Yamaha Pacifica PAC604W

I got it as a gift.

It has the comfortable strat-esque body with the forearm contour and tummy cut. The bottom of the body is slightly more round than a strat, but it's no big deal. It's got a bucker in the bridge for heavier stuff, and two standard single coil pickups in the neck and middle positions for clean and milder dirty playing. The neck and middle pickups get a good glassy strat sound, and the bridge humbucker is punchy.
The tuning machines are fairly well made, though there is a bit of slop (side to side)in them. The fingerboard is extremely well made for a mass-produced guitar, it feels good, and the frets are well seated. The tone knob is nice and responsive compared to some other guitars that I have played, and I like the simplicity of the standard five position switch.

The humbucker is not very good sounding, but I don't use it much clean, so it's a bit hard to tell when I'm playing it. The volume knob has a sudden dropoff at about 3. The bridge is situated so that when I put the whammy bar on it, it is too low, and it hits the pickguard and the knobs way too soon, so I can't bend very much. I had to resolder a few connections that came loose after a while, and the jack socket is being really annoying right now, because it works itself loose, and it cracks and pops. The bridge only came with three springs which was not even sufficient to balance light guage strings, so I had to get aftermarket springs. The heel is very chunky in my hand when I try to play high notes. The heel problem could have been solved by giving it a contour like on a PRS, but luckily it is still possible to play, but it's a bother. I don't like the shape of the headstock, but at least it's just cosmetic

It's pretty well put together. As I mentioned before, the jack socket keeps coming loose, and I don't know why. The tuners could be a little more heavy duty, but they're not bad. The neck is bolted onto the body like on a strat with the metal plate. This has never been a problem, and I have never had to adjust the neck angle. The body is constructed from from what seems to be five pieces of what they say is a wood called Agathis, which I've never heard of, but then I've never hear of Nato either, which is what my acoustic is made of. The neck is a piece of flatsawn eastern rock maple. I would prefer it to be quartersawn, but you can't have everything. The bridge is a standard no-name six-hole tremolo. The body finished in a sort of reddish orange semi-burst with a thick clear lacquer topcoat.

It's a good guitar to learn on, but if you do get it to learn on, take it to a repair shop to have the action lowered! I certainly wouldn't take it to a gig unless I didn't have anything else, which unfortunately is the case for me right now. I doesn't have a great sound, but for a beginners ear, it ought to be fine. It's easy to get bored with this one, but stick with it and you'll get used to it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got this guitar from a pawn shop in almost brand new condition for $159 CDN.

I must admit i'm somewhat partial to Yamaha as i have found they put out good quality instruments at reasonable prices. The pacifica is not only sharp looking, it is extremely playable and the action on the neck is great; defineatly a non-deterrent for beginning guitar players. The factory pick-ups are very responsive with distortion/overdrive.


I must admit that the clean sound from this guitar lacks some brightness and the tone isn't that great (good, but not great).

The stock bridge is a little flakey and you may find yourself struggling to continually keep your guitar in tune. With a small $50-100 investment, the bridge could be replaced with a more precision static one without the tremolo ability (a major flaw with the stock bridge).



Solid stratocaster for the money. Built well, and comes in a melange of finishes and gold/chrome hardware for the fancy kids.

I love the neck on this guitar!! Very comparable to a fender product. Solid body adds a little weight and gusto to the feel of it and puts a little more chunkyness in the guitar sound, especially when overdriven.

Great bang for the buck. A solid stratocaster for the beginner and mid-level guitar player who are money-conscious

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com