Yamaha Solid Body Electrics

[3notes]

I played a Yamaha Solid Body electric the other day at a GuitarCenter. I was impressed with the neck and I thought the guitar put out some good power. Poking around the net these guitars get rave reviews.

How do Yamaha solid body electrics rate on this forum here.??

I played the Pacifica model #PAC112J. $179. I have my eye on a PAC112V. $300.

[RoyBoy]

Over on TDPRI there are lots of happy Pacifica owners. I went straight to the top with a 611 because it had the configuration I needed for Praise and Worship (p90 neck and tapped trembucker in the bridge). It also came with real Seymour Duncan pickups so I new I wouldn't be worried about upgrading them. Locking Grover tuners and a graphtec nut were just icing on the cake. The fit and finish are fantastic.

[Lockback]

Originally Posted by 3notes

I played a Yamaha Solid Body electric the other day at a GuitarCenter. I was impressed with the neck and I thought the guitar put out some good power. Poking around the net these guitars get rave reviews.

How do Yamaha solid body electrics rate on this forum here.??

I played the Pacifica model #PAC112J. $179. I have my eye on a PAC112V. $300.

I have a Pacifica 112J and it's amazing. The neck is just about perfect. It's a very playable guitar. Fit and finish are terrific. Of course, at that price point, the pickups aren't fantastic but work okay. You can get that Strat sound in the 2 and 4 positions. The bridge pickup is a humbucker. It's not great but gets the job done, particular if you use an overdrive pedal or dirty channel. The tremelo system isn't great but if you don't use the whammy bar much it's fine.
For under $200, I don't think you can beat it. I've seen several YouTube videos by experience, well-respected guitar guys who rave about it. I would concur. I originally thought I'd sell/trade it as I moved up the ladder but now I wouldn't part with it. It meets my needs as an intermediate beginner.

[PTony]

Agree with everything said. I owned the 611 at one point also. They’re truly fantastic guitars. The biggest issue I had was when reselling...they’re somewhat difficult to move on. At least in my experience.

For some reason the electric line doesn’t get the fanfare that their acoustic line gets. IMHO both are noteworthy.

Regardless, they’re well worth the money. IMHO used is the way to go (but I typically prefer that option anyway as I can retain more of my investment if moving on).

Let us know if you end up picking one up!

[jricc]

I traded a sub $200 Yamaha Tele 102s along with cash towards a US Tele and I wish I hadn't... I loved the neck on the Yamaha. I should've kept it.

[Steve DeRosa]

I have a MIJ '82 SSC-500 I bought new ($199 w/HSC) - a kinda Gretsch Corvette-looking thing, with a wide/thin PRS-style neck and three overwound/tappable single coils - that served as my main electric for 25 years, and I still use as my backup/beater; not really familiar with the more recent models but I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one (or its SHB-400 dual-humbucker stablemate) - and the older SG/SBG solids (associated with Carlos Santana in his pre-PRS days) are worth a good few bucks when/if you can find one for sale...

[guitararmy]

I'm a big Yamaha electric guitar fan, and have several including the Pacifica 921 and 912 models from the early 90's, as well as a 1230.

I would love to check out their newer Revstar series.

[Marley]

Does Yamaha make anything that's not really good? I traded out all of my amps for a THR100HD, I have a Yamaha golf cart that is awesome. I have a great Yamaha keyboard, a 1969 Yamaha acoustic that is incredible. I'd totally buy a Yamaha electric expect for the fact that I have a EB music man and there's no better electrics on planet earth. Not even a Yamaha.

[redir]

Yup Yamaha is pretty consistent with good quality across all the lines of guitars they make in my experience. I've been doing repairs for 25 years now and always say the brand I least see in my shop is Yamaha.

[Lockback]

Originally Posted by Marley

Does Yamaha make anything that's not really good? I traded out all of my amps for a THR100HD, I have a Yamaha golf cart that is awesome. I have a great Yamaha keyboard, a 1969 Yamaha acoustic that is incredible. I'd totally buy a Yamaha electric expect for the fact that I have a EB music man and there's no better electrics on planet earth. Not even a Yamaha.

I'm not the most brand loyal guy in the world. For instance, I had BMW motorcycles but one gave me trouble so I switched back to Japanese bikes; Suzukis, Hondas and, yes, Yamahas. And didn't miss the BMWs at all, aside from the snob appeal. I value good engineering and value, fit and finish and reliability. Life's too short to spend it constantly working on something to fix it.
I came to Yamaha guitars sort of by accident. I was looking to get back into guitars after a 40-something-year absence. And I wanted an electric guitar. Here I was in my early sixties, looking for my first electric. But I didn't want to spend a ton of money because I wasn't sure I'd take to it after so many years off. I saw the Yamaha Pacifica and bought it online, sight unseen, because ... 1) It looked like a proper electric guitar (meaning like a Strat) and 2) It has the Yamaha name. I figured it had to be a quality item. And it was.
Since then, I've bought two more Yamaha guitars, both acoustics. And love them both. I think their combination of quality and value is virtually unmatched.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Lockback

...I think their combination of quality and value is virtually unmatched.

