That is great advice about necks! I have come to the exact same conclusion only very recently. The importance of a neck that you like playing cannot be overstated, it's where you live.

Good on you mate! I've also got a small collection and have bought some Artist guitars recently, I am actually very impressed by them. I've also got a kit on order from Artist, the Tele style one with the humbuckers. So I'll be really interested to see how you go with yours.

its just a psychological thing with cheap guitars. the expensive ones also need to be set up.

Anyone ever told you you look like Steve caballero? Aha holy

They use fresh wood and cheap parts... so you just have to wait for the wood to settle and the parts to relic and walla... you have a peach! :)

I didn't even know DYI kits existed so I'm looking forward to your video mate.

Good stuff. 😉👍✨ You are correct that an inexpensive Import guitar can be made better with some time and effort. One of the best tools you can buy is a Stew Mac Fret File and that alone will make the guitar FEEL better in your left hand by taking care of the fret ends. Also rolling the fingerboards helps too. One thing I will point out in addition to adjusting the height of the pickups, play around with the screws in the humbuckers. I have a Schecter S-1 Elite (Duncan Designed humbuckers) where just by playing with the screw pole pieces in the pickups, I saved myself a bit of money but unchoking the pickup and find a sound that I REALLY like! It's a free mod and you can always put them back in if it doesn't do anything for your tone. I would recommend replacing the pots in the cavity with Bournes mini pots as you will get a better "throw" and Audio taper on those compared to cheap pots that are OEM. I also go for Orange Drop capacitors and a Switchcraft jack so that I give the pickups EVERY advantage to bring out the most in them. I can recommend Kaish switches too as an Import guitar upgrade. For me a $200ish guitar is basically a neck and body and I will most likely replace most of not all the other parts. I end up with a $350-$450 guitar that is not offered by any of the major brands. To me modding a Import guitar is about having $1500 worth of fun in a $350 (usually that's where many of them land price wise) guitar. I don't worry, I celebrate nicks and bumps and I just have fun rocking out. 😎👍✨ *I'm a Yank so all prices are US Dollars.😉

Flatter radius does not mean faster playing. I have small/medium hands and i can play way faster on normal traditional neck/fretboard. Them wide flat necks are taylored for those with larger long fingers. This is a very misleading misnomer from guitar manufacturers. Charvel does this too as others. They will advertise as being able to play faster. But in truth, its only for larger hands. I have this same new player ii and its great! Manufacturers need to correct how they advertise these fretboard profiles and offer both modern high radius and traditional.

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Thanks John. I have the exact same duo of Revstars as you have. I originally bought the black P90s standard just like the one are playing in the video and because I loved it so much, I just had to go out and buy the humbucker model and of course I got the sunrise burst :) I find myself gravitating more to the P90s. All the both are fantastic guitars. I've played around with the focus switch but never really made friends with it. In fact I just use the bridge pick up and neck pick up straight up and usually I have the volume roll down a little bit and then push it up for soloing. I've always had Yamaha acoustics and now I have the two Revstars, one Pacifica, two lovely Japanese built acoustics, the THR which has made me play guitar a lot more at home than I used to do, and I also own a vintage transistor Amp, the G100-212, second generation. Great stuff.

The focus switch has an incredible power, it changes the voicing subtly but powerfully. It's very useable, I've played fatter low end rhythms, and boost a solo just a bit. And in a live environment, dropping the highs in a solo helps the piercing tone. But, i switch it on and off depending in what I'm doing

It's phenomenal.

that artist sounds great,the new pick ups in there latest guitars are a lot better than i thought they would be,i just ordered the h/h skyler strat looking forward to it arriving

I agree with every point you made. I have built a couple of partscasters and lost a lot of money; I probably could have bought a custom shop for the money I put into them. The hardest part may be knowing what you actually want. I heard another KZbinr say you have to play 100 strats to know what you like. For me, I also bought a neck with vintage frets, which taught me I don't like vintage frets! So, I guess it is a process and probably an expensive one if you don't know exactly what you want. Another issue is the quality of the parts--I ordered an expensive quartersawn neck from Warmoth (thinking it would be better than any custom shop neck)--and it had a 15th fret hump and "ski jump" at the end of the fretboard, which cost a lot of money to pull the frets and re-plane (and refinish) the fretboard. I guess when it comes down to it, partscasters are expensive projects! You could easily spend $2000 US dollars on one of these projects and be disappointed (but maybe learn a lot about what you actually like!).

I bought a used Mexican Tele fairly cheap, and have spent money modding it, so it has the benefit of being decent quality to start with. I'm not sure a far-east aftermarket guitar neck would be as good as a Fender one.

my bro good video. but did you shoot the video on a calculator?

Parts casters cost more but you get the satisfaction of making it your own and you learn a lot.

I took this same approach to building a Strat based on the American Original series using good quality parts and absolutely love it. To me the point was to have fun and learn about guitars, not necessarily thinking I was going to do a better job than Fender CS. Like you, learned a ton about necks and fret types which was my favorite part. Basically for a little more than the price of a new Player II I got all the mods I wanted and learned a ton. If you're thinking about building your own, a kit is a great way to get started.

