Yamaha RSE20 Red Copper Electric guitar

Yamaha RSE20 Red Copper — Café Racer Style With Chambered-Mahogany Voice

Yamaha RSE20 Red Copper is a chambered-mahogany doublecut electric guitar built around Yamaha's Revstar Element design philosophy, where stripped-down café racer motorcycle aesthetics meet a deliberately lightweight, resonant body. The Red Copper finish is one of five café racer-inspired colorways in the line, paired with a 3-ply black pickguard and a racing stripe running down the center of the body. This instrument is aimed at players who want a vintage-voiced humbucker guitar with a modern control layout and a comfortable, balanced feel on stage or in the studio.

What Sets This Model Apart in the Revstar Line

Two design touches distinguish the instrument from typical entry-level doublecuts. First, the chambered mahogany body is sculpted using Yamaha's Acoustic Design process, a research-driven approach to internal cavity shaping that targets both weight relief and tonal character rather than simply hollowing out material. Second, the Dry Switch is a push/pull high-pass filter on the Master Tone control that adds brightness and single-coil-style bite without the volume drop or hum that conventional coil splits introduce — a useful feature for those who want one guitar to cover humbucker warmth and brighter clean tones.

Body and Construction — Chambered Mahogany, Café Racer DNA

The body shape and internal architecture directly shape how the RSE20 feels hanging off a strap and how it resonates unplugged. Chambering cuts mass without sacrificing structural rigidity, and Yamaha's Acoustic Design process refines the cavity layout for a balanced, full sound.

• The chambered mahogany body construction significantly reduces total weight while simultaneously adding warmth and resonance to the sound profile.
• Body Finish: Gloss Polyurethane — durable, polished surface that protects the mahogany
• Construction: Set-in neck joint — traditional glued-in feel for sustain and resonance transfer
• Pickguard: 3-Ply Black — specified for the Red Copper finish option
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Neck and Fingerboard — Set-In Mahogany With Modern Playability

A set-in 3-piece mahogany neck paired with a rosewood fingerboard gives this model a familiar, stable feel under the hand. The satin polyurethane neck finish reduces stickiness compared to a gloss surface, and the 628.6 mm scale length sits between classic Fender and Gibson territory for a flexible string tension.

• Neck Material: 3-Piece Mahogany — stable, warm-sounding neck blank
• Fingerboard Material: Rosewood — smooth feel with balanced warmth and brightness
• Scale Length: 628.6 mm — versatile tension for bends and chord work
• Fingerboard Radius: 305 mm — modern, gently curved surface for comfortable chording and lead playing
• Frets: 22 Jumbo — taller, wider frets for easy bending and clean note articulation
• Nut: PPS, 41.9 mm width — synthetic nut material with a comfortable string spacing
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Pickups, Controls, and Hardware — Alnico V Voice With Dry Switch Flexibility

The electronics are built around a pair of custom Yamaha VH3 humbuckers with Alnico V magnets, voiced for warm, vintage-flavored output that still responds to picking dynamics. The Dry Switch on the Master Tone knob is the headline control feature, and the hardware follows proven doublecut conventions.

• Pickup Configuration: HH — VH3n (neck) and VH3b (bridge), Alnico V humbuckers — warm, medium-output voice with vintage character
• Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone with Push-Pull Dry Switch high-pass filter — coil-split-style brightness without volume drop or hum
• Pickup Switch: 3-Position Lever — bridge, both, neck pickup selection
• Bridge and Tailpiece: Tune-O-Matic with Stopbar — proven setup for stable intonation and sustain
• Tuning Machines: Die-Cast — reliable, smooth tuning stability
• Strings: Elixir Nanoweb Light 0.010–0.046 — coated light-gauge strings for bright tone and long life
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Who This Guitar Is For

It is the right choice for intermediate players and gigging guitarists who want a humbucker-equipped doublecut with a warm, vintage-leaning voice and a built-in way to access brighter clean tones without the compromises of a traditional coil split. Home studio players will appreciate the responsive Alnico V pickups that translate well to recorded tracks, while players moving up from a Squier or entry-level instrument get a noticeable jump in build quality and tonal range at this price point.

Revstar Heritage and the Hanko Stamp

The line was inspired by stripped-down café racer motorcycles — heavily customized machines built to reflect the personality of their riders — and that motif carries through the body shape, the racing stripe, and the knurled, chrome-style control knobs. Every guitar carries a Hanko stamp on the back of the headstock, a Japanese seal traditionally used in place of a signature, which Yamaha treats as a mark of craftsmanship and quality control. This instrument is manufactured in Indonesia as part of the Element tier, positioned below the Standard and Professional models while retaining the chambered body design, Alnico V pickups, and Dry Switch circuit that define the series.