Yamaha Pacifica 311 Mike Stern

I recently took this in for a customer order- new pickups.

The guitar's an HH to start with (looks like SH, but the bridge pickup is cunningly disguised as a singlecoil).

Simple setup- 3 way switch, volume & tone, hardtail bridge. 6 individual saddles that needed extreme intonation adjustment.

Pretty good tuners for the price- they do the job well, despite slightly wobbly posts.

Alder body, stained a really lovely cream colour with nicely offset cream binding. Good string-through body design.

Put simply, it's a Japanese Fender Telecaster with a few choice mods.

The standard sound is horribly, horribly dull. I can see why the guitar needed a change.

Having replaced the stock pickups (neck pickup is now a Kent Armstrong P90, and the bridge is a DiMarzio Chopper), I can say the guitar now sounds extremely good!!

One thing to seriously watch if you buy this guitar and change the pickups- the bridge pickup is larger than your average Tele design (usefully...) and the neck pickup is, oddly enough, smaller. So you'll need to file the scratchplate. The gap in the bridge isn't really significant.

Stock sounds- generic, bland, generally crap. RATING NORMAL: 5
Modified sounds- excellent, absolutely sublime. Guitar really sings with new mods.

The guitar was actually quite well setup from the factory, it played in a very slinky fashion. Having replaced the strings, this opinion was furthered. I'm embarrassed to say that it outshone my old American Deluxe Telecaster FMT HH as a player.

The only thing that needed real adjustment was the intonation, which was piss-poor from the factory.

Aside from that, you can't really fault it. Very good indeed!!

It's a pretty solid guitar. I gigged with it once the mods were done, and it held tuning very well, sounded excellent and got a lot of comments whence finished.

Fair to say that the Japanese have really got the reliability section sorted. I'd feel confident using it at a gig without a backup.

No idea.

I've been playing a long time, around 10 years. I've been modding guitars for around 5 years, and can honestly say that this one is in the top 3 for responding well to modifications.

It's an excellent guitar to play, sounds brilliant once you've sorted out the pickups problem and it's a good looker too. Once you get over the badge snobbery, you can really enjoy this guitar.

The features are already well covered in previous reviews.

The stock pickups are great for rock, but I wanted something a little more traditionally Tele sounding, so opted for a Wilkinson Broadcaster at the bridge and a GFS P90 at the neck-twangtastic!

It's a Yamaha, so the finish is very, very impressive. Mine has the orange stain finish and is stunning to the eye. I can't stop looking at it!

Built like a brick privvy, so it will outlast me. The saddles needed to be replaced because they were a little nasty and I changed the awful pickup selector for a Fender one.

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I've been playing for over 30 years (badly I might add), and have owned guitars from the top American manufacturers, and in my opinion, you are wasting both your time and money on their overrated products. I would'nt drive an American car, so why would I use an American built guitar? No thanks. I'm not a label snob, I look at things for what they are, and this guitar knocks Fender Teles into a cocked hat.

This is an update from my review in 2003. My 311MS is still going strong, but I recently changed the pickups, replaced the tuners by Schallers, the bridge by a graphtec ferraglide en had it rewired. Bridge-pick was a Dimarzio Fasttrack, which was very nice. To make it really hotrod, I put in a Tonezone T, a real Tele-monster. Original neckpup was a bit dull and replaced by an Dimarzio Vintage Paf. Oh man, now this baby had a pro-sound. Very smooth en sweet sound from the PAF, blistering distortion with heavenly harmonics from the Tonezone. Of course the Fender-type sound was gone, but..... after a friend of me had built in a coiltap (push-pull on the volumeknob) the pickups can be split. In single coil-mode you get all the twang, funk and hollow SRV-neckpup-sound. Now I have SIX sounds on tap. I hear tones from this guitar I never heard before. Extremely versatile now with a bit of extra investment. Owners of a 311 MS, I can recommend this modification. This resonant guitar with fantastic neck really deserves it.

With some extra investment (puppies, bridge, tuners, coiltap) this guitar get so much better and is so much more rewarding. Real pro-sound now.

Vintage Blonde, telecaster shape. fixed bridge strung through body. Mine is Taiwanese probably late 80's 90's. Alder body, ash cap, maple neck and added maple fingerboard. Two Yamaha SD look-alikes, an Alnico V Humbucker at the neck and a Ferrite Hot Rails Humbucker at the bridge. Yamaha's own excellent sprung loaded tuners. 3 position switch, volume and tone. Sadly cheap electronics let the side down slightly - I have had to replace the pots with Japanese CTS ones as the originals became unusable. No great expense though - just irritating.

This guitar sings! It is solid and sustains well which together with the high output pickups means that it's never plinky if lacking a little definition at times. You can achieve a thick tele sound with suitable EQ but this guitar is really more at home with rock , jazz & blues - the Mike Stern influence. Owning the more expensive (and very different PAC1511MS real deal) I can honestly say that soundwise this is a reasonable impersonation of the Mike Stern guitar although the feel is totally different.

I have always found Yamaha to be highly consistent in terms of quality. This guitar is very well made in terms of materials and construction. Regarding finish, the woods, fretting and laquer are 1st class putting Fender to shame with some of their 2nd rate offerings. The only major criticism is the height of the saddle adjusting screws which are way too high. 1/2 hour with a file will put this right - however did Yamaha get this wrong!

This guitar will last - for sure. The quality materials alone will keep it going apart from the pots and maybe the switch - plastic. I use this for gigs without backup with no concerns.

Yamaha customer support are truly excellent be it spares, wiring diagrams, high tech help, etc.

I have played, and taught guitar for 40 years, owned many American, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Indonesian guitars, and can honestly say that this is a good value and interesting guitar. Is it a Mike Stern? No!! it's nothing like it in terms of feel and character - the neck radius is totally different, as are the woods, weight and dimensions. You see the clowns on Ebay trying to tell you it's the same thing - no way!(I've owned several of each) It does however capture the sound of the PAC1511 but adds its own unique character. You have to bear in mind that this guitar features Yamahas albeit very good standard tele body and pac 112 neck unlike the Japanese 1511. It's light , solid sounds great, well made and looks terrific. Don't buy a Fender, buy a PAC311 you'll love it!

While the Yamaha website refers to the Mike Stern model in its listing for this, that (the PAC1511MS Mike Stern Signature) is a different, more expensive model. This is actually the PAC311MS model, the MS referring to Maple (fingerboard) & Single (cutaway), and was made in Taiwan (& unfortunately now discontinued). There was also a PAC311S version with rosewood fingerboard available.

Anyway, take an American Standard Tele, give it a body contour on the back, an ash veneer top with binding, a Yamaha stock neck humbucker and "hot rail" type bridge pu, and there you have it. The Vintage Blonde body is more vanilla than pale white, and the neck is less tinted, with a semi-gloss finish. The maple fingerboard is a separate piece from the neck, the way Warmoth makes them, though for this model it's probably not a Warmoth. