In this month’s issue: we take a ride through the Yamaha Revstar’s motorcycle-inspired design, introduce our newest guitar instructor with a lifelong passion for music, explore the practical benefits of upgrading to locking tuners, and invite you to an evening of live music on the porch. Whether you're here for gear, guidance, or good tunes—we’ve got something for every player.
Off the Shelf: Yamaha Revstar
The Yamaha Revstar series has revved onto the scene as a modern classic. Based on 1960's motorcycle aesthetic design, the Revstar is an amalgam of classic and modern that looks as sleek and powerful as the bikes that inspired it. Available in a variety of finishes, including satin and gloss options, the Revstar has high quality curb appeal.
Yamaha is known for its precise craftsmanship, and the Revstar is no exception. From the smooth fretwork to the solid hardware, every detail is carefully executed in the quality build. With a contoured body and a well-balanced weight, the guitar feels great to play, whether you choose to play standing or seated, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned professional.
The Revstar series features a variety of pickup configurations (humbuckers, P-90s, etc.) that offer a wide tonal range, making it suitable for many genres, from rock and blues to jazz and funk. Also, many Revstar models include Yamaha’s innovative "Dry Switch," which filters out low frequencies for a single-coil-like sound without the hum. This is similar to Reverend Guitar's "bass" knob, essentially a low-pass filter. All guitars equipped with humbuckers should come with this option; it's shocking how much of a tonal difference it can make, but especially in a guitar equipped with two humbuckers.
The neck is designed for smooth playability, appealing to both beginner and seasoned players. The medium jumbo frets provide excellent control and bending ease, perfect for expressive playing in any genre. The ergonomics of the guitar also facilitate longer, more comfortable playing sessions. The Revstar was immediately comfortable to play, whether you're used to playing a Fender or Gibson type guitar. Players like Edward Van Halen installed humbuckers in their Strats to combine the iconic feel of a Strat with the robust, powerful humbucker sound of a Les Paul. The Revstar takes several steps beyond that combination, without your need to take a chisel to it.
While this is not a budget-priced guitar, the Revstar offers premium features at a price point that competes with higher-end instruments. Yamaha is not trying to compete in the budget guitar marker, to be clear. Its durable construction ensures it will hold up over time. On newer models, the carbon-reinforced neck adds stability and reduces warping for potentially less trips to the guitar repair tech. These premium features add value to the instrument that makes a budget price tag simply impossible.
Additionally, select models feature chambered bodies enhance resonance while reducing weight. In case you're not familiar with the advantages of a chambered body, check out What is a Chambered Body? https://killerrig.com/what-is-a-chambered-guitar-body/. The Thinline Telecaster, among many other guitars, uses a chambered body to perfect an otherwise iconic tone. If you have never played a guitar with a chambered body, definitely check out this one.
If you are looking for a specific Strat or Les Paul tone, you might wish to look elsewhere, but if you value aesthetics and want a guitar that has the long luxury of brand loyalty, the Revstar’s unique design and street credibility are strong selling points. The Revstar doesn't seek to compete in the slow lane guitar category; it calls the player to the open road, roaring on a durable, stylish machine the blends classic style with modern appointments.
On the Staff: Introducing Tim Dougherty, Guitar Instructor
My name is Tim, and I'm a guitaraholic.
I'm a blues player at heart with a jazz sense of harmony, a rock tone, and Nashville-style hybrid picking. I'm a guitaraholic, and to be completely honest, I cannot stop, nor do I want to.
My father, Leo, in a moment of sheer reverse-psychology genius, told me at the ripe old age of five, "Don't touch my guitar when I'm not around."
My dad worked a lot, so he wasn't around much, except for Sundays and weeknights, so I secretly touched the guitar over and over again, kneeling over it similar to playing a steel guitar. I played every chance I got and still do. I've been addicted to playing guitar for over 50 years. My ribs cave in on one side from literally growing up around a Stratocaster, my fretting hand fingers are much longer than my picking hand fingers, and my thenar muscles in both hands are enormous. I'm an addict: a guitar player lost in a lifelong love affair.
My most valuable musical experience was growing up in my dad's recording studio, where, at first, I watched my dad and professional musicians create, arrange, record, overdub, and mix down tracks, including some bands that would become major-label famous. It was a fascinating process that gave me the ears and much of the teaching philosophy I have today. Recording happened on Sundays, but mixing happened every other weeknight after dinner, and I was immersed in all of it, hopelessly devoted to the creation of music.
My dad, my biggest musical influence, enjoyed the reputation of getting a really good sound to tape, so my quest for the "right sound" was immediate. When I was really young, I started punching in parts on guitar, bass, and keyboards, attempting to blend in perfectly with my dad's clients' music, and often without their knowledge: rock, disco, country, funk, blues, ballads, standards, it didn't matter to me; it was all just music.
Since most bands would often take several more weekends than planned to record a demo, for instance, there was always an array of instruments around all week that "the kid" (me) was allowed to play: drum kits, basses, synthesizers, acoustic and electric guitars. My favorite, however, was the B3 Hammond with a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet; what a summer that was! Finally, musicians would often come up notoriously short when it came time to pay, so they would offer my dad equipment (guitar pedals, chiefly) for me as compensation.
By the mid-80's I had garnered the experience of a full-fledged studio musician, studied harmony and Western and Eastern music theory extensively, was playing in bands, and was accepted to Berklee School of Music, but could not afford it, nor get any scholarships because I wasn't in any school music programs. Up to this point, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Edward Van Halen and Randy Rhoads were my favorite rock guitarists, and Allan Holdworth, Frank Gambale, Larry Carlton, and Al DiMeola informed me on my self-directed study of music.
