 4. Thanks so much for making this info available as I'm loving my Revstars even more!
I have a question as I want to do the full mod to my humbucker revstar also. I believe the humbuckers are 4 wire so would I be able to wire the push pull to split the coils?
Wow what a quality video this is, Lyle. Really love this. The diagrams helped me pre-think about the changes without getting distracted by the real-world objects, so that when I see the actual object I can understand the explanation better. Great for learning. And the drawings are very clear! Then, the video itself - great lighting, smooth editing. I mean, the shots of the guitar and then Logan look so excellent. Then, Logan playing so you can hear the end result, with the explanations drawing my attention to whatever is of import. And not to leave out the narration, which sounds clear and rich as always. This must have taken you a ton of time to create for us, but wow, the quality is unmistakable. Very impressive.
I played my share of crummy, sub-$500 to $1000 guitars as a young guitar player. We have come SO far, now I want a Revstar even more. Excellent video, Lyle.
From Leo: Nice work. The 2 and 4 engineered positions made really useful tones. I had never considered the 470 K resistor in parallel for the common middle position. The additional load really chops off some of the harshness on the higher frequencies. I think I will try to add that to a traditional 3 way switch. Thank you for your careful and clear explanation.
Ohhhh MAN!!! Dude you're my hero! I REALLY like my Revstar but have the same issues you did with it but had no idea how to simplify the mess under the hood. I'll DEFINITELY be looking into making some of these changes in the near future. Thank you again for such deep knowledge matched with high quality diagrams and video. You're setting a new higher standard for the rest of the UA-cam's to live up to.
I decided a while back, my next guitar purchase will be a Revstar. I just love the look and design, and price is great for its quality. Jack Thammarat sold me on its quality and sound, along with C Buck. He is such a monster player. So is Jack.
To my ears, almost if not entirely universally the sound is more 'open and airy' with the mods. Took off a bit of what I would describe as a very light weight blanket over the tones from the stock guitar and opened it up overall. Thank you for your efforts in documenting this, sir!
Thanks for taking the time to record the efforts you've made to make a great guitar more to your liking😎👍
BRILLIANT 😃👍
Have a feeling that this recording is gonna be saved and shared around the world😃👍👍
Personally am saving this in case I want to do the changes in the future.👍👍
The Revstar RSS02T has become my #1 non-vibrato equipt guitar😎👍
😎✌👍❤🖖
This is a rabbit hole. I once had one of my Ibanez (HSH) with a 13 coil selection mod. And I gave up adding serial and vary-tone options when the schematic became spaghetti and required drilling my beautiful translucent red finish. Now it is stock wiring with mellower pickups. I ended up with the conclusion that too many options will make you waste more time fiddling with knobs and switches than actually playing.
That "preset" you made was a good idea.
Thanks, I completely agree. Simple is almost always better. You never want to be second guessing everything.
These Kinman pickups and wiring really shine in the Revstar wow! Great video thanks again for this thoughtful comparison and all the details on your mods.
I'm listening on very high end studio monitors and I find the Kinman pickups to be very sterile. Very clean an lean and pristine... but sterile... not much warmth, and they seem to have lost any of the hints of "vintage" tone vibe. Nothing wrong with this at all if that's the tone you are going for, but I prefer the neck pup especially to have a bit more warmth and vintage feel. I don't mind making the bridge a little brighter though.
Really appreciate your opinions on this and very interesting take on it. I actually like mine stock and see some of your flaws as positives. The treble bleed does thin out the sound, which allows me to get a single coil sound by winding the volume back. The boost circuit then throws it back past p90 into thick humbucker territory. The tone control is really responsive to finesse this. I’m agreed the 2 and 4 positions are a bit too weird for me, but I hear they sound good with very high gain. Great content 👍
Very nice improvement. These pickups sound darn good, too.
Thanks Logan. I enjoyed your demonstration.
