Yamaha Pacifica 120SD

made in 1996, has the earlier "3-d" yamaha logo/name across length of headstock. 22 frets made in taiwan with solid body, alder, maple neck and bubinga fretboard! (bubinga is just african rosewood but is a very nice touch on this lower-priced axe) 2 passive humbuckers on tele-style body with 3-way switch.
grover-style tuners, modern fender style bridge, thinnish neck with med-jumbo frets.
Low score on this as there are no great features, but it has all it needs and a perfect fretboard and neck

sounded really good in original form. now it's killin my sg, and blammo, the sg is sold. I put in air classic dimarzio in neck and an older gotoh pickup in bridge and am getting the bloomfield to santana to zappa etc...paf sounds I have never been able to afford. this is more a nod to the pickups but the guitars playability and tight neck pocket add to the joy. went ahead and replaced the electronics which helped a bit too, but overall, just plain and simple without a doubt the best budget guitar I have ever played and have owned/sold more than 50 and prob. played closer to 100...includes kramers/sx/epis/hondos/arias/ibanez...etc...etc....

Great with the new tube crate amps and anything vintage, dont know about ss amps cause i have none.

Fit and finish is just amazing for this orig. lower-end guitar pricepoint. Much like the usa made fender bullets and japanese squires...truly top-notch fit and finish (tight neck pocket) and great neck set angle etc... The fretends were a tiny bit ticky which is a MAJOR pet peeve with me for any guitar, but you find this on guitars from all price ranges...a dremel solves this in 20 mins though. otherwise, impeccable finish.

solid in all ways, great hardware and tuners, electronics OK but nothing great.
gig w/out a backup? why not, but why for any guitar? strings break, not guitars...usually!

mmmmm, yamaha is pretty good on this but you will not need'em for this axe

playing for 30 years and finally found a replacement to my old tokai. to me, this is the perfect combination of price and value, much like the japanese copies were in the 70's and early 80's. have this as my only humbucker guitar and the strat as the single coil. Only thing i have found that matches this value is some early peaveys, godins and early tokais or fernandes or early aria cardinals...just a nice guitar i was very surprised to find myself actually keeping! For good!

I got the satin finish and yes it's a very light finish. Tele body and fixed strat style bridge with strings thru body. Made in 2004.
22 frets, maple neck with mahogany fret board. Sealed diecast tuners. 2 humbuckers with one V and one Tone control.
Low rating for features because it's a basic guitar which is what it's designed to be.

The PUPs in this thing are HOT! Mounted directly into the body. The string thru body helps with good sustain. Fairly quite. Excellent tones from the ax.

Very well assembled. Nice and tight. Outstanding neck for this price. I got my second hand and all I had to do was polish the frets and put new stings on. Plays better than some higher priced guitars.

It's a comfortable guitar and should withstand live playing under normal circumstances.

It's a big company - I don't think I'll need any support.

Well, I got over 30 guitars in my collection and this is a keeper. You're not going to get tele sounds, but you will get great midrange tones that will cover everything from jazz to metal. Yes, the name Yamaha can be a stigma for guitars - if this guitar had Gibson on it -it would easily cost $500. Highly recommend as this guitars plays and sounds better than most Epiphone and Squier entry level guitars.
If you find a decent one - grab it!

Features - this COULD be an EXCELLENT guitar for someone just starting - i have more than a few guitars and i have TWO of these PAC120SD's - one alder wood & one ash and you can REALLY hear the TONE of wood through these instruments - the alder is four piece (lol) body BUT.. probably because the P/UPs ARE MOUNTED TO THE BODY the tone comes through my fender amp - and it sounds GOOD - same for the ash the tone of the wood comes through sounds QUALITY like an old well worn strat - the ash one i have would be a one piece body except for a small add on piece that had to added to accomodate the control cavity - and it just sounds SWEET - they also sound good because the FINISH - ISN"T the thick poly you see on alot of new guitars , which kills the tone of wood of other guitars - the finish is thin (BIG PLUS) - another reason it sounds good - is the neck pocket is TIGHT no stress cracks here - no reason to believe it will ever have one either - both are fitted to the milimeter - the frets near the top of the register are a bit tall for my taste - but can be polished down (as someone before did on the ash one)- and the neck is a bit narrow for my taste, (a plus for small hands) - the saddles are closer together than regular fender - but the tuners look like gotoh to me and are absoloutly FINE -

the neck p/up is better than average - the bridge p/up is weak , no two ways about that.

