Yamaha Pacifica 120S

good equiped (I love the combination humbucker and telestyle!!! because it surprised most of the people!)
- tele style
- 2 humbucker
- 3 way selector
- 22 frets
- volume
- tone
- original passive electronics, mine now has active ones
- very very easy handling
- super light

it am an alternative funk-rocker (red hot chili style)
this guitar sounds great for the price!

the original humbuckers are not perfect, because the E-string is not as loud as the others.

course you can remove some parts and use better ones, or you have a cousine, who is a techfreak (such as mine) and he makes my guitar sound great with some small electonic tricks like active electronic!

on the PAC 120S i'm much faster than on an epiphone - LP!!

the setup was OK, but i like it deeper.

good guitar player know how to make the setup better, just the bad player say "the setup is so bad"!

so this point is no main point for me

the finish is almost unbreakable (compare to squire or epiphone)

of course the durability is very good, because it's a yamaha!!
i have 3 yam - gitars (also some others guitars) at home and none of them is destroyed. (they are 17, 13 and 2 years old!)
believe me, i could smash the guitar on the wall in the garage and it would keep on playing! they are unbreakable!
so i don't need a backup guitar!

yamaha works good, so they don't have to repair much!
i never needed them!

i play guitar for over 12 years (classic, western, electric guitar, electric bass). i practise for 3-4 hours a day.

sure, i would buy it again.

==> solid guitar, allowes fast playing because of easy handling!

This was a brand new Yamaha Pacifica 120s guitar bought from a local retailer in Canada. It says on the back that it is made in Korea to the "specifications of Yamaha."

It's a 22-fret guitar. The fret wires are small. I inquired about replacing them with jumbo size, but the retailer said it would cost me over $200.

It's a solid-top. The info on the net says it's a solid Alder body with maple neck and bubinga fretboard. The particular guitar I have looks identical to rosewood on the fretboard, so I don't think it's bubinga on this one.

It's got a volume, tone, 3-way switch, 2 humbuckers, pretty basic. The day I got it, I put a Dimarzio Super 3 in the bridge and a Dimarzio Evolution Neck in the neck position. The difference in tone is unbelievable. One thing for sure about this guitar is that it resonates like crazy. Playing it unamplified, you can feel the guitar resonating, which is great. Add in a couple of high-output pickups, and this guitar sounds as rock as any other...very nice tone. It sounds better than my Fender Strat that has similar dimarzio humbuckers in it.

The guitar I have is gloss black...very uniform paint. The neck has some grain runout, not sure how it will hold up to serious playing, but I'm sure to find out.

It has a standard fender-style stop tailpiece, string thru body which I really like. I'm sure it adds to the excellent resonance of the guitar. The only thing I might put on in the future is graphite saddles, but I want to try them out first to see how drastically they change the tone. The tuners were no-name when I got it, so I modified it slightly and put Gotoh Sge's...seems to stay in tune fine.

I gave it a low rating for this category because the stock pickups and tuners were garbage..I changed them the first day I had the guitar. Plan on getting some decent pickups that suit your style and high-quality tuners to stay in tune. The body and neck are awesome, and the guitar sounds and resonates incredibly when not plugged in, which is the sign that it will sound awesome with good pickups.

Put another way, I bought the guitar for $420, and by the time I put over $400 of dimarzio's in it and $150 worth of tuners, the guitar is suddenly worth over $1000. Keep in mind, these are Canadian prices.

I play all sorts of music, professionally. Right now, I'm gigging around town and recording a cd with a punk-thrash band. We are fast and technical, so I wanted a guitar with a good woody kick-ass tone and good definition between notes. I like this guitar with the Dimarzio's in it, it sounds better than any of my other guitars.

I'm using a Tubeworks Tubedriver with no effects at all. Trust me, in a 3-piece metal band, this guitar sounds over-the-top with good pickups.

The guitar definitely has a nice rich and full sound. It's not bright, more like a satin Santana tone mostly.