I love the Yamaha guitars and guitar amplifiers since 1979

My partscaster (Tele) is the one I grab the most…feels great, sounds great (mine has a Billy Gibbons bridge pickup from Seymour Duncan), and plays great (mine has a Brad Paisley MIM neck).

Ha! Sat here saying "Yes!" and "Absolutely, that!" through this. I'm on my fourth build and couldn't agree with you more about the neck. I would however say "get the best neck, then buy the body from the same shop". That way shims are less of a factor. Also get a very good soldering iron, and some good nut slot files. I've done cheap guitars and expensive ones. A properly done partscaster can be top end for a quarter of CS prices. I hadn't played a Strat that sounded like a '62 Strat until I built it (for about £1200). Not cheap, but full of character and sweet as you can imagine. Keep up the good work.

In all other "LP vs Revstar" videos I've watched, the Revstar sounds more hi-fi, has more zing to it, more highs and lows, clearer overal. This video shows the opposite. Maybe something is wrong with its electronics? Maybe it's due to variation between wood pieces?

you deserve so much more subscribers

Thanks for your reviews of the $600 Artist AS72, John. A radius of 14inches sounds flat for a vintagey-styled guitar. Do you notice any increased fatigue playing rhythm when you use it compared to the more rounded 9.5's or 11's that you play? Or is it more that it just has a different feel? Any additional thoughts you have on the AS72's flatter radius would be welcome. Thanks - enjoy your videos.

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GIBSON

Great review, really appreciate your fair unbiased opinion. On that note I ordered the 15th anniversary Obsidian last year, should arrive in early February, looking forward to playing it.

I use the focus switch on mine to dial back an acoustic tone, great playing!

I bought the early version Revstar 420. Love it. The only issue was the intonation on the low E. But I've fixed it by reversing the bridge saddle. Great guitar...a keeper

I can't get on with my Revstar Standard. I can't fault its quality - the intonation is faultless and it's amazing value for the price - but alone among all my guitars it simply makes my hand ache to play. I loved the idea of it and I've given it every chance I can, but I just don't enjoy playing it. I've bought all my guitars in the hope they'll be "keepers", but sadly I'm struggling to find a reason to hang on to the Revstar.

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Is the neck width wider in the Artist? I read that it is and wondered if it's a bit harder to play those chords that use the thumb wrappe around to the low E.

Thanks for the review! I've wanted a comparison between the Artist signature range and a Fender series guitar. I'm happy to see the Artist guitars seem to be high quality, at a much better price point.

What about ergonomic?

i have the exact same Player ll Strat and love it. Well played and demoed

Thanks for the review mate!

random question, is this an original song you used to compare guitars. really liked it

Very Cool, Thankyou. Awesome looking, Sounding Guitars and Demo/Review comparison video. I have the older Artist Guitars ST62 Fiesta Red Strat, and it's amazing. These newer 'up spec'd' Artist Guitars range must be Exeptional guitars as all my other ones are fantastic. Have my eye on one of the Latest Range Artist Guitars .... or 2 .. or 3 ... or 4 .... lol. And Also seriously have fallen for The Fender Player II Strat in the Hailea Yellow, Maple FretBoard, aged plastics ... Stunning .... I reckon anyway ..... Oh .. Or The Birch Green is catching my eye too now. lol. Gotta start saving..... and maybe even pass on The Artist Guitars to get A Fender (my first). All the Best. Cheers

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Revstar wins

Funky cleans Fender, everything else Revstar

This video is quite timely. quit playing live years ago, but band are reforming, I always used Les pauls in the band, but only have a strat these days. So convinced myself I need a humbucker equipped guitar for the material we cover. I really want a gibson LP but they are £2000 upwards here in the UK. Being a family man with not much dough i think my conscience would be clear getting the Yamaha and a nice valve combo and still only paying half the Gibson would cost, I was worried it wouldnt do a job for me, but your video says it will be close enough, and I have heard the yamaha are well built and play well. Ill be going for a standard revstar, great video fellla many thanks.

Yamaha Japan makes fantastic instruments. Really the only thing holding me back from getting a Revstar is the body shape. I know that's superficial, but its huge, which makes it look clunky IMO compared to the sleeker Les Paul. Both are great sounding instruments though. Thank you for this demo.

I don't really even play much anymore but I've been so intrigued by the Revstar, I'd just buy it and let it sit there and only play it once a week (if I could afford to do silly things like that). I appreciate your brief, extremely simple no-bullshit comparisons. Most videos have way too much talking and jrking off taking farrrrr too long showing off their guitar skills rather than letting the guitars speak for themselves.

The Gibson sounds nicer imo

Very helpful comparison. Thanks for this, sir! ❤

Putting in a request three doors down, kryptonite

No way you put it together yourself

Go Johnny

It helps that the person has some talent and no's how to play 😮