Until about 20-25 years ago I would have agreed with you without qualification - my 35+ year-old SSC-500 still does yeoman service, where nearly all of its Pac-Rim contemporaries have long since bitten the dust...

IME these days I'd have to give the electric bang-for-the-buck title to Ibanez in the low-price range, with Gretsch/Godin/Eastman sharing the $1K+/- honors...

When tone rather than bling/gimmickry is the deciding factor, there's just too much high-quality/high-value competition in the low-/mid-price bracket - Ibanez, Takamine, Breedlove, the Godin family brands, Blueridge, the entry-level Martin/Taylor/Gibson offerings, certain Pac-Rim Guilds, etc. - for Yamaha to maintain the virtual monopoly in the acoustic realm they enjoyed in the "lawsuit" era...

YMMV...

[Lockback]

Originally Posted by redir

Yup Yamaha is pretty consistent with good quality across all the lines of guitars they make in my experience. I've been doing repairs for 25 years now and always say the brand I least see in my shop is Yamaha.

That's good to know and high praise.
I bought my Yamaha FG830 from Sweetwater a couple years ago but the action was too high and I wanted to install a bone saddle. I contacted a highly regarded local luthier, thinking he'd probably groan when I told him I had such a pedestrian instrument. Instead, he said, "Oh, man, we love those! We sell them here. Yamaha makes great guitars and we have a fantastic relationship with them."
That meant a lot to me.

[Lockback]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Until about 20-25 years ago I would have agreed with you without qualification - my 35+ year-old SSC-500 still does yeoman service, where nearly all of its Pac-Rim contemporaries have long since bitten the dust...

IME these days I'd have to give the electric bang-for-the-buck title to Ibanez in the low-price range, with Gretsch/Godin/Eastman sharing the $1K+/- honors...

When tone rather than bling/gimmickry is the deciding factor, there's just too much high-quality/high-value competition in the low-/mid-price bracket - Ibanez, Takamine, Breedlove, the Godin family brands, Blueridge, the entry-level Martin/Taylor/Gibson offerings, certain Pac-Rim Guilds, etc. - for Yamaha to maintain the virtual monopoly in the acoustic realm they enjoyed in the "lawsuit" era...

YMMV...

I've often said we live in the Golden Age of guitars.
There are so many choices now, and many of them are quite affordable. Quality is very high compared to the dreck that was around back in the early 1970's when I bought my first guitar.
If you paid $250 for an acoustic guitar back then, chances are it wasn't all that good.
If you pay the same now for an acoustic guitar, you're getting a really good instrument. And that's not even taking into account inflation.
It's a minor miracle.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Lockback

That's good to know and high praise.
I bought my Yamaha FG830 from Sweetwater a couple years ago but the action was too high and I wanted to install a bone saddle. I contacted a highly regarded local luthier, thinking he'd probably groan when I told him I had such a pedestrian instrument. Instead, he said, "Oh, man, we love those! We sell them here. Yamaha makes great guitars and we have a fantastic relationship with them."
That meant a lot to me.

Yamaha at one point mastered the cheap plywood guitar, there is a reason why people love the Red Label guitars so much, they just sound unique, and one could argue sound great! Not only that though they were built to last. That put them on the map I think. Much much later in the 2000's one of the stores I was doing repairs for sold Yamaha in various models and like much of the competition at the time they were selling solid top guitars. They had already mastered the plywood back and sides now they had a solid top at that price point. It really upped their game in terms of tone and the prices for these guitars were unbeatable.

Yamaha is probably my favorite contemporary factory guitar at a working man's price point. They have earned that reputation over the years.

Heck they make a fine piano too

[Lockback]

Originally Posted by redir

Yamaha at one point mastered the cheap plywood guitar, there is a reason why people love the Red Label guitars so much, they just sound unique, and one could argue sound great! Not only that though they were built to last. That put them on the map I think. Much much later in the 2000's one of the stores I was doing repairs for sold Yamaha in various models and like much of the competition at the time they were selling solid top guitars. They had already mastered the plywood back and sides now they had a solid top at that price point. It really upped their game in terms of tone and the prices for these guitars were unbeatable.

Yamaha is probably my favorite contemporary factory guitar at a working man's price point. They have earned that reputation over the years.

Heck they make a fine piano too

They do indeed. I used to play a Yamaha baby grand we had at the office. It sounded better than any piano I've ever played.