With the Super 3 in the bridge, it's raunchy as hell...think Ac/dc or any other band with tons of gain. The Evolution Neck sounds really satin and warm....very good combination of sounds.

I like the tonal qualities of the basic guitar unplugged, very big and bouncy. Add in some quality pickups of your choice, and you should have a killer tone with relatively little modification.

Once again, I gave it a low rating in this category, because the main reason the guitar sounds so kick ass in the band is due to the aftermarket pickups. The original pickups were garbage.

The guitar was set up fine at the factory, but the first thing i did was cut off all the strings, change the tuners and pickups and restring it and intonate it in E-flat with 10-guage strings. So, I can't say for certain how well the factory set up was, it wasn't my personal preference.

All routes look very professional, and the workmanship on the wood is excellent. No blemishes or any other sign of poor quality. I also changed the tone and volume knobs to metal knobs...the original plastic ones looked pretty crappy.

Once I had the new black tuners, black dimarzios, and black metal knobs, this guitar looks brilliant. Everyone mentions what a nice-looking guitar it is. I play a lot of jazz and melodic music, so I was going for a look that was metal on one hand, but also very versatile. I found it.

I'm giving this category a high rating because I believe the guitar was very well built.

Tonite is actually my first live gig with this guitar. In this band, I kick the hell out of the guitar and play very aggressively. My last guitar was a Hamer Slammer Sp-1 and it lasted about a year before most of the components failed. Hopefully this one will last longer.

As I said earlier, I changed most of the hardware already and am planning on changing the rest soon. If I were planning on buying this guitar again, I would factor into my budget the cost of completely new electronics (switch and pots), tuners, pickups, and anything else.

I changed the strap buttons as well into the strap-lock style ($26 canadian).

I am depending on this guitar as my primary guitar, it feels very solid and heavy.

I am planning on bringing my hamer to the gig for a backup. I would never play a gig without a backup.

Once again, I'm giving it a low rating, because most of the durability comes from the aftermarket parts I put on it. However, you can be sure the solid alder body and maple neck are very well made.

Never.

I've been playing guitar for a little over 12 years. I own a complete recording studio. Check us out on the net at www.revolutionmusic.net

If it was lost or stolen, I would probably buy a different guitar. Not because this one isn't quality, but because I would probably go for a Gibson scale again. The fender scale is a little wierd to get used to after mainly playing a gibson scale for a long time.

My favourite feature is the solid alder body. It's a big chunk of heavy wood. Gets a little sore on the shoulder, which is a good thing. T his guitar resonates like a hollow-body, you can feel it vibrating in your hands....that's killer.

For the price, this is a perfect guitar for modifying for your personal playing preference.

I played every guitar in town when I was trying out this guitar. Found some beautiful Washburns, but they were severely overpriced. FOr the value, this one was a good buy, especially considering the solid body

Straight out of the box, I had a nice hard tail guitar:- 2 Humbuckers, 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-Way switch, Natural body with a rosewood neck. Complete with 2 tools, manual and a really nasty guitar lead (But the thought was nice).

I got this as a back up to my Mex-Strat to use as a work horse, and quite frankly this guitar sounded shite (End of story). So the first thing I did was replace the pick-ups to Seymore Duncan, And suprise suprise it now sounds perfect.

Rating 1 (with original pickups)
Rating 10 (With my modifications)

It was set-up fine from the start, Very impressed (Unlike my Fender)
The finish is what I expected for what I paid for the guitar #169 (new), It's easly scratched and dented but with a little care it should age OK, as for everything else one the guitar the quality is just as good as my Fender, The switch is better.

I can't see any reason why it won't do well in live gigs, but time will tell, It's a little on the light side but that just tells me 'Less shoulder ache'

Well if it was under warranty it's proberbly void now, Never delt with them.