Guitars need to be setup for your own preferences anyways - put a tusq nut on it - w/ some chap stick - some light gauge GHS boomers - and inexpensive retro-fit p-90 from GFS on ebay in the bridge and ROCK ON WITH YOUR BAD SELF! - at least you'll hear the sound of the wood and thus be able to tell what suits your style of music / alder / ash or something else all together - THE THING IS ... you want to end up some day with the RIGHT GUITAR for you - you may go though a bunch to find what you like - think of it as dating untill you fall in love..... dating is fun but all the time... your learning what turns you on , what fits and how you interact with diferent guitars, this guitar will a least give valuable feedback regarding tone above newer models (some made inferior ) where tone does not come through - AS WITH ALL GIRLFRIENDS/boyfriends THEY ALL NEED SPECIAL ATTENTION AND COAXING TO GET THEM TO PUT OUT/do right ! but when they do it's worth it !! RIGHT? experiment with this one, she can do blues , rock or country and provide you with important TONE knowledge -( you may have to get off your A$$ and do a couple of minor improvments hopefully you wont complain too much )

Reliability/Durability ? -- on the alder one i have it's dinged up - there are chips around the edges - but SO WHAT!! a small price to pay for allowing the true TONE of the wood to come through - the ash one i have someone took care of that one and there are not even any scratches - but its a thin finish also - a very GOOD thing. - you dont want a guitar with a 1/4 inch of poly finish ALL OVER IT - SMOOTHERING IT!! - SERIOUSLY - unless you just want it to look good and not perform... and in that case.... then just buy whatever you think makes you look the coolest and start posing and stop waisting my time -

no opinion

THIS IS A VERY UNDER RATED GUITAR FOR WAHT IT IS - these days you can get a new beginner guitar starting for $170 or so,... OR... get one of these older ones on ebay - - even if you pay the same price - newer isn't always better - if the older GUITAR sounds better - the person playing will most likely play longer and thus BECOME BETTER and ... can get the experience of knowing what alder or ash is SUPPOSED to sound like with these and on those others - i'm not so sure - and you know those other need pickup upgrades and tuner upgrades and hardware upgrades etc... BOTTOM LINE if you can get one a these at a decent price its a rock solid guitar with excellent tone - one of mine weights 7 lbs the other 6.5 lbs - if the neck were a litte wider - i'd play it all day - then again i see pictures of guys playin and their hands look huge compared to their guitar so ??? for the record I'm keepin the two i have now for two children that are coming up - one for each - thanks & good luck

features: - made in tawain dual humbucker / basic tele style -

Sound: - this depends on alot of other things - like your amp - strings (nickel, coated,etc..) but doesn't sound bad - the neck pickup sounds better than the bridge - if it were a keeper probably need to put a little hotter bridge pickup in there -the neck p/u sounds good through my fender low watts tube amp through a 4x12 cab

Action & fit: -THIS IS THE REASON i wanted to submit this review - considering this was made in tawain i don't want to be too critical of the finish - I thought it was actually ok (not Tom Anderson) but very good - but what i wanted to point out is that the neck is VERY narrow, if you have small hands then maybe this is a plus but i've got smaller to average size hands and it feels a TOO narrow - i've got to cram my fingers in there and it tends to make my wrist sore - if your thinkin of gettin one - if you've got big hands i wouldn't choose this model (imho) thats all - i might look to the pacifica 311ms series see if it's any wider

seems well put together solid and all that - looks tough enough

dont know

got this based on some of the other reviews here on harmony central a lot of others seemed to give it fairly high marks - but the one thing that i didn't anticipate is the neck being sooo narrow if this is not a problem for you - then ?

