Celebrating 60 Years of Making Guitars
In January 2026, Yamaha Guitars kicked off its 60th anniversary celebrating six decades of crafting quality acoustic and electric guitars.
In six decades of excellence, Yamaha has created incredible products, pioneered ground-breaking technology, and offered a wide range of musical instruments for every style of player … from beginner to professional alike. You can find specific information about the history of Yamaha guitars in this blog posting.
To commemorate this impressive milestone, Yamaha has introduced two limited-edition guitars: the 60th Anniversary FG9 acoustic and 60th Anniversary Revstar Professional electric guitar. I recently had the honor of trying out these incredible instruments in my studio. In this post, I’ll present my thoughts on both guitars, along with videos that let you see and hear them in action.
60th Anniversary FG9
Yamaha released their flagship FG9 acoustic guitar in 2023. There were initially two models: the FG9 R and FG9 M, which I described in detail in this blog post. Both feature tapered Adirondack spruce tops, one-piece mahogany bolt-on necks, bone nut and saddle, a classic ebony fingerboard and bridge, nitrocellulose finish, and elegant understated Japanese aesthetics. The FG9 R has a solid Indian rosewood back and sides, while the FG9 M has a solid mahogany back and sides. These were later supplemented by the FG9 RX and FG9 MX models, which added Atmosfeel™ pickup systems, as I described in this blog post.
Many of the appointments found on those guitars can also be found on the 60th Anniversary FG9, but Yamaha has outdone themselves with this latest model.
Playability
The 60th Anniversary FG9 is extremely comfortable to play. The fret-ends are smooth, and the tuning stability and intonation are impeccable, as they should be on a hand-crafted Japanese masterpiece like this.
The rounded V-shape satin neck allows for smooth transitions along the entire fretboard. The action was a little on the high side for me, but anyone who digs in hard will appreciate the extra volume and tonality a slightly higher action affords. The bonus to me was that it gave me the perfect playing action for the slide melody and close harmony parts I play in the video below.
Aesthetics
The elegant, understated Japanese aesthetic and distinctive design details of the 60th Anniversary FG9 give it a refined look and a unique character.
The Guatemalan rosewood back and sides provide a beautiful balance of visual elegance, with a naturally varied grain pattern that adds character. Yamaha has kept the all-solid tonewood complements natural, and the clear nitrocellulose finish brings the stunning natural grain forward, in the most pleasing way imaginable.
The one-piece tapered Adirondack spruce top delivers outstanding projection with exceptional clarity and articulate tone, making this instrument the perfect accompanist to vocals.
The satin-finished mahogany neck has a carefully crafted bolt-on neck joint, allowing for enhanced resonance and excellent tonal transfer from the thicker than usual back board of the guitar.
The inner label is made from traditional washi paper (an extremely thin handmade Japanese paper).
The rosette features rope-shaped inlays and purfling inspired by Japanese motifs, and the fingerboard inlays draw from kumiki woodworking, evoking the precision and beauty of Japanese craftsmanship.
The smoky black and gold open-geared tuners are also stunning, and flank the commemorative gold inscription on the back of the headstock. The fretboard and bridge are ebony.
The guitar also comes with a high-quality tweed hardshell case, along with a certificate of authenticity.
Tonality
The 60th Anniversary FG9 delivers outstanding projection with exceptional clarity and articulate tone. When playing fingerstyle, every note has its own voice, while strumming passages are full and distinct, enhancing the harmonic structures with a lovely percussive overtone.
Single-note passages sit perfectly under the fingers, and sing with a sweet, vocal-like tonality. I particularly liked how a glass slide sounded on the strings, as you’ll hear in the video below.
60th Anniversary Revstar
I’ve been a fan of the Yamaha Revstar lineup since its inauguration in December of 2015. Since that time, Revstar has gone through two generations. The second-generation models are slightly larger than the originals, with finely tuned acoustic design chambered bodies and, in the RSS and RSP models, carbon fiber neck reinforcement for extra sustain and tuning stability.
The 60th Anniversary Revstar takes the RSP line to a whole new level of premium finishing and unique details, offering a perfect blend of visual appeal and musical performance.
Playability
The setup, playability, and intonation on this guitar are about as good as it gets — perhaps the best example of a Revstar to date.