I've being playing for over 2 years now, and have many gigs lined up for this year, Like I've said I got this as a work horse for live performance, I paid a lot less for it than my Mex-Fender with the idea I could batter this guitar around and still have my nice fender as a guitar to look after, but (I'm almost ashamed to say this) I now prefer my Pacifica. Ok I had to spend another #100 on pick-ups but it still cost a lot less than the Fender, and the quality is just as good. Plus I wanted a Hardtail guitar but not a Fender Tele, and Fender start getting silly with prices on Hardtail strats, were as this guitar had my exact specifications. I couldn't design a more perfect guitar for my needs.
So over all I'm over the moon with this baby, and if it ever gets seriously damaged it won't break the bank to replace, Champion!

this is a pretty good guitar
1 vol, 1 tone knob, 2humbuckers, 3way switch, alder body

i play punk and some classic rock. it is fine but this is my first guitar and ive been playing for 3 years. time for a new one. and it buzzes a lot which is really annoying. not too much variety in sound because the toggle just changes the tone basically

i have no idea this is my first guitar. i guess it dents pretty easily. i once threw a ping pong racket and it hit the guitar leaving a nasty dent. then there are some dents that i dont even know where they came from. the guitar shop set it up for me which is nice.

3 years and its still kickin'. i guess its alright

no customer support needed. WHOO!

i hear its better than a mexican strat so go for it

This guitar I bought brand new and it is made in Taiwan. It has a "solid alder body" (although you can see from some flaws in the finish that it's at least two pieces). It's got a one-piece maple neck, 22 frets, bubinga fretboard, and die-cast tuners. Other features include one volume and one tone knob, a three way switch, and a string thru bridge with die-cast bridge saddles. Pickups are stock Yamaha humbuckers, and the finish is a vintage white. The three way selector switch is a little bit cheesy, and the volume and tone knobs just don't fit with this guitar; barrel knobs would have been a better choice.

For a guitar at this price range, the sound is not too bad, however the pickups are a bit high on the treble side and sound a little bit too thin for my tastes and get a bit microphonic at high volumes. Presently, I'm playing it through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2 x 12 (yeah, I know your opinion about fender amps, but I love mine). The clean sounds are pretty decent and the distortion sounds are pretty sweet, especially on the neck pickup. I'll probably replace the pickups with some Duncans just to get a warmer sound out of this guitar. I play mostly rock and blues.

The factory set-up was not thrilling. The neck needed some straightening, although I'm very impressed with the neck and fretwork for a guitar in this price range. The action was a bit high, but after some adjusting, it plays pretty nice. The neck fits snugly into the body which I was pretty impressed with as well. The pickups were also set a bit high, which may have contributed to the microphonic sounds. I replaced the bridge saddles with some graph techs, which really look cool with the black humbuckers and black knobs. I also replaced the cheap knobs with some barrel knobs by simply placing a match between the gap in the tone and volume pots. The finish is average; although it is painted white, you can see that the guitar bod is more than one piece. Like I said before, I'll make a few more upgrades, like the tuners and pick-ups, but now that I look back, after spending the additional bucks on pickups, saddles, and tuners, I could have just bought a schecter PT.

I haven't had this guitar too long, so I can't really say how it will last. The finish seems to be a bit thin, but the neck certainly is more impressive than a fender squier or even a mexican strat. I'd definitely bring a back-up guitar to a gig.

I've been playing now for 31 years and have gone through various strats and teles, and I'd say the quality of this guitar doesn't match with a fender. I own an American Standard Strat and a Tex Mex Strat, and the stock features on the fenders are certainly much better. This is the first non-fender guitar I've bought; I've been looking for a tele style guitar with two humbuckers but wasn't real thrilled with the sound of the fender 72 tele reissue. Again, the best feature is the neck on this guitar, and I like it's light weight.

