Yamaha Pacifica Series PAC112V Electric Guitar; Black

This guitar is phenomenal for the money. Best guitar in its price range on the market. The set up was great right out of the box. All it required was tuning. Low action for easy playing for beginners. The quality finish was excellent. If you are looking for a highly playable guitar in the $500 or less category, give this one a look. Very pleased. Paired it with a Fender modeling amp and sounds great.

First of all, one has to appreciate a good quality product when it is for a bargain price. For the price range of this guitar, one cannot expect much. I bought this used, and it has been reliable and has not let me down. I have had it for about 7 months, used it for practice mostly. The wood and electronics are surprisingly well made. I did a lot of research before buying this model and I must say I am very satisfied.The H/S/S combination works nicely, you can get a pretty wide range of tones and sounds. The fret board looks great, has not worn out since I got it. The body is solid and is very comfortable while playing. My only complaint would be the tremolo bar. Now with this type of bridge I was not expecting much, this is no floyd rose after all. The tremolo does work, but I don't use it because of the danger that the strings will go out of tune. I would picture this guitar without a tremolo bar if I were considering whether to get it. But I think most people who do their research will know this anyway so it is not a big deal at all. The tuners are ok, nothing special.I wouldn't buy this new, as with any musical instrument unless it is a unique piece. If you can get it used in great condition then it is totally worth it. I would definitely recommend this for a beginner or even an intermediate player. Once you get a better guitar in terms of parts and electronics then I don't know if one would be willing to go back to this. But as a practice guitar this is perfect.

I was hesitating to pull the trigger on this one because there were no reviews, but I am glad I did.I received it today and after playing with it for about six hours straight, I love it. I mean I truly love it from every angle. The pickups are nice and full bodied, coil tap (split) works nicely with very little hum even with one pickup selected...zero hum in the middle position as expected. Fit and finish is amazing. Strings were detuned in the box, but once tuned, the guitar was set up perfectly from the factory. Nice low action, correct neck relief, no fret buzz, perfect intonation. Frets are smooth, no burrs anywhere, freeboard is beautiful rosewood just like in the photos.It is a bolt-on neck which is normal in this price range, but the note sustain is pretty good.The look of this guitar is classy. I find PRSs beautiful, but this one has its modern clean glamour. It's the good looking girl in the black dress that you can't take your eyes off of. Black on black with the dark rosewood fretboard makes it just right. I have a few (too many) guitars, but this one is love at first sight. I bought the all black, but the other colors are just as attractive. The smaller black pickguard makes a huge difference to the aesthetics.One thing missing in this model is a tremolo, which is kind of obvious from the pictures, but is misstated in the description (as of this review). The knobs could be better finished.

I might be inclined to give this instrument 3 1/2 stars if that were allowed, but rounding up is probably more fair than rounding down, so I give it 4. It delivers a lot of value, in that it sounds great, and the parts that matter most are solidly crafted. By that I mean the neck and body - this guitar is made out of nice wood, and looks terrific. I can't really judge the quality of the tuning machine or the bridge, since this is the first instrument I've owned, but I was disappointed by the electronics, which seem to me to be dirt cheap. A few week after buying it I started getting horribly painful buzzing and popping sounds every time my body shifted, and when I took the backplate off to inspect the innards, discovered that the output jack was very poorly soldered. I took the extra step of removing the old solder so I could redo it competently. The jack itself is very cheap and flimsy, and I will probably try to replace it with something better at some point. Upon inspecting the rest of the electronic, I'm rather motivated to replace all of them in the coming years, or else buy a higher quality guitar. So I guess my final verdict is, it's a great instrument for beginners on a tight budget, but you get what you pay for. It will look and sound good for the time being, but you may want to brush up on your soldering skills before buying.

I was getting bored of playing acoustic so I decided to buy my first electric guitar. Put in hours and hours of research and landed on the Yamaha Pacifica 112v due to the versatility, reliability, and price tag. Paired with a Fender Champion 20, this guitar can produce any sound you want it to. Jazz, metal, hard rock, you name it. It's truly a beautiful guitar as well (I think it actually looks cleaner than a Strat). I actually chose this over an ESP LTD 256, and couldn't be happier. It blows my mind that it is stigmatized as a "beginner' guitar. Kudos to Yamaha for making rocking so affordable and easy!