Yamaha Pacifica 112

Made at the Kaohsiung factory in Taiwan, this 1995 model (which I purchased in 1997) has an alder body and a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with a bolt-on construction neck. The nutwidth is 41.50mm - the scale length 648mm. It has a humbucker at the bridge and two single coils at the neck and mid.

While not the best guitar in the store - it has proven itself to be a remarkably flexible and versatile instrument with an acceptable sound even with the shop pickups. However, having replaced these PU's with Seymour Duncan SSL-1 vintage staggered single coils and an SD SH-4JB humbucker plus Fender locking machine heads - the guitar now stands up to some pretty respectable competition.

The reason the small modifications were carried out was that the fingerboard turned out to be quite superb in terms of playing ease and accuracy. The action can be set according to personal preference with the intonation always being very good. The finish, in typical Yamaha fashion, is excellent. It was worth the "upgrade".

The guitar is durable making it an excellent work-horse. I've had absolutely no problems with it over 5 years of gigging.

I've had no experience of this.

Because of its price and its compact and lighter design I use this guitar for longer gigs and where there is a confined high traffic space such as in an orchestra pit for shows etc where just the thought of strapping on my Les Paul for over two hours brings on sore shoulder syndrome instantly! With a little bit of modification this Pacifica makes an ideal professional tool for those playing environments where you might not want to risk damage to a prized instrument. This guitar has proven itself to be fantastic value in every way.

this guitar looks great, feels great, and for the most part sounds great. Varnished natural look looks nice against a black pick board, and a natural neck. You can also get white pickboard and black neck but that looks like a kids toy. Pickup set up is: humbucker and two single coils. Tuners are not locked, which proves to be a bit of a bollox, especially when tuning down for some heavy shit.

I have a fairly broad style which this guitar suits. Its a pain in the ass trying to adjust it to a distinct sound (ie metallica, guns and roses), but the sound it comes out with is usually good enough to suit my style. The single coils buzz a little, but thats partially do do with leads and amp settings. Variety-wise, its got loads. Really heavy crunchy distortions, dirty blues tones, and thin clean sounds (for whenever they are actually needed) are its best qualities. I use a peavey studio pro 112, boss DS-1, dunlop wah and a ibanez tube screamer, and zoom 707GFX from time to time. Sounds decent with that setup but after six years I get tired of it.

This part bugs me. When I got the guitar the bridge was bolloxed. It was fit loosely so that when ever I tightened one string the bridge moved up and hence loosening another sring. This made tuning really cumbersome, and alternative tunings nearly impossible. About a year ago I took a screwdriver to the panel at the back, where the strings go in. I tightened the springs which held the bridge in place. This kept the bridge right down, now it doesn't move at all. This has been on every other pacifica Ive played. I went in to a few stores and it was on all those also. There must be some advantage to it being like that if they designed it like that, but it was a pain in my ass. That was my only problem. Otherwise it was all fine

Very durable. ALthough after six years I can see signs of wear and tear. For instance, when playing on high notes, (past twelveth fret) the sound roughens up, I have a feeling the neck is twisted but its a strange twisting if thats the case. The pick ups could be a bit battered. I needed to rewire the socket jack a while ago, but that was mostly due to my own misuse of it. The best thing about natural finish is that scratches and dents are nearly impossible to detect. Only if its really beaten up. Otherwise you could take some varnish to it. But im not that worried about scratches. For gigging, I would use this as a back up, a fairly reliable back up. The strap buttons arent going to come off anytime soon. The bridges have been fine, so far. I might sent it for reservicing soon, but if it comes back the same Ill have to look in to getting a new guitar.

Never had to deal with them, always used my local store. MAybe I should send it to Yamaha for a service

For the money, it is excellent. Nice sound, good looks plays very nicely, maybe because Im just used to it. Ive been playing 6 years, stared when I was eleven, in the time Ive been playing Ive played a bunch of guitars around the same price but they dont compare. I dont like my amp too much, I would much prefer a marshall, it sounds even better through a marshall. With the pedals I have it is pretty impressive. If it got stolen, however I would seize that opportunity to get a Gibson SG or an ESP. But eventually give in to nostalgia and get another PAcifica.

Pickups S/S/H! tone and volume knobs!

This a guitar you can play ANY style of music with!.

THe pickups are really quite good for the price! not noisy at all!

I've done everything to this guitar apart from set fire to it!. I've thrown it a cross a rooms hundreds of times, dropped it on it head/lead socket!. The only things that will go on this guitar are the plastic bits. This is one tough cookie!

Fantastic value for a first/beginners guitar! I love it! nothing i've played beats the value and sound at this low price!

Sounds great, has that real Fender sound which I wanted. Might be a little bright for some.

Unbelievable at the price.

Too soon to tell, but I hear they are indestructable.

Been playing for 30+ years and have owned many many guitars of various brands...This Yamaha Pacifica 112 Natural finish is unbelievable for the money. Bought it used, but brand new condition. I'm not sure if was set up or from factory, but the set up is perfect. Just can't believe the quality for the money. Am starting a Yamaha collection for sure..and at these prices I can afford to do it too.

I am going to bring little new to the reviews on this product other than to confirm the majority of views.

1999 natural finish model. Bought second hand with a Peavey Blazer 158 Amplifier. Everything seems to be standard, though it has been customised with scratches, dents, dinks and chips.....but I got it cheap.

For the money it gets 9, but a 7 when not taking the low cost into account.

I play blues through to metal, and using effects software through the computer, this guitar is just fine, and sounds as good as anything else through my current set up. However, when I was originally looking for a guitar, I checked out most of the guitars within the #150 - #250 range.....and the 112 consistently felt the best every single time.

Same rating as above

Being second hand, and well used the guitar required a little setting up, including the well worn frets (playing way too much shadows). So after much searching on internet, talking to Yamaha and others, I set about adjusting it all, including taking various grades of wet and dry to the frets (very nervously I admit).

I am now very pleased with the set up, and plays lovely for a guitar within this budget.

Same rating as above. 9 and 7 averaging 8

Considering the obvioius lack of care and amount of work this unit has undertaken, then this guitar is incredible.

As such I am upping the ratings by 1 for each and therefor the average will come out at 9

After finally obtaining the right number for the guitar support in the UK, I can honestly say that everyone I have spoke to, was most helpful, infact, they all go beyond that and it was actually a pleasure to chat with these guys. And trust me, that is still refreshingly unusual in this country, so here I am going to give them a 10.

I played for about 10 years till I got married and bought old houses that required rennovation about 15 years ago. I still have a Fender Jumbo accoustic, that still looks new. I got a Peavey Blazer 158 amp with the Pacifica.
If it were stolen, I probably would buy another, though must admit that as I seem to be progressing quite rapidly, I would also entertain getting a better pacifica model, simply because I can afford it.
Love or hate........this is where I get the soap box out.
I love the price I paid, but thats it. I do not dislike anything about it, but do not "love" anything about it. I doubt whether I could be passionate about any Yamaha product.....they do their job well, reliably etc. To explain, I love my Alfa Romeo, but its not as good other cars I have owned, but it somehow stirs a passion that other cars cant. I suspect that I will soon own a Charvel, or a Jackson, (when one turns up cheap enough) and even should it turn out to be not as good as the 112, I bet I love it....now you explain that!

o.k nothing to brag about, its a cheap guitar. it plays nice, mine has a humbucker(needs to be changed) and two single coils. the neck is very nice. the tuners are o.k. im not wasting too much money on sucha cheap guitar so i will only change the humbucker. it came with a cable, tools and a string winder.

bought it for prcticing so i dont have to use my other expensive guitars like my les paul cutom. i play anything from blues to metal and this does the job. the sound is not rich but its o.k for bedroom use, i would not use it live although it could work. i might change the humbucker at the bridge to somthing with more output and more of a balanced sound. maybe a dimarzio tone zone or a seymour duncan custom 5. this guitar can cover any style. i dont use the middle single coil so I just screw that in the whole way cause it gets in the way of mi picking.

the color is nice, wood. it come ready to play out of the box although im a fix it freak so i adjusteded to my liking. i dont like the action very loww cause i like to dig under the strings. the plastic is very cheap, too cheap. i dont use the bar (hate waamy bars) so i dont know how well it holds in tune. the guitar looks nice, it looks more expensive than it is.

ie seems reliable. it will last long. i have a cheap epiphone les paul junior that i have really abused!!! and its still going. it think this guitar will be similar. like i said i would not use it live cause ill be embarressed to be seen with such a cheap guitar, plus i have better guitars so.....

have not dealt with yamaha. i ahve another yamaha acoustic that i love and its been really realiable so i think this will do the same.

ive been playing since i was 11 and im 29 now. i would not buy again if stolen. i think i would miss it though but i would not feel so bad as if i lost my gibson les paul custom or my gibson les paul junior spacial or my fender strat. i have a couple epiphones that are really nice (change the pickups and tuners.
this yamaha is great for its price range.