Made in 2000, 22 fret, 3 piece Alder body with transparent finish, volume, tone, 3 way selector, 2 humbucker (Yamaha passive), Maple neck with bubinga fretboard, tele-style with no pickguard, string-thru body bridge (a la Fender hardtail), cheap tuners, seems to be a 24.75 scale (the strings are loose compared to my 25.5 scale guitars), came with a 0.25$ guitar cord which I quickly threw away

There's something about this guitar. It doesn't sound particularly good, it doesn't excel at anything, but it doesn't sound bad either! I gig with it, side to side with a higher-end RGX and a Godin LGX and most people don't see the difference. I do get a deeper and bigger bottom end with the Godin, but geez it's a huge piece of good Mahogany with maple top and two seymour duncan humbuckers, it better sounds good! I simply have fun jamming on the Pacifica. It doesn't feedback that much, the pickup sounds a little thin at times, but they're stock Yamaha pickups, what do you except. I'm about to throw in a Seymour Duncan Trembucker for the bridge (coming off my RGX which is receiving a Duncan Custom instead) which has a big bottom end, can't wait to see the difference. I removed the neck pickup and switch because I don't use it and it gives a cool beaten-up look (with the burns, scratch, holes, various paint spots, etc). I probably wouldn't buy this guitar again though (I prefer higher-end hand made guitars now :), but I'm keeping it as long as it works.

ok

That's the best part!!! My 120S has received the most incredible beating a guitar could get in its life!!! The idea is simple, it's fun to trash a guitar at the end of a show, but no one wants to trash his Gibson Les Paul or his PRS, but this is a 200$ axe, who cares! So at 3 different times, after the last song, I simply thrown the guitar on floor, jumped on it a few times and played soccer with it! But the best part is: it still works and keeps in tune, the neck is still straight!!! I also managed to make it look the worse possible, I completely messed the finish with screw drivers and such, I spray painted different colors on it, put stickers, then I removed everything and painted black over it with shoe polish!!! I also removed the neck pickup and the switch.

So is it solid? Hell yeah! Although, I did find out a crack in the body between the neck and the neck pickup opening (saw it after removing the pickup). But considering what the guitar has gone through...

Oh, the strap buttons are POS, replace them with straplocks (replace every strap buttons in the world with straplocks actually!!!).

Shitty guitar, but very solid

Like I said I wouldn't buy this guitar again. Of course, with better tuners and 2 seymour duncan pickups, it would be a very usable guitar. But 2 humbuckers with an alder body isn't the kind of sound I'm looking for, I love mahogany guitars. However, there is a use for alder and it's: strat-type sound. So, if my plans to make my RGX621D sounds like a Strat (I think its made of alder, but the paint is too thick on it, and it has a humbucker in the neck, even split, it will never be a Fender single coil, and I prefer maple neck on Strats) with it's new pickup, pots, and coil-split switch, I may build a Pacifica 112M with upgraded pickups and tuners... we'll see.

This guitar has an alder body maple neck and a bubbaginga fret board. It also has a string though body bridge and for some strange reason mine came new with the control knobs off a les paul. Very simple very nice. Three way switch and two humbuckers. The neck on mine is comparable with that of guitars three times the price although some of the other PAC120S on the rack were not as nice. Very low action which I like but its not for everyone.

Has a nice clean sound for srumming and produces well when driven hard. A bit on the thin side but you can't complain for the price. I've got a marshall amp and I can get a wide aray of sounds with this guitar.

This guitar was beautiful but with the different control nobs I suspect one of the techs at the store may have set it up. Nice black paint and a telecaster type shape. the pickups are close to the strings which I like but it can be a little noisey for some.

I've only had it a month so I can't say about reliability. But it seems well made for the price.

The guy at the store said one year warranty to be service through them but like I said I have only had it a month so no problems yet

Been playing on and off for ten years nothing to serious. Mostly rock and blues. the guitar has a nice crunchy tone a little dry but what do you want for the price. I was so impressed by the quality of the guitar that I decided to write in. I would give this guitar a ten out of ten for guitars in this price range but up against some of the the other high end guitars it fall a little short.