Actually I've owened two of these instruments....the first i bought new Paid 200 us dlls . I used it a few times for recording back in the mid nighties. The style of music i recorded was 80s shred metal and it did a good job for that style. The second guitar i pick up at a pawn shop it was on a dark corner of the shop gathering dust. For this one i paid 60 us dlls. Both guitars are identical exept that the new one had a higher action then i prefered, but still did the job..the sound i needed was right. ultimately i sold it. The second one plays perfect,and sounds great (a little thin on the bridge pickup but i conpensade with a vintage zoom 5000 driver (greatest distortion device ever made). Both guitars are alder body maple necks and rosewood fingerboards. 22 frets..thru the body string holes..good machineheads...the bodies on both are natural finish..the pawnshop bought guitar has a broken tone control that is set to the treble maxed.

I really like the sound of these instruments..i can really say that it covers most music styles fairly well..as i mentioned earlier i use the zoom driver 5000 pedal and i can get almost any sound i need with this guitar...i love the fact that its very light compared to my peavey EXP tiger (my main axe)..the wiring on the 120sd could use some upgrading as there is a bit of noise..mostly noticeble when playing clean. Call me weird but i dont like using knobs on the guitars(looses tone when u use the knobs)..of course this is common to all guitars. Sound wise its not a les paul..but i love using it for gigs the tone is there and its light to carry. For recording i use strats
les pauls teles whatever the song requires...of course i use my peavey tiger too.

its not a fancy instrument, barebones ..pickups are discent..hard ware is fair... intonation (on both guits) very good...thou the action i ,aquired on the pawnshop bought, is great.... switch is fine..the shielding on the wiring is none existing..thus the small amount of noise. Wood work is flawless...thou the pawnshop boufht has scrathess..not from factory. overall a wallflower that kicks ass if the need be.

Its very durable i have drop them and no problem. this things are very durable.

Never delt with yamaha support...havent had to. Hell i never delt with any of the manufactures...and ive owned at least 52 guitars in my lifetime..i take care of them myself.

I have been play for 40 yrs..and now i own a pre cbs strat..and a squire tele ( iloveit) Jay turser jazz guit..a couple obass guits ect..I use a peavey classic 30 amp ..a small marshall vs30r a kick around fender frontman...and my bedside amp , Roland microcube. I also own a wah..chorus ...and 2x zoom 5000 drivers. Over all i love this guitar.and yes i wouls be sad if i parted with it..by the way i teach recording and sound at a fine arts school...and i find myself carring this guitar to work very frequently.

Mid 90's Taiwan production...twin buckers,( V,T & 3 way switch) thru body HT bridge,(individual saddles) Tele shaped body (somewhat smaller than a "real" Tele) rumored to be "solid" (read; not ply) alder;quite light. Medium maple neck with Ping type cast tuners bubunga finger board (similar to rosewood) no acessories.

Mostly classic rock, with a bit of blues and pop (think Quo, T Rex, some Kinks, Who and Beatles.. Does this well..not a "twangy Tele" by any means, but brighter than a Gibson style two bucker. Used with a couple of small budget amps (Marshall MG-10, Dean Markley K-20X) no effects..pretty powerful PU's can easly OD the DM drive channel, backing the guitar volume off a bit yields usefull crunch;a bit too powerful with the Marshall dirty side..everything sounds like a metal band. Good clean sounds on both amps with the ax down 3/4 or so..

This is where Yamaha shines..The quality of this guitar is superior to any other sub 1K instrument that I have played..Excellent action, fine fit and incredible finish.

Well gig worthy; edge mounted jack repays care, I use a angled plug.

Never needed it.. Yamaha has good web presence and excellent deal net.