Very much appreciated, it sounds like a whole different guitar.
congrats on the channel growth! thank you for adding to the best of UA-cam.
Very, very nice. I like the idea of the 5-way being a gradual blend between the pickups. I have always had a difficult time liking 2 pickup guitars with 5-ways, such as newer PRS Customs, but I will definitely keep this wiring in mind in case I get a guitar like that!
Wow, this is a great example of how to be a solid dude. Providing the pdf along with the video and explanation is above and beyond.
Sounds great, Lyle! Thanks for sharing all this with us! Very cool 🎸
Do you recommend using EMI shielding? I copper taped my 57 reissue strat, and it doesn't seem to change anything with the 54 custom shop pickup sound/hum.
It did wonders for my stock 66 vox hurricane, though. Is there something in the way different pickups/bodies are built that make EMI shielding pointless for some and useful for others? I followed Gerry Hayes' 'Complete Guitar Wiring' book, a great resource for anyone who tinkers.
Thanks man. PDF coming, gotta finish an amp first.
Well-done shielding is always a good idea unless it’s a very valuable vintage instrument.
But shielding keeps out environmental noises. It won’t stop single coil buzz.
Got to say that I find stock is nice, but your variant is very good!
Good content to have with coffee. Thanks Lyle
I made it to my p90 strat, it's a really great upgrade, and a very clever move. It's sounds clearer and less fat, i think it's really great for clean sounds lover. The rock/overdrive lovers would maybe prefer the original layout. I keep the two different switch blades for change it easily if i want... Thanks a lot Lyle.
Vast improvement over stock. The guitar sounds great.
Terrific professional work on all levels. Glad to have found your channel
This presentation has inspired me to try some different wiring on my original Fender WRHBs . I had already started going down a bit of a rabbit hole when I discovered they originally came with 1 Meg pots, but you just opened up an other avenue to contemplate. Thanks, I will be watching this one a few more times and downloading that PDF.
You have done MAGIC and I LOVE it!!! And you are sharing it all for free!!! Thank you so much, this is amazing knowledge!!! I appreciate you sharing your work so very much, thank you again!!! :)
I think one major issue with comparing the tones here (before and after) is that with the various resistors placed in series with both pickups after the mods, the volume/gain levels are quite different so it's difficult to compare before and after versions. There are some parts where I preferred stock, but that may well be due to the thin-sounding low-volume version of the 'after" mod. Definitely, some of the modded version sounds are better, with more tonal balance but it is hard to tell with the drastic volume difference at play here
Well, the volume difference between positions 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 in the final version is about the same volume difference you’d find between the same positions in a Strat. So not drastic.
Yes, it’s lower than the stock 2 and 4 positions, but it also doesn’t sound notched and honky.
Positions 1, 3, and 5 are the same level as stock.
Really enjoyed positions 3 and 5, then position 4. I preferred original position 1. I was indifferent to position 2, new ou original. Congrats for your efforts and detailed documentation, 50's wiring fits very well in revstar. You've made a great contribution for this guitar!
I just have my guitar tech do this changes and I can testify this was the best decision I could've made. The tone came alive, positions 2 and 4 are now usable. I removed the push pull cause it really didn't make sense to me, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the push pull instead.
Bottom line: do it, this guitar needs it!
great suggestion for the revstar! tried the wiring changes with mine (stock pickups) and am going to stay with them. already wanted to sell the guitar. thank you very much sir!
I like the Revstar original sounds, also I like the boost switch. But your classic wiring combined with the unique pickup 5-way switch adds a very nice touch. I seem to get overwhelmed with my casino, having to blend the pickup volumes on middle position, this would be a great alternative! I am buying this guitar very, very soon so thank you for the informational video!!
Beautiful tones!
Excellent modifications. The Revstar has a much more clear and open sound.
I found your videos very interesting. So, thank you for doing all that work. My personal subjective conclusion about the guitar, & its many tonal manifestations, is that (to my old ears) it sounds either too muddy or too aggressive depending on which position you choose.