This guitar features an adler body, dual humbuckers, and a string-thru body bridge. As everyone else mentioned, these features are almost never heard of at this price point. Mine has the transparent finish( which I love)and is the older model with the pickups mounted to the body. Overall, not a ton of features, but very simple and effective. This baby gets the job done. If your looking for a lot of features, you'll end up paying a lot more and you might not get the quality. I must add that the routs are perfect. I haven't seen routing this good on guitars 3 times as much.

The sound was great for a guitar at any price range, amazing at this price range. I did end up changing the pickups to an EMG 85 at the neck and an EMG 81 at the bridge. This was for personal taste and the fact that the originals started to get a little microphonic. I play really hard music, and she's done everything sonicly I've asked for. It does lack a little on the low end, but as every one has said-IT ONLY COST AROUND $200!!! I am now using it with a Peavey Supreame Head with a custom 4x12 Fender cab. hooked up through a digitec processor and a BBE. It just screams.

When I got this guitar, it had been on the shelf for awhile and had been pretty well handled. It has since taken alot of abuse ( I'm pretty hard on my guitars-my head hits the back of them for some cool sounds, I beat on the tops for sustain...etc.) and still looks good. The set-up had been done at the store, so I don't know how it shipped. When I got it the set-up was perfect, and I've done very little adjusting since.

This guitar has been put through hell and still preforms like it was new, except for the pickups. It has been my main ax and my backup( I now use a Hamer for my main). As I said before, it has withstood my constant beatings and is only a little worse for the wear. I've had this guitar for 4 years and no major problems

never dealt with the company, don't suppose I will

I chose this guitar because i needed a backup to my mexican Strat, but this became my main guitar. I have been playing for close to 15 years and this is the best value I have come across. For the money nothing compares. My lead guitarist is always trying to buy it from me for more than i paid!! If I lost it I would look for another one in a heart beat. It's a simple, well built guitar that puts others twice it's price to shame. I hate to go on, but I've had no bad vibes from this guitar.

The only "feature" on this guitar is the two humbucker pickups. No tremolo, no locking tuners, no pickguard, it has a 3-way switch, volume and tone. The good thing about this guitar is that it's made in Alder, the same wood used in american Strats, which costs 4 times the price, that's why I picked this guitar up, I have no need for a 250$ guitar, but it's one heck of a 250$ guitar! The body is Tele-style, but with no pickguard and there's no paint, only a big piece of wood! It's light as hell, it sound quite good unplugged, which is what's important to me, because if it doesn't sound good by itself, no matter what pickup you use, you will never get a real good sound, so I can't wait to put Seymour Duncans on it, probably a JB in the bridge position and a Jazz in the neck position. It would be nice to add a switch to split the coils too for a more Telecaster like sound. It's a string-thru-body bridge, and a bolt-on neck.

The sound is warm and bright at the same time, it's quite good for a 250$, but it lacks low-end punch, I don't know if it's the wood or the pickup, because the guitar is really light, it feels like it cannot have balls, but it's maybe just an illusion. I'm sure it'll be fine with new pickups. But for rock/blues playing, it sounds better than my other Yamaha (RGX621D) which I paid 3 times the price, it also has a much better clean sound. I like playing this guitar in my Flextone amp, it allows me to get a variety of good tones. It just needs more low-end punch. The pickup seems to feedback, but the noise gate on the amp cut it out. The sustain is pretty good and you can get it to feedback and it keeps singing as long as you want it too. You can't say the same thing about my last inexpensive guitar, a "Barrington" that was selling for 350$ with tremolo, the pickups were so bad it would feedback on the clean channel, and sustain was inexistant. It's not a perfect guitar, but for a 250$ guitar, it deserve at least a 9!

