Yamaha Pacifica 311 Mike Stern

My serial numbered PL 04125 Pacifica 311 M S model was on 5/04/99, the 125th of the run. Made in Taiwan's Kaohsiung Yamaha Ltd. factory under ridgid Yamaha quality control. I believe this as these Yamaha guitars are the greatest bang for the buck today on the market. This 22 fret wonder has a highly figured ash capped nicely bound solid alder solid body, a Yamaha humbucker in the neck position and a hot rails type single coil in the lead/bridge position, one tone and volume control all handled by a 3 way selector switch. Straight telecaster from the word go. The hot rail bridge pickup has a lot of bite for lead, the hummer in the neck is nicely fat but both sound good when combined. Not quite tele sounding, a smoother more mellow tone when combined. Good enough change for a mid priced guitar, so I feel the Yamaha people done the work well when the engineered these models. It's lightly finished satin neck is typical Yamaha 13.75" radius, maple fretboard which is fast and comfy with 22 frets that are medium/large with a 25.5" scale. Contrary to a lot of belief, the M S does not stand for Mike Stern. It stands for a Maple fretboard, the "M" means maple not Mike. The post below points this out as well, he is correct and this has also been verified by the Yamaha support people here. Tuners are stock but operate smooth with good hold, some of the best tuners in the business today. Strings thru body tele style ashtray bridge with adjustable saddles for each string. These Yamaha guitars adjust and intonate right on the money especially if you like a low action guitar. It came used with no case but in very nice condtion. I'll take it from there. No problems at all!

Tones are great for the amount that you pay for these hard to find gems, a nice tele bite for lead country, the neck hummer leans more towards a full blues tone, but both combined gives a nice mellow but articulate tone for older pop, older country even older rock-a-billy thru my Fender amps. Electronics are quiet, pickups are adjusted to Stew/Mac specs. Not bad at all when playing pretty clean with the amp's reverb,chorus or tremolo adding some depth. No dislikes here for me. A guy can always upgrade pickups if needed later but right now I'm content with this being 100% stock. I feel the body has ample woods and weight to maintain good sounds now.

Mine is the burnt orange finished style, all body bindings are intact and look great, a terrific addition to spice up it's appearance. The top's ash cap is one piece with no flaws to finish or binding, all chrome hardware is bright, all woods appear top notch. Saddles need to be reset after my cutting off long allen screws, which takes time to cut them and file them. But put it back together and it tuned and intoned perfectly. Just that one minor glitch, the rest is perfect. All routing are right on, bridge chrome is heavy and bright, tuners are stock but great. Not bad at all, very impressive for the price is an under statement.

The model is perfect for almost any kind of clean music, it'll take a lot of work and still be standing tall. Very dependable in my books, finish and plating is good for years. I can't see a need for a backup even tho I use 09-42's. I've bought a dozen of GHS' new Dyn-O-Mytes nickel plated strings at Musicican's Friend and these strings really brought this guitar to life. A perfct match. Yes, strap locks always go on the very first thing. No gripe here, still stuck on these guitars for the $225 that I paid for it used with no case, it still shines and holds it's own besides my higher end Heritages, Hamers, etc.

Never have dealt direct with Yamaha for repairs or problems, their support always answers prompt with questions about it's age, woods, etc. I think no warranty is needed even when new as these guitars are built tough and right. I cannot see any problems at all provided you use common sense and some maintainence. I tip my hat to the people at the factory, you done it right!

I've been playing 50 + years and still like to play. I dig out one of my guitars every day and play, my favorite therapy. This guitar lacks nothing in my books, especially at the price that you pay for these models either new or used. It'll stand up to the best and most expensive guitars made out there today. Try and find these gems, they are getting hard to come by so if you're lucky enough to find one, give it a test drive. You might just like it. I'm looking for another one to match this one and one to match my Pacifica 302S s/s tele model. I'm sold on the 302S and 311MS models.
Terrific guitars, well balanced and lots of of tone without costing a fortune. My kind of instrument any day of the week.