Fantastic mod. I genuinely think even the upgraded pots improved the tone of the 1&5 positions but that might be psychosomatic
I’m gonna steal that idea for the 2 and 4 positions, that sounds awesome.
Also 100% agree with the 50s wiring being superior. I used to try to throw treble bleeds in everything but the 50s wiring is just simpler and preferable.
The amount of time I spent thinking about what that transformer was doing when I first saw this guitar is embarrassing to admit. Thanks for breaking down the wiring so that nerds like me can sleep better at night.
Great job and very clear presentation! Thanks 😃👏👍
The new pickups made a big change too. My understanding is in positions 1 and 5 the new wiring doesn't have any impact and they sound very different to the stock PUs. I hear less mid rangy and more treble, more "clear".
I like Yamaha instruments. I played their custom drum kits for years.
I love your disclaimer at the beginning. "Your not wrong" haha.
I'm pretty sure he said "You're not wrong".
I just got the Revstar II standard and in love with the guitar, but the "focus switch" isn't so great. I probably won't get the new pickups (cause the originals sounds good) but thank you for sharing this mod. It turns a very good guitar even better...I got mine for 570 new!
Wish I had discovered your channel back when I was figuring all this out through trial and error. I didn't know how the revstar was wired but I think I would have made similar changes, that pos 3 mod is something I wouldn't have thought of.
Thanks Murray. Yamaha actually did something similar in the previous version of the Revstar and in the new lower priced version, though Yamaha made it kind of drastic. Rickenbacker also did things along these lines, but most “guitar wirers” don’t play around with caps as filters.
@@PsionicAudio Yeah I stick to pickups because there's not a lot going on in terms of circuitry, the interesting stuff is way they're effected by resonant frequencies, that's something I'd really like to test scientifically. It's something I can definitely feel in the way they play but no ones seems to have done any solid science on guitars specifically.
Well, the “simple” passive guitar circuit is pretty complex in that it has inductance, resistance, and capacitance in a very changeable network. The math gets complex.
@@PsionicAudio Thats very true, then you've got magnetic fields that you can manipulate also, its not voodoo there's just a lot more going on than meets the eye.
And then all your work can be undone by a Fender Thin...
Wow, amazing work
Call me contrare, except for your treble bleed mod, I actually like the stock wiring and thought several wiring mods lost some of the tone complexity of the original. I also noticed annoying sonic "fuzz", especially on the trebles, that seemed worse after the mods. I would assume that was the amp, not the pups, but it biased me against the mods. I'll have a relisten with different headphones that might change my mind. Good video!
Just to let you know, if you plan to go to Japan. I picked up my Revstar last week for 592 USD out the door at the flagship 12 story Yamaha Ginza store. Versus 880 in the states. Weak yen, strong dollar, and no tax when I showed then my passport. Beautiful store and building it is. You can get the pro, Japan made for about 1400. They have some beautiful custom 'not for sale' Revstars on display. Unfortunately, the Yamaha museum is in another city.
And you got to buy it Japan,, that much cooler.
Great video, thank you! Still, I prefer the stock setup. Phase shifts sound really interesting and the passive boost is useful for jazzy tones. Each to their own.
I love the changes and the tips for sure! The only think I didn’t care for was the new bridge pickup by itself. I felt like it was super thin and gutless, but I don’t the wiring or anything was at fault. Just my 2 cents 🤷♂️
I have the standard and I thought the pups were just okay. The tones through the capacitor just seemed dark and muddy to me. I swapped out the pups with the Fishman fluence P90s and wired it using the push pull pots on both volume and tone to open up all the variation of the fluence sounds (each pup has three tone settings). I also added the fluence universal battery pack, and was able to fit it all in the existing cavity without any additional drilling. It sounds fantastic, and has zero hum.
Great vid!
Nice change.. the only position that seems like a toss up was the middle selector with the new pickups and wiring. All the others were clear winners to me.
Awesome job with this! I’ve been waiting to see what your changes were because I’m gonna give my Revstar the same treatment with the soldering iron. :)
“When you pause on UA-cam it greys out…” yes it does, but then click once on the picture and the picture goes back to looking normal. Just thought you’d like to know.
So much information, delivered clearly and concisely with excellent graphics and then the sound comparison to cap it all. Perfect!
Nice upgrades. Sounds la lot smoother and warmer. Have you ever reviewed the Revstar with HB's? Guess I'm just not a fan of the single coil sound. Thanks
5 for effort, 5 for thinking😁
But I do think the stock wiring sounds better, I suppose its what you are going to play that matters.
I love your video tough, really helpful for my lp project😁👍
This new sound you get from this revstar is between a strat and a banjo😆 lol good for some music👍
Ps more videos, music is doing and playing while trying ds
Excuse my bad English😔
Fabulous job Lyle! 👏🏼
Love to see a Squier Stratosonic get its video!
The stock knobs won't fit typical pot shafts? That is pretty disappointing. Thanks for the diagrams, this is exactly what I was looking for being a Les Paul guy 👍
That new position 2 and 3 are really nice tones. This is a swiss army knife guitar now.
I noticed the playing demos are very "percussive" semi chicken pickin centric through just about all positions... so of course making all positions sound less bassy and more mid/upper mid centric makes that percussive playing sound better. However, would have been nice (especially on the neck pickup) to show some more articular and longer soft blues notes to see the difference. Some players may prefer the warmer tones for blues and jazz on that neck and the middle positions I think.
Was wondering about this. I knew the Yamaha's were made well but never loved the sound out of them. Thought about grabbing one and throwing some burstbuckers in it. Make it sort of SG-like.
Much better! What was Yamaha thinking?
50's wiring ftw. I like the blend options you did with the 5 way, very nice. I actually like the boost thing with the transformer, if I get one of these I'll have to tweak it to leave that somehow, not a fan of the cheap push/pull pots it has stock. Would be nice to hear what it sounds like into some gain.
I’ll do a video with some gain soon. Logan’s not a rocker but I think the sound of a guitar into a clean great Deluxe Reverb tells 90% of what you need to know.
As to the transformer, I prefer a cocked wah.
I had talked myself into the Standard Revstar based on P-90s, stainless frets and build quality. I talked myself out of it based on weird electronics (mud boost switch), skinny neck and >8lbs. I don’t want to buy new music gear (like guitars, pedals and amps) that requires modifications to sound good. But I’ve only seen demos and reviews of this; I haven’t had opportunity to play this new generation of Revstars.
This one doesn’t feel heavy, though I haven’t weighed it. The neck is too thin for my tastes but most would love it.
Thanks for this fantastic video. You should do more guitar reviews as I don’t have much of a clue what you’re talking about with amps.😂
I have this guitar! As you said it is a great guitar but I too felt there were few usable pu positions and especially didn’t like the boost too much. I may give these mods a go if I get the inclination.
Thanks again!
Quick UA-cam hack when the video is paused/gray. If you click on the picture after pausing, the gray will go away.
Click back on the picture to get your play button back. Good luck.
Definitely easier on the ear. Nice job.
Very nice changes, I like the new sounds more. That treble is more realistic for sure.
I have this kind of silly idea to rewire my strat but need to figure out how. I want to go to a 3 position switch and do a blender, but blending the neck in on every position instead of the middle pickup as is usually the case. I rarely use the Hendrix/SRV tones but it would be nice to have neck and bridge together.
In my Strat. I have positions 6 & 7, 6 is all three in series, and 7 is neck and bridge for a quasi Tele sound. Push pull pot.
Bridge
Thank you vert much for sharing!
Ok some feedback on trying out your mods. I have just completed the EZ version of the mod, but also fitted new full size pots in, (for the full install later) and scrapped the transformer. I have ordered a Superswitch which I will fit the components to for the full mod conversion when it arrives. This way I get to test out both versions of your mods.