Playing on and off for over 20 years..also have a Takamine (G) Acoustic, and a older Yamaha Classical. Before this I played a Fender Standard Strat (MIM) for 10 years. I had a interest in a dual humbucker guitar , but had never found one I liked (most are too heavy). Local shop took this in trade, I traded a few old pedals I had stoped using, and soon sold my Strat..

Made in Taiwan, tele shaped guitar, 2 humbuckers, 3 way pickup selector, not sure what type body wood, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.

I bought this guitar just to do some modification project, replaced the original pickups, not even tried, to a set of dimarzio steve morse model. I'm a great fan of steve morse style of playing and before he also used a telecaster, so these pickups are a good match for this guitar. It have the tele twang, added the rock, blues, country feel of steve morse. So this guitar is very versatile, the middle position is awesome, with the out of phase sound.

No problem with the setup, I just replaced the pickups and adjusted the height of the pickups The action is a litle bit high, but no problem. Finish is very good, and the neck playability is also very good.

Seems to be very solid, I dont play live, but certainly this guitar can withstand live playing, time will tell.

As I said earlier, I just bought, this guitar to replace the pickups and achieve the steve morse tone. These guitars are cheap, and can be upgraded with some mods. I also own a japanese fender telecaster that I replaced the pickups with dimarzio ones. I've been playing for 8 years and I like to tweak guitars. I usually play it through a boss blues driver into a fender blues junior or roland jc120, and the sound is awesome.

Tiawan Made 'bout '96...Basswood one piece body, maple 22 fret neck w/rosewood fretboard......dual humbuckers, three-position switch......Black gloss finish on Tele looking shape......string through bridge w/hardtail type adjustments.......adjustable tuners(seem to be Schaller)....Narrow, thin neck comfortably radiused w/medium jumbo frets

Multitude of sounds available with minor twists on single tone and volume controls and three postion p/u selector. Very strong round neck p/u w/punchy mids. Bridge p/u can be a bit shrill without backing the tone down a bit but Floydian scream and drip are available from a good reverb/delay equipped amp set up like the Trademark 60 with slave unit that I usually use.
The controls and p/u's offer an infinite range of pleasing styles, suffering only at the very extremes of the tone range. Naturally, single coil snappy and Straty out-a-phase are not an option.

Factory set up was very good. A few bridge adjustments yielded perfect intonation and sweet & low action with nary a buzz. The frets could have used a bit more polishing overall and filing at the ends but we are talking a $175.00 (street price) guitar. Hardware quality was absolutely superb--the tuners are velvet smooth jewels. Every piece of this guitar is well planned and executed except for a minor line in the wood grain of the body

I have owned this guitar for about six years and it seems to be one I reach for quite often. It is dependable, durable and Solid as a rock.
I don't quite know how they do it, but Yamaha's corporate philosophy works here just like it does for their pianos, automobile motors, motorcycles,outboard motors, watercraft and electronics. I have used them all----extensively. They only produce products that they can do as well, or better than anyone----and deliver with a very reasonable price.

I have not had to deal with the company on any warranty issues.
Questions to customer service were handled quickly and politely.

Been playing for 35 years.........own three Gibsons.......Older Danelectro, Italian Acoustic. I love this instrument and consider it a rare find. I honestly don't think you can touch the quality of this guitar for equal money even in today's buyer's market.

This is a made in Taiwan model, not sure of the year-probably mid to
late 90's. 22 frets, 2 humbuckers, 3-position switch. The body is
alder with a rosewood fingerboard.

I use this with a Soldano Astroverb head feeding an old Music Man 4X12
cabinet. I play mostly rock but my band sometimes goes out into the
fringes of experimental jazzercise. This guitar handles maybe 95%
of the music without any problems. It does not really do the traditional twangy Tele sound, but you can get close if you turn the
tone knob up and maybe back off the volume a little.