I bought this guitar new AU600 dollars,in 2001 orange stain.I change the volun tone to black knobs looks better. In two years its been a totally reliable guitar with no problems at all/yet I also bought a peavey USA made wolfgang /yes it has good pickups and a great smooth neck but I was regularly getting something on it adjusted/so the Yamaha for a cheaper guitar is awsome value really well made/compared it with Fender tele which was crap.Then I got a Yamaha 904 strat great value but I still like the 311 as the neck is better than the USA Warmoth which is too wide.So looks like I wasted money on different guitars ,only to come back to the 311/ but one thing is worth doing and that's getting =new pickups and customize it more like the Mike Stern 1511.Bridge pickup is too twangy for me.

It is very versatile and can be used for anything

Yamaha are great guitar builders and its only that they dont have the big USA brand name.The quality is the best.

Just as good even better than most brands

As you get no problems with yamaha gear I had little contact with them but if you need tham they will help

Did play years ago but stopped and returned to it/just for personal use not a group player

I bought this guitar in 2000. It's a tele with 22 frets, a humbucker in neckposition and a twinblade-coil (hot rails) in the bridge-position. It has a beautiful transparant orange finish with a slightly lighter orange veneered ash top. Very fancy with the cream binding.Hardware is chrome, pickguard black and medium sized frets. The stock pickups are nice for a guitar in this pricerange, but I changed the bridge-pickup for a superb Dimarzio Fast Track, which gives a more lively and detailed sound.

I play rock and cleaner stuff (think Live, Muse, Supergrass, Coldplay) and use this guitar as my second axe. My main axe is a Fender Tele American Series. I run it through several pedals (Guvnor, Tubescreamer, Boss HM2, Chorus, Phase Shifter, Vox Wah, Carl Martin Trem-O-Vibe into a Koch Multitone 50 combo.
The Yahama really shines for a budgetguitar, neck-pickup is smooth and dark, a bit Les Paul, the bridge is definitely not a twangy Tele, more a balsy bucker, with increased midrange and enough highs. A full sound. It likes overdrive, but at higher gainsettings it's prone to sqeal. A pickup-change really improves the sound, and the guitar is worth it, cause playing it dry (not through an amp) you'll hear that the tones really vibe in the alder body. There's good sustain. In my humble opinion: try one in the shop, play it dry and listen to the tone/sustain. When it's your piece of cake swap the pickups for Dimarzio's of Duncans and it will give a lot of satisfaction.

The set-up was ok, but I had it adjusted. Now the neck needs a another tweak, yeah man, wood lives. The only problem I had, was breaking strings, due to the rough saddles. A change to Fender-saddles will solve this problem. But the good news is that the neck is comfortable and plays very well. Well the finisch looks very good to me. Yamaha does a great job. I also own a Gibson Blueshawk, and I must say they do a better job in Taiwan then in the States.

As I said overal finish and workmanship is very good for a guitar this cheap. Only the pickup-selector can be a pain the ass, but hey, on my American Tele it's the same story. At least on my Yamaha no pieces are falling off (like the stringholders at the backside on my Fender).

Fortunately I have a friends with two golden hands. He fixes everything. I had no guarantee-claims yet.

I've been playing for 25 years and in the past I thought always I needed expensive gear to sound right. Well the sounds are actually in your fingers and for bit in the gear. Now, in the Pacifica-range I compared a lot of guitars and this one had the most direct, upfront sound with the most sustain, due to the larger body and the lack of sustain-killing tremolo-systems. This expensive looking bargainbaby from Yamaha gives a lot of bang for the bucks. Put in some nice pickups and it sounds top.

Orange Pac311MS...my second one...I am Joe from above.

Sounds great to me. First one I reviewed above was bought after it was professionally set up...made a huge difference. This one felt like crap..needed a lot of set up work. The action was horrible...person who sold it to me probably thought they were robbing me, but after set up it was great!!!!

Excellent after set up. Action is usually set high on Yamahas and many folks don't know how to change it...I bought four yAMAHAS AND THREE NEEDED SERIOUS ACTION SET UP BUT WERE GREAT AFTERWARD.

Solid as a rock.

NA

30+ years. Love it. Now I have the natural ash and orange Pac 311's. Maybe I should buy one more (there is a cream one on ebay right now) and turn "the twins" into "triplets". Hmmmn.

About one year old. Tele style but much better in my opinion. Alser body with Ash top and creme binding. One piece maple neck with nice maple fretboard.

I play original music, all rock from ballads to fairly hard. I use a Johnson J-station and record direct into Cool Edit Pro generally. Very quiet pickups for recording. Sound varies from bright (not as bright as a Tele) to real nice and mellow, kinda LesPaulish. Sounds great. I think the pickups are fine though I've heard others say the pickups are the week point. I don't agree. I don't like overpowering pickups. I'm an old guy and owned many Teles, some from the 60's and this is the best Tele I've ever played or owned.

Only one word. Great! Action, fit and finish is superb. Bought used, but the setup was superb. Almost mint condition. This is my 3rd Yamaha and they've all been real good. Generally, Yamaha pickups are set very low and can usually be raised a little.

Based on my other Yamahas it will be like a tank, and it feels like it. It is very solid while not being overly heavy.

NA

30+ years. I own a Guild S-300D from 1977. Got rid of all my Gibsons and Fenders, kept the Guild all these years. Also great guitar. Recently was going to buy a new Gibson non reverse Firebird (to replace my long lost '65)...then discovered Yamaha and realized I could probably buy 6-8 guitars which are great for the same price. No contest on which way to go. Just can't believe the quality and feel of these Yamahas for the money..if you can get past the physchological idea that it's not Gibson, Fender, PRS, etc. I kept my Guild all these years so you know how I feel about brands. I can't believe how folks overpay for a name.

suits my style pretty decent: I like/play bout everything 'cept metal.
run it through either a fender hot rod deluxe or a mesa dc-3. sometimes use tube screamer or boss chorus. Stock pups work well on clean sounds...distortions are kinda cheesy and nasaly. very versatile guitar..(as proven by Stern himself..but im sure he has better pups etc! Dislikes: only one main concern: the high e string will get caught on the outside of the frets if bent too much.

i got this used on a trade so dunno how it was brand new. but there is some intonation problems...did a setup and it still didnt quite fix it. took it to my luthier and he couldn't get it quite right either(hes very competent BTH). oh well a $200 guitar will not be perfect. its just that i play octaves alot and you can hear the intonation is off just a bit. the rest of the guitar is decent

a tank.

na

overall this guitar is decent. its been fun. have used it as a backup at a few gigs. if stolen i would be pissed off but not heartbroken.
i kinda bought this guitar on impulse. shouldve looked at the neck better. the hot rail thing is defintely weak pickup. points lost. the neck hb is better. In sum id buy this guitar again for about $125

Well, you can find a description in the precedent reviews: mine is made in 2001 (in Taiwan), and is transparent orange with maple-on-maple fretboard/neck configuration. I could coose between this and the all-transparent (I mean: front&back, while mine has got a natural transparent back) "vintage blond" model (with maple fingerboard, too), but as soon as I saw the beautiful and warm color of the three pieces alder body, plus the orange ask veneer top I fell in love with this. I couldn't try any rosewood fingerboard models, but I like my pale maple one. A positive aspect: it's sculpted in the back, like a strat, so that it's more ergonomic than a traditional tele. It's got a tele-style bridge, but with six Stratlike saddles (better!). Die-cast machines, medium jumbo frets. Moreover, the color combination and the elegant aspect have got a little bit of a Les Paul style. I definitely love it.