After high school, I started teaching guitar five days a week, continued playing countless gigs in bands, doing product demos for small (not anymore!) manufacturers at national guitar shows, and continued studio recording, including writing and arranging my own music.
I taught 40-50 guitar students weekly for over 12 years while I earned a BSE degree in English Education and worked as a professional educational writer, writing books on geology, hydraulics, music, entrepreneurship, economics, etc., whatever topic publishers would throw at me. Danny Gatton, Shawn Lane, Don Mock, and Eric Johnson were my muses during this time, heavily influencing my playing, especially with right-handed "hybrid" picking.
In 1999, I completely rebooted, beginning to teach high school English locally at a wonderful school with great kids for 26 years, continuing my musical addictions on the side, keeping them just for me and the bands I played in. During this time, I learned firsthand the many ways people can learn. In the present, I now am influenced by more modern players like Guthrie Govan, Alex Hutchings, Ron Thal, and Tom Quayle, to name a few.
Last year, I retired from teaching English and immediately resumed teaching guitar here at Guitars on Main. I have amassed a wonderful, devoted, passionate group of students who, for the most part, have all had traditional guitar lessons in their past, and have endured the frustration of huge gaps in their understanding of music and the guitar in general from trying to learn by themselves. Sure, they can read music in the first position but have no idea what they're playing or why they're playing it. These are the most ideal students for me: ones who are quite experienced, but quite frustrated, and need someone who can tie it all together so progression can finally be in their future. I can get you off to a great start if you're an absolute beginner as well; I've been teaching people how to learn for almost 40 years!
If you want to learn all about your instrument, including its technical and ergonomic pitfalls and advantages while honing your technique, sign up to study with me. If you would love to know how to sit down with your instrument anytime and compose or improvise, with full knowledge of the language of music, including comping and soloing, sign up to study with me. If you want to unlock the mystery of how notes, keys, scales, arpeggios, chords, and progressions all lock together, without the need to read music, but rather focusing on music theory and ear training, definitely come study with me. Most of all, if you want to learn what you want to learn, come study with me, and I'll help you achieve your own guitaraholic goals!
On the Bench: Upgrade to Locking Tuners
Locking tuners have provided a relatively low-cost performance upgrade for guitarists. There are a host of reasons to make the switch, but here are ten solid reasons for you to change to locking tuners.
Tuning stability is the most glaring improvement when switching to locking tuners. They hold the strings secure even when you're playing aggressively: bending and vibratoing the strings like crazy or divebombing the vibrato bar. Locking tuners reduce the chance of the strings slipping and ensure that your tuning remains much more stable during heavy use.
There is a purely practical reason to make the switch as well: string changes take far less time. With a locking tuner, there is no need to wind the strings around the post multiple times. You simply insert the string through the hole in the post, lock it down with a thumbwheel, and tune the string. In live instances, this is a game changer. If you're a studio musician, this can improve your workflow significantly, as strings always seem to break at the most inopportune moment.
By clamping your strings in place, the ordinary process of the extra winding slipping and degrading over time simply disappears. Allegedly, Edward Van Halen used to boil his strings prior to installing them so that the length of the string, including the extra windings, would be already "broken in." This solved one of the problems of standard tuners, but not all of them. Again, every time you bend a string up or down, there is the very real chance of the string slipping. Locking tuners are great way to minimize this problem.
Restringing a guitar is often too challenging for beginners, so locking tuners can help here as well. A beginner can learn to restring, tune, and maintain their own instruments far more readily and self-sufficiently, without the need to have a tech perform this simple operation. It can be incredibly frustrating to wind a new string around the tuning post effectively.
Some would say that a guitar with locking tuners provides a much more even tension across the strings, as all six strings are gripped into place with the same consistency. Potentially, this could make any guitar have more consistency in tuning, intonation, and especially, playability across the neck. As relatively inexpensive as this upgrade is (usually between $70-$150), it already is worth it, but there are even more advantages.
Strings break, full stop; this is an unavoidable, necessary evil of playing guitar. Getting rid of any excess string length, particularly in the windings, the use of locking tuners will reduce premature string breaks due to the uneven stress on the strings, so this could save you some money and time.
Eliminating excess string winding also carries with it an aesthetic appeal as well. A headstock with locking tuners looks cleaner and more professional, so, if that's the look you're after, why not start there? With all the other benefits, you can't lose if your guitar looks better.
If you like to experiment with alternate tunings, including drop tunings, locking tuners allow for much more quick and precise tuning. This is certainly ideal for players who use one guitar and frequently switch between standard and alternate tunings. The ability to hold thicker strings in place is an additional advantage of locking tuners for heavy-handed players who love the sound and feel of heavy string gauges and drop-tuners, who need the string girth for clarity in dropped C standard tuning.
Either way, there is a clarity of mind that comes from knowing that your guitar will stay in tune better and break strings less often. That, in itself, is the most important reason to make this upgrade now, no matter your level or experience or the type of music you play.
Live Music on the Porch – June 27th
Join us for 4th Friday on June 27th from 5:30 to 7:30 PM for an evening of live music right outside Guitars on Main.
This month’s featured performers are the J.c. Fetlock & Melissa Leanza Duo—two talented singer-songwriters who teamed up in 2022. Since then, they’ve built a rich mix of originals and unexpected covers, showcasing their musical chemistry and multi-instrumental skills.
Bring a lawn chair and settle in on the sidewalk for a unique musical experience.
Location: 84 E. Main Street, Mount Joy
Admission: Free event
Note: Weather-dependent
Conclusion
Thank you for spending time with us. We hope something in this issue helps you enjoy your instrument a little more—whether that’s finding the right upgrade, solving a nagging tuning issue, or getting back to the joy of playing. And if you're local, come hang out with us on June 27th for some great music on the porch.