I have the action set fairly high. When I got the guitar, it had .009
guage strings on it, which I immediately changed to .011s. I made a
very small adjustment to the truss rod, and I have had absolutely no
problems with it staying in tune. I was worried that I'd have to change or recut the nut slots, but, miraculously, the strings don't
bind.

I'm what you'd call a "large white man" and I honestly believe that I
could ride this guitar down a flight of stairs and not a damn thing
would happen to it. I have an old Yamaha acoustic as well that's
just about as sturdy as this one. For the money, you can't beat the
durability of Yamaha guitars. The finish is evenly applied and has
a nice unassuming look to it. All the hardware is solid, although I
did replace the stock saddles with String Saver saddles to increase
sustain and reduce string breakages.

I have never dealt with Yamaha. But then again, I've never needed to!

I've been playing for twenty years. I also own about 15 other guitars, most of which are Fenders. I love Fenders, but for normal
practicing, I find myself going back to this one. I just like the
way it sounds and feels. The pickups produce a nice, round tone with
plenty of gain. If it were stolen, I'd definitely try to pick up another one or maybe upgrade to another guitar in the Pacifica series.

Mine is a Pacifica Telecaster-like shaped. Made in taiwan. Natural wood finish (not shiny). Rosewood fingerboard.
Theres nothing fancy. Everything u'd want in a tele is there, (except for the twang). Standard crome tuners. 22 Frets.
Bought it for 170 Canadian second hand.

I play texas blues (SRV, Albert, and others). I mostly play clean. The guitar plays good and sustains decently. Of course not as good as an american-made fender, but what do u expect for a low price? The pickups were not strong enough for my taste, because i really like going for it hard with a huge vibrato and sometimes bends 2 fulltones up. This guitar would be great for any beginner. Sound is average : Not bright, not rich eather. It doesn't have much flavor. The neck pickup gives the bass, but the treble is muffled. The bridge pickup is pure treble and no bass and a little of mid. I have just replaced my pickups for a Seymour Duncan vintage '59 bridge, and a Fender Texas Special neck lipstick. Sounds very sweet and twangy in the bridge position, and rich with lots of mid in the neck.

BTW this guitar uses tapped pickup wiring, if u consider replacing them ;) (i.e. using 3 wires for each pickup, a ground - white , a hot - black, and a tap - red that goes together with the ground)
But the original sound was way too weak for my taste...

I got it second hand. The intonation on the high e string was bad. at the 12th fret, the note was flat, and i had to get a longer screw, because even on the maximum saddle extention it was still flat for that high e. The guitar goes out of tune a lot (prolly because i use 11s and bend every 3rd note or so). If u pull hard on a string the tuner will roll back (not a lot), but its noticeable, especially for the lower 3 strings. This guitar is not meant for heavy gauge strings. I am thinking to replace the tuners with fender shallers.
Overall its fine, because of the simple construction of the guitar.
Rather than that little intonation and the tuning, there are no problems.

This guitar as is WILL NOT withstand live playing. Once when i was playing on a jam night in a bar it went out of tune during the song, and i had to stop to retune it (it was embarassing). U will need to replace the tuners if u use higher gauge strings. I would not use this guitar without a backup. The strap buttons are solid however, (u still need straplocks though). The finish is very thin. I have nicks, marks and dents on this guitar just by accidentally hitting it every day here and there (chairs, table etc...) The good thing is those things u have to really look for in order to notice, because the finish is just plain wood...

like i said this guitar is perfect for beginners who don't gig and don't have to worry about floating bridges or tuning instability...

Havent' dealt with them.

I've been playing guitar for 4 years. I have a fender frontman 15watts practice amp. it has an equalizer and reverb - all that i need... I mostly play clean. I'm hoping to start gigging first before i get myself a Fender Fat Strat Texas Special, and some tube amp...

Overall this guitar is great for beginners. If you want to learn, buy it ( i think the list on it is 300 Canadian ). It is a good deal, for a solid guitar.