I play jazz and I don't use the pick (I play mostly with my thumb), using an old no-name valve amp. IMHO, this guitar has a warm sound: I feel that the bridge pu is weaker than the the neck one, which is louder, warm and versatile. And definitely suits my style. I think I'll raise the bridge pu a little, 'cause in the middle position the neck one is too loud, the two pu's aren't balanced well: if this is a problem , it's totally fixable in a few minutes with a simple screwdriver. If you're looking for the usual Tele twang, you'd address to a single coiled instrument: personally, I was looking for a double-bucker configuration, and this is OK with me. I dunno anything about distortion, since I play with clean sounds only. GREAT SUSTAIN, the neck is OK, flat U, flat radius that are perfect for my small hands. I wanted to try a rosewood fingerboard one, but the weren't in the shop: but I guess that the brighter sound of the maple fb can match and balance the deep sound of the neck pu. At least, I think the one I have sounds OK, and this is what I want after all. I have to add that also unplugged it "sings" very well, the alder body is a very good one.

Out of the box this axe was 95% perfect: I just laghed when I relized that IT WAS ALMOST IN TUNE! Action is a little high, but it depends on your preferences. I repeat that the balance between the pu's has got to be adjusted (too loud the neck one repect to the bridge, you almost can't feel difference between neck and middle positions), but that's not a problem. I'm going to change the 09/42 strings into 10/46 which I prefer, so that I think I'll reduce the action a little bit. Neck is straight and perfect, with a pleasant satin finish, perfect frets allingment (no buzzes at all) and it's perfectly assembled to the body: this latter is a dream, with no flaws at all, perfectly finished. Stayed in tune immediately, and I hadn't to re-tune for more than 24 hours.

Totally dependable, I think. But I play home, so that I do not need any back up. The hardware is a stock one, nothing fabolous, but absolutely OK, solid I mean, with the possible exception of the selector, that's a little loose (but maybe just an impression). Finish seems to be solid too, as are the strap buttons (they're a little "fat", it took me 20 minutes to get a new strap on them!)

Didn't deal with them: this guitar has a one-year warranty, but I guess I won't need to contact Yamaha

I've been playing for 25 years (greetings!), and some years ago I switched to solid body guitars because of the consequeces of two bike accidents (it's a long story...). I've a FatStrat Johnson clone (see my review), and I was looking to a double humbucker guitar at a reasonable price. More, I always had a feeling for the Tele shape(it may seem strange, for a jazz player, but...) For the price this axe is MORE than reasonable, it's a big bang for the buck, I strongly recommend it. If you consider that it may be improved by placing some DiMarzio or Duncan pu's, it's a guitar you'll never give away. But also with the standard pu's it's a fine instrument, both solid and finished at the highest levels. Why to pay a lot for "brand" instruments when you can get this quality for 1/3 of the money? I tried a mexican tele, but - belive me - this one is better: it's got a better body, and a very very very gooooooood neck. If stolen or lost, I'd buy immediately another one, perhaps with a rosewood fingerboard and a natual top. But I definitely love the one I have.

WE live in australia and have fender 57 reissue gibson 335 ibanez s540 and ibanez as100 like a 335 but better,,,
this yamaha pacifica,,,was bought new for $300 U.S $600 AUSSIE,,,its a ms311 mike sturn type telle,,,,,we bought a seymore duncan 59 humbucker for the neck and a seymore duncan HOT RAILS for the bridge,,,no cutting or drilling they simply replace the yamaha pickups,,,which were real good anyway,,,,THESE ARE BETTER,,,,,then we had a new push pull pot where the tone is and we can split the pickups to get a beautifull telle sound,,or the mental humbucker,,,absolutly mental case fat ,,tone,,like nothing we have ever heard,,,ever,,,,we also replaced the little bridge screws,,,for recessed grub screws,,,,in stainless steel ,,,cost $5 ,,,and a pro set up,,,$60,,,,this thing hammers ,,like nothing else on the planet,,,,,it plays beautifull country,,,old telle sound,,,we can split the neck 59 to get a clean single coil tone,,,or use the humbuckers like hang on stuff,,,the action is low,,,the finish is 100 times better than fender,,,,and its easy to play,,,this was a smart move,,,by us,,,,,we want another one,,,to hell with the american telle at $1500,,,this mother plays,,like a demon,,,and the wood is beautifull,,,,,BUY ONE DO WHAT WE DONE ,,,ONLY COST $200 for the pickups,,,+$5 for the screws,,,,,this is value plus,,,,lukerene@optusnet.com.au