The satin finish on the neck allows your fretting hand to simply glide along the fretboard, and the jumbo frets are all impeccably dressed. Simple open position chords are true to pitch, while intricate semi-tone bends and hand vibrato stay perfectly intonated even past the twelfth fret, regardless of how hard you dig in.
In addition, the guitar’s relatively short scale (24 – 3/4″) brings the fretting hand a little closer to the body, especially when seated, and the lower string tension allows for a softer touch and playing longevity without fatigue.
The Gotoh locking tuners deliver excellent tuning stability, and the Göldo tremolo unit is exceptionally smooth and articulate. Soft shimmers are easy to apply, as are dive-bombs if you so desire. The tremolo arm is fully adjustable to playing position and personal taste using the supplied Allen wrench.
Aesthetics
The 60th Anniversary Revstar pairs a lovely, flamed maple top with a mahogany body, a classic tonewood combination utilized in some premium electric guitars. The neck is mahogany, with an ebony fingerboard and a bone nut.
The nitrocellulose lacquer finish on this guitar is literally like glass, and perhaps one of the nicest examples of refined finishing I’ve ever seen. The beautiful noble-black gradient shading allows the flame maple top to show through the tint at the upper bout of the body, while gradually shading downwards to the lower bout to an opaque black finish.
To complement the proprietary noble black finish, Yamaha has chosen to use gold hardware for the tremolo, tuners, and volume and tone knobs. The headstock and Göldo tremolo unit are distinctive and well appointed. They feature a 60th commemorative logo, and the back of the headstock is stamped with ‘Made in Japan’ and a special 60th Anniversary hanko.
The gold and pearl Gotoh locking tuners deliver precise and stable results every time. Another design win for me is the lovely cream pickguard and pickup mounts.
Last but not least, the 60th Anniversary Revstar comes with a beautiful hard-shell case and certificate of authenticity.
Tonality
The 60th Anniversary Revstar’s solid mahogany chambered body with acoustic design helps to sculpt the tone, all while reducing overall weight.
This guitar may look too pretty to rock out, but believe me, it’s down to make waves when it’s time to get nasty, while the humbucking pickups are sensitive and ready to be sweet when it’s time to clean up the act.
In keeping with its luxurious aesthetics, this guitar simply oozes with unique character, rock ’n’roll grit, and authentic blues tones. Both solid jazz and woody blues tones emanate with a minimum of effort, and every one of the tones is further enhanced and shaped by the excellent five-way pickup switch and a “Focus switch” feature. Engaging this switch by pulling upwards on the tone control adds a mid-forward tonality to the output for darker highs and enhanced midrange and lows, much like that of an over-wound pickup.
Essentially there are ten onboard sounds, but in addition, the five-way pickup switching system introduces a subtle phase shift in positions 2 and 4 by slightly delaying the opposite pickup, offering a fresh take on classic “in-between” sounds, often referred to as “out of phase” sounds.
The body and neck feature carbon reinforcement rods to improve vibrational transfer between the two elements, further enhancing the tone and versatility of this exceptional guitar.
The Videos
In the first of these two videos, I play four different guitar parts on the 60th Anniversary FG9: one finger-style, one strumming, and a slide melody, plus a close harmony part a third above the melody.
All the parts were captured using a supercardioid microphone into a dedicated microphone pre-amp, then recorded directly into my DAW. I added a touch of hall reverb and delay to the slide guitar parts to let them sit on top of the mix.
This second video shows how articulate the 60th Anniversary Revstar pickups are within the context of a blues/jazz ensemble of drums, bass and electric piano. (I’m using a Line 6 Helix Stadium for that juicy blues tone.)
I’m starting with the position 4 pickup selection, with the Focus switch engaged. Later in the melody, and during the improvised section, I engage the neck pickup without the switch engaged for an even warmer sound.
You’ll notice that I’m adding a subtle harmony above the melody in the upper regions of the fretboard. As you can hear, these notes are perfectly pitched … a testimony to how good the intonation is on this guitar.
The Wrap-Up
Celebrating six decades of excellence, the 60th Anniversary FG9 and Revstar are a testament to the fine Japanese craftsmanship, innovation, and years of Yamaha’s devotion to delivering the absolute best instruments to musicians around the world.
If you are lucky enough to purchase one of these instruments, I guarantee you will treasure it, revere the workmanship, and own a unique part of musical history.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.
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