Wow, I did not expect such an improvement just by removing the volume bleed and adding a 470k resistor in parallel in the center switch position. It growls in the center position now without needing much drive. Its like discovering an old friend again and it will be hard to go ahead now and do the full mod as I'm enjoying this EZ version. Thanks so much for the great ideas and the great sounds it produces.
So glad you dig it! The models that have 5 way switches come stock with the superswitch, just in case you ordered a second one not knowing.
@@PsionicAudioYeah, I ordered the 5 position superswitch as I'll keep the ez mod oem superswitch and then have both ez and full, easy to swap in and out.
I'm also thinking about doing the ez mod on my humbucker version of the Revstar. Have you tried it on the humbucker version? Never used the transformer so happy to remove it and save the weight :)
It should work exactly the same with the HBs.
Great stuff! Would you suggest similar mods to the humbucker version of the Revstar including a pickup swap? And maybe removing the transformer altogether? Thanks!
Thank you. All I can say is that the mods would work on the HB version and I would do that to own I owned. But if you like the stock sound that’s fine too. I haven’t played the HB version so I don’t know if I would like the stock pickups, but again, that’s subjective. This client wanted noiseless P90s so the Kinmans were chosen. You can remove the transformer if you don’t use it - it just adds a bit of weight. Or leave it.
Sorry to be all “it depends” but realistically that’s the answer.
@@PsionicAudio thanks for getting back to me. As you say, it’s a subjective thing. I’m a bit torn as it’s lovely guitar to play and very well made but it seems to lack a bit of zing overall and unless I have a sudden conversion to jazz I can’t ever see me using that boost!
nice changes, i can see myself do something like this with 50's wiring, i think ill be swapping out the 5way with a 3way switch. pickup swap for sure not sure what maybe lolars
Great mods! but is it me or the overall sound is "thinner"?
When you pause on youtube, just tap the screen one more time and and it goes back to normal.
50s tone circuit is awesome if you never move the tone pot from 'dimed' position but if you use the tone pot the volume changes! That's the reason for the modern tone pot wiring scheme.
You’re misunderstanding the circuit. More on this later.
Great show. Would enjoy similar content.
I probably wouldn’t use positions 2 and 4 regardless. The transformer had its charm on the neck pickup.
Just watching your video and at 4:09 I noticed in the slow shot of the wired in pots, you have the volume pot (terminal 2) appearing to be connected to ground. That would obviously result in no output to the jack so just curious what that shot shows?
Interesting changes and great sounds, so I think I will try your full mods with my Yamaha P90s and see how it goes. Great video and excellent detail for someone like me to follow and install. Thanks for making it available.
That’s shielding on that wire which is grounded but the center conductor goes to the volume pot wiper.
@@PsionicAudio That would explain what I saw and thanks for replying!
You got rid of a lot of the honkiness and nasal tone. Sounds great! Were the amp settings (vol, treb, bass) all the same too?
Yes, Vol just below 3, T just below 6, B just below 5, reverb was just under 3 here was a tiny bit higher in the last video (the before clips). Pretty much a “flat” Deluxe Reverb setup (the amp has no bright cap - YMWV if your does).
cool! thanks! If get one I'll have to remember how to find this vid.
I hope someone from Yamaha is watching 🙃. It's gonna be my next guitar but it will take some time because of my current Pacifica 311h, which is absolutely perfect.
the revisions to the wiring are more pleasing to the ear. The dynamics in his playing are more noticeable. The stock wiring seemed lifeless.
Man, it seems like you can get plenty of quality these days in the sub $1k category of guitars.
This is a very impressive instrument out of the box (with minor setup adjustments). Heard great things about the PRS SE DGT but haven’t tried one.
So much better than the Hondos of the past…
@@PsionicAudio Thats the other guitar I was thinking about when I wrote this. People seem to love the SE DGTs.