it does everything perfect,,,fender delux sounds like never befor,,,big sound ,,,

basically a yamaha version of a hot tele, one neck hb, and a rail bridge bucker, beautiful alder body with ash veneer top bound in cream binding. built like a tank without american clunkiness.i have had fenders in the past and am impressed with yamaha's attention to detail and build quality, i laugh when i see people suprised at yamaha's guitar making skill, hey!!! use your head and realize that gibson and fender are not the only makes out there!i don't buy hype, i buy quality. the pickups are not the best, but that is true of the standard offerings of prs, gibson and fender.this has been refered to as a mike stern... it is not the mike stern, but rather a lower priced tele style guitar with the yamaha mike stern like touches. it isn't sold as a mike stern model. 311s is the rosewood neck model and 311ms is the maple fretbourd model ( hence the M in MS). just a little clearing up of a missconception.there are no bells and whistles here, just solid "keep it simple stupid" guitar design.

accoustically it rings like a bell and has ungodly sustain(this is a bolt on neck!)unlike most fenders that have a dull lower end this has that twang that i love in a bolt on, yet the top end is not bright and annoying.bravo yamaha! i am not suprised, i am familiar with yamaha's quality. now amped ,,this is my response, yes the lead pickup will squeal if the gain is real high, but i have a sd hotrail to install which will solve that. it still sounds better than half the crap out there.the in between position is sweet and i don't miss the standard strat type dual pickup setting because i get a sweet tone here. some dual pickup guitars lack a nice funk, blues, clean tone but this puppy has it. i am primarily a strat style guitar lover and this is my first trip in the tele zone. i am very happy. i have no desire to purchase a fender, when i can get this quality at this price. i play every thing from country to blues to hard rock ( my main style, the band i am in is a hard rock band), this does a great job. with the blue setting on my rp14d i discovered i can morph from crunch to country style tone with only a roll of the volume!! and good tone at that, not acceptable tone but GOOD tone. a very simple guitar with great flexability. man i am totally blown away by the bottom end, sustain and top end clarity this has. this will handle my tone swings and deliver great tone when i finally get the seymour duncan installed. some people say you can't play metal with this, i say bullshit!!! if your description of metal is muddy gained out mesa boogie, drop d, hypermidrange prs, or 7 string flogging that may be true. metal to me is not that , i think of metal as ozzy, priest, maiden, sabbath etc. i like to hear all the instruments in a band not a wall of mud( that sound can be usefull as a dynamic tool,, but c'mon ..all the freaking time?) this is not the best choice for that muddy midrange over hyped gain. but it can and does metal!! be specific people. metal tones are guite far ranging. i find people tend to get less specific in these reviews. this guitar has an incredible woody sustaining tone that begs for a high end pickup in the bridge to deliver the goods, a great choice is a little 59 or a hotrails , yamaha does a good job with basic tone but they( unlike some companies) don't claim to make the holy grail of pickups, they put seymour duncans in the top end guitars. just give me a good guitar at a fair price and save the marketing hype for regular consumer products. this guitar does that. bottom line rich , sweet sustaining accoustic tone plus good useful electric tones.simple design with suprising variety. a real keeper.

i got it used, i don't like reviews that slag factory setups, every body has a preference and the dealer should set it up for your tastes. all the factory should do is make it toneful and playable. i do my own setups anyway. this guitar has no flaws in construction and finish. great neck .solid hardware , but i am going to add a graphite nut and string saver saddles as well as sperzel tuners as a personal preference. my only negative comment is the saddle height adjustment screws are the long type that can dig into your hand during palm mutes.this is a common occurance in the strat, tele style midpriced and lower guitar market.