Well described elsewhere

Lotsa variety. I play industrial reggae and garage blues thru a Boss DM2, Rogue Stereo Chorus and into a Peavy Envoy 110. This guitar will go from clean fingerpickin to tin can fuzz.

Wood's surprisingly good, plastic & metal'r cheap.

6 mos. later hasn't broke yet.

N/A.

Absolutley the best deal under $200. I looked for years before upgrading from my Kay solid body. Maybe now I'll learn a new chord.

I like the pickups and the playability in killer solo ! but the neck is really long and the tremolo always detune the guitar ( it is not a floyd rose ! ) The body is not to big, not to small, nice position when i am sit.

OKKKKK, this sound ? I dream, must i play at my pacifica, must i like the sound ! I reajusted the pickup and the bridge and now i think it is really to play any musical style ( me, i'ts for metal but it's really cool on blues)

YOu must take some times to reajust the guitar. the potentiel is really not used when you buy it.

Ok, nothing is perfect but for the prize i think than this guitar is nice and have a great sound and potentiel. I don't find something than i don't like.
To everybody thant begin, that'ts really cheap and really good !!!

I brought one of these as I'd broken my main guitar and needed a stop gap - Was very cheap. Features were fine for the amount I paid for it, well made and quite handsome looking guitar. But I think people get abit carried away with their reveiws - this is a good guitar for the price but its nothing special. Has everything you could want, but you just know and feel that it's real cheap.

I would prefer less features and increase the quality of the remaining hardware.

Nice enough sound - but nothing on my Ibanez or Telecaster, very tinny, played mainly through my Marshall AVT 150, didn't do the amp justice at all. Clean sound quite full, distorted loses itself in noise - pickups are low quality and barely cope when pushed

This is where this guitar saved itself for me - was well put together, no real flaws on body work - Action fine straight out of box - I did have to move the pickup's a bit to get the most out of them. Nice looking, played well.

I gigged it a few times just as a spare - coped fine although, I certainly notice the difference to my other guitars, Because it was so cheap I wasn't frightened to give it a bit of stick ie, bending neck and running up and down alot trying to avoid the drum kit.

The hardware was a real concern for me - after a few months it went RUSTY! Which in my opinion is very, very ,very bad.

This guitar will not last for very long - My Ibanez Raodstar II is 15/20 years old and is still much more durable.

No idea - but Yamaha are a big company so I'd imagine they would be ok.

I have been playing for best part of 20years and to be fair this is one of the better guitars I've seen for less that #200, remember Squires and Marlins of old.. yuk!! But I believe most of the reviews here are a bit OTT - remember this is a cheap guitar and ideal for anyone on a budget - but it's definitely nothing amazing.

I have owned and played vintage American guitars for over 30 years.
I would have never considered a Yamaha guitar.
Financial problems caused me to see all of my guitar gear.
A friend gave me this guitar almost a year ago.
I used it with my Marshall tube stack and it sounded better than my old Fender's.
It plays well and sounds good.
The tuners don't slip and the bridge stays in adjustment.
I don't use the tremolo.
I also prefer small frets.
These are medium jumbo.
It is refrigerator white (green tint).
Came with a hard Fender case.
I don't know when it was made.
The man who gave it to me put a DeArmond humbucker at the bridge.
5 way switch.

I play everything from Jazz to hard rock, country and blues.
It feeds back at high volumes but I lowered the pickups and the problem was resolved.
It has a bright sound but not ice picky.

I set up my own guitars to my liking.
Can't see any flaws.

Very reliable.
I am not easy on guitars.
It was dropped with no damage resulting.
Finish is holding up well.
It is dependable and I gig/jam with it weekly without a backup.

I have been playing forever.
At this time I am using a Peavey amp but I usually use a Marshall stack.
If it were stolen I would buy a US Fender Fat Telecaster...again.
It does the job with no serious problems and holds up well.
One problem,but this problem is prevelent in many guitars.
Temperature hanges will make it go out of tune.
I play many outside gigs and I have to tune it often.
Once it reaches the same temp as the weather it is fine.
Good guitar for beginners and professionals alike.