@@PsionicAudioHondo, lol, I remember them selling for $99bin the mid 80's and you got total crap for you're $99.
Hello there...great video, and thanks for creating it. My Revstar started having component issues a couple months back. Switch is scratchy, and the push pull for the boost is sticking. I decided that if I was going to replace the components that I might as well try something different. I almost exclusively play in position 3. I like the tone, and well...the lack of hum. Finding your video, I have a couple questions.
First and foremost, when removing the existing parts, I noticed a couple extra ground wires coming from the pickup area. As you know, both pickups have their positive, and then the negative, heat wrapped together....but, in addition to the bridge ground that comes from a hole near the volume pot, there are 2 additional black wires coming from the same hole that the pickup wires come from. What are these wires? they were connected to ground on the back of the pot, so obviously they are ground wires. I haven't removed the pickups (not swapping pickups, just pots switch and jack.) Are they grounds connected to cavity shielding, or something?
And question 2...of the thousands of resistors I have collected from building pedals for a couple years, I have no 270K resistors. I know you mentioned that the choice of resistors can be variable. What effect does a slightly higher value or slightly lower value (240K) have on the tone in that particular switch position.
Ok, third bonus question....does the type of 10nF capacitor make any significant difference? I have Monolithic Ceramic, Polyester Mylar, Polyester Box Type, regular Ceramic Disc, Tantalum...does it really matter which I use...pros and cons?
Most carbon resistors are 10% tolerance (or +-27K for a 270K). The author zeroed in on a value using a pot so his final value of 270K is probably spot on. You can series/parallel various resistors to get exactly 270K (ex. a 240K in series with a 27K should be within 10% of 270K), but would need an ohm meter to verify the actual (not calculated) resulting resistance. (Grab a basic electronics manual for the series and parallel resistance and capacitance formulas.) Then again +-10% might be close enough.
Love, love , love your channel. Thinking about upgrading my new revstar, I am immediately upgrading the tuners, but I have the humbuckers and would love the option of getting rid of the pull boost, any schematics for up grading the electronics with this? Thanks for your channel!
Fascinating. Is that bass roll off mod similar to what Reverend is doing with their 'bass contour' control?
I can’t say as I haven’t had a Reverend in. Probably something along these lines though.
exactly what Iooked for... Got one in a trade... P90s too noisy and yeah those out of phase sounds suck. Great guitar overall however and nice to play.
Now it’s got that t bone walker 1950s bluesy sound. The whole to want p90s is that vintage profile. Of course this guy is an excellent guitarist
Do u have some good recommendations for someone to start getting into soldering and electronics. Something like a good book to learn the basics from, or website, or channels? I really want to start learning. Start with something small like making patch cables for my pedal board then work up to the point of modifying my own guitars and go from there. Your Revstar mods sounds fantastic btw. 😁
Nice work! 5/5 positions I preferred the new sounds, even on my shitty macbook speakers lol
Thanks!
Danke!
The potentiometers were long or short shaft? Also, how did you fit the original volume knob in the CTS pot?
very cool
I'm gonna have to try out the 50s wiring
I think Yamaha got it right tbh. All of your revised tones sound thin on this demo and lack the character that the originals have. I own the pro version the rsp02t and it’s stunning all stock. Can’t imagine why you’d change the pickups! The only thing I’ve done is adjust pickup heights and replace strings 😊
I wonder if there is a better transformer that could be swapped for the stock one
IMHOP I find the new wiring too tame?-quite and takes away from the P90's punch to cut through a dense mix especially live and it loses the "wildness" of a P-90 pick ups but horses for courses as they say
That’s not the new wiring, that’s the owner’s choice of pickups. It’s a cleaner neck than many p90s and I set the bridge to match. But if the amp was turned up more, they roar.
I’ll be showing that in a future video. But this was the Logan show and he’s not an aggressive overdrive guy.