YAMAHA isn’t the first name people reach for when they think of guitars. But with the oil of Café Racers in its DNA and a global roster of rockstars wielding it on stage, the Revstar arguably should be. We created a limited-edition zine to celebrate its timeless craft, getting under the hood of every reason WE MAKE YOU PLAY.
Studio: FORPEOPLE Role: CREATIVE IDEA, WRITING + RESEARCH Industry: MUSIC
Every Revstar we create takes our players on a journey. Towards mastering their craft, towards their first step on stage, towards their final performance.
This book takes enthusiasts and experts on another journey. One that chronicles both the development of the Revstar—from the story behind its origin to the campaign that put it in front of the world—and visually captures the details and drama that make this guitar unlike any other.
A journey that turns our craft for making into your craft of playing.
WE MAKE YOU PLAY INTRODUCTION
The question persists: how do you make the traditional relevant?
Yamaha may have been crafting instruments since 1887, but by complementing its ingrained knowledge with innovation and advanced engineering they have taken their craft forward. Testing. Re-testing. And testing again. Learning the rules to break the boundaries, challenging every assumption to stop at nothing for players. All to understand what makes a truly amazing guitar.
CREATING A NEW YAMAHA
Guitars have always been hard to quantify, cloaked in mystique. So, whether designing them, building them, or selling them, the usual ways of doing things are usually the ones that apply.
For many guitar builders, that's fine. It's the way it's always been. Many feel the electric guitar was, more or less, perfected 70 years and that their job is to try and stay true to that. There's no shame in it. These were the guitars that started it all.
But for us, it was a nagging question. An itch that forced us to take a hard look at the nature of guitar development. Because the promise of music has always been to question things, to do things differently, to never conform. The rest of the world moves on, why doesn't the guitar industry? How, with daily advances in thought processes and technology, with a global bank of knowledge, isn't there another way?
QUESTIONING WHAT MAKES THE REVSTAR
Open any guitar magazine and you're more than likely to see the same thing. Posed photography, atmospheric backdrops, recycled headlines—page after page of nostalgic 80s spreads harking back to the golden age of electric guitars. So, when it came time to develop a campaign for the mould-breaking Revstar, we weren't interested with fitting in. Instead, we did everything to stand out.
THE CAMPAIGN
Snooz