solid as a rock, it will see lots of use and i trust it , i do my own setups and regularily change strings and maintain my guitars. i haven't broken a string in a long time. an ounce of prevention! i am not light touch either, i use dunlop heavy picks ( the purple 2mm thick ones) if you break strings , there has to be a reason. i would use without a backup because i prepare and avoid unknowns. it is great setting up your own guitars because you can avoid suprises like broken strings ( which is the main thing to force you to use a backup anyway) i say that becuase a well maintained guitar should always work, pickups don,t suddenly explode or tuners don't die , you can depend on a well maintained guitar. i know my guitar inside and out, i expect no suprises. i am a proactively set my stuff up not reactively. you could get defective strings or your amp could die, if this is an issue prepare and use a backup. i am confident. i may sound like i am in for a suprise, but if my guitar gives me sign i am right on it, listen to your gear and fix stuff before it tottally craps out, you won't regret it, guitar players are notorious for letting their gear get in bad shape, clean it , check it , string it up regularly, listen for crackles and drops in tone/volume and you will avoid disaster.

don't know

been playing for 20 years , presently getting ready to record with current band, my gear is simple but i like simple, i use a rp14d processer with modelling sometime direct sometimes through a ss head and marshall 4 10 cab. i found my sound and i don't need 90 guitars. i liked eddie vh's idea in the 80's... a simple guitar that was solid. i get around better with no variations. i have a more personal relationship with my guitar, i find if i avoid the too many option thing i play better and more expressively. this forces me to use my hands instead of grabbing this guitar and that guitar . your touch ,your picks and attack, your volume and amp settings are enough for getting the sound you need. the main advantage is you gain a direct connection to your brain and heart( think it, do it). this is better for me. i allready stated my future mod plans ,so there is not really any more it needs, i have went through a lot of guitars, and i just love the simplicity and solid tone it has. and it doesn't matter what i want to play i can use this. though i do normally prefer single coils in the neck position, a nice low output humbucker can cover a lot of basses in the neck and eliminate hum. i love this guitar as it is and i plan to make it even better!

Tele style, 22 Fret maple fingerboard, Swamp ash body, Seymour Duncan Pickups (humbucker in neck, stacked single coil in bridge).
Natural finish, tele bridge, regular vintage style tuners. Pretty straight forward guitar (not made for all the bells and whistles)

I play everything from country to rock, jazz to experimental. I think the type of guitar has less to do with the way it fits your musical style than your hands do. For me, the guitar plays well in all the aforementioned styles.
I run it through a Marshall JCM 800 50 watt head and have an Alesis Midiverb III in the effects loop for a little delay. I keep the sound at the "just breaking up" point most of the time, and the guitar really shows a lot of definition and pick attack, has a good, solid sound (not too bright- as I thought a maple neck w/an ash body might be, and not too dark either). Not the typical Tele sound though (cuz of the stacked humbucker in bridge), but can get pretty twangy if wanted.

I bought this off of e-bay from some store. It was set up pretty well but the pickup selector switch is really scratchy and goes in and out (I've really got to get that replaced). The finish is flawless and the neck joint is one of the most snug I've seen. I never really put much stock in Yamaha Guitars (I've always thought they were assembly line junk), but this one is really well made. I'm pretty impressed, and may even buy another Yamaha

I think everything on this guitar (with the exception of the selector switch) will last quite some time. I'd take it to a gig without a backup as long as the strings were new.

Bought it second hand, so haven't dealt with the company. Don't think I'll need to, though.

I've been playing about 13 years, and can hold my own against just about anyone out there. I'm not saying that this is the best guitar ever built, but for the money I paid, it's definitely a bargain. I wouldn't have paid the $1100 or $1200 list price, though. It's a solid, working man's guitar that, if you can find it for around $400-500, is a great deal.
While it wouldn't break my heart if it were lost or stolen, it's become my main guitar as of late and I would miss it in my collection.