The guitar was pretty good out of the box. The action was just perfect, not too low, not too high, no buzzing, the pickups were maybe a little low. The only problem is that one pickup is not properly aligned with the string, the lowest string is perfectly on top of the pole, but the pole aren't spaced enough and the smallest string is completely beside the pole. The guitar had some minor scratches, but I didn't really care. Hey, 250$! The neck pickup was okay, only the bridge pickup is not aligned, but the sound isn't unbalanced at all. ALl the controls function perfectly without noise. I was impressed mostly. I just wish they will exchange it for another one with properly aligned pickups. That's why it deserves a 6, otherwise it'd be a 10

I bought this as my backup guitar, but I have faith in Yamaha guitars, it won't let me down. And at that price, I don't care abusing it. I just hate one thing, the low E string keeps falling off when I play too hard. I'll have to find a solution to that problem.

Pros: incredible value, cool look, good sound, fun to play, can't think of any better backup guitars or beginner's guitar, good set-up out of the box, comes with a cord
Cons: some minor flaws in the construction, lack of low-end punch, cheap pickups

Purchased new in December of `99, so I will assume it was made within the past year or so. Features are the same as on the Pacifica 120 and 120SD reviewed elsewhere, at least as far as I can tell. The neck is a thin single piece of maple (bolt-on), with bubinga fingerboard and 22 frets. Dot inlays, not real mother-of-pearl, but a better imitation than on most guitars. Fairly decent stock tuners, with one string tree. The Tele-style body is alder, with a natural "satin" finish. Chrome string-thru hardtail bridge, two stock humbuckers, three-way pickup selector, tone and volume knobs.
For this style of guitar, it has quite a few features. Hardware seems better than that found on many other guitars in this price range.

I purchased this guitar as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend, whose tastes (alt-rock, country) differ from mine (metal) quite a bit, so I put it through all the paces. The neck humbucker attains a fairly impressive clean tone, especially for stock. Even the bridge `bucker does a respectable job. The two combined are nothing to write home about. The pickups sound good with any degree of overdrive or distortion, although on the thin side. Fairly clear on leads, with good sustain, due in part to the string-thru bridge. Very little noise, even with high gain and numerous effects.
With dual humbuckers, the sound obviously emulates a Strat or even Les Paul more than a Telecaster. For most people, the stock pickups should be more than sufficient. Bottom end is somewhat lacking, but overall sound quality is good all around.

I was pleasantly suprised by this guitar in terms of initial setup and condition. The action is almost perfect, if a little too low. Pickup height is just right, and the bridge appears to be solid. The three pieces of alder are a decent match. A few nicks in the wood, but it's inevitable without some sort of clearcoat finish.
No problems, and even the strings were great right off the rack.

While all the hardware seems good enough to last a long time, this sort of finish is just begging for trouble with any extensive use. This *new* guitar already had some very small dings in the alder body, and I've seen a couple used ones with large chips and deep scratches. The appearance and workmanship are quite good, but if you use an instrument like this on a regular basis, cosmetic damages come with the territory. The strap buttons seem secure, and I would feel comfortable playing without a backup if I had to. With a fixed bridge, string breakage is rare, and changes are quick and painless.
No quality issues, but a couple points get knocked off because this finish is "at risk" and already took a couple dings in shipment.

I have been playing for nine years, but bought this for my girlfriend, who has less than a year of experience. Her only other guitar is an Alvarez Regent acoustic, but I have USA-made Jackson and Hamer electrics. For the price, I think that this Yamaha is a very good instrument, in terms of sound, workmanship, and playability.
If you are considering a guitar in this price range, don't expect consistent results based simply on brand name and reputation. I tried several Yamaha Strat copies, and they sounded weak in comparison. I owned a Fender Squier II several years ago, and the current Squier models are nowhere near the same level of quality. I also played a number of DeArmond bolt-ons which sounded muddy and were poorly setup, and some Epiphones which sounded HORRIBLE and were the worst-assembled instruments I've ever seen.
My point? Just because you've played a particular type of guitar before, don't think that the next one to hit the shelves will be the same. With many imported guitars being built in half a dozen different countries and "setup in the USA", you just never know.
I think that this Pacifica is a high-quality instrument that will last for many years and could be a fine studio or live-performance guitar. It is definitely better than the lower priced Yamahas that I've seen at MARS and Guitar Center, and blew away everything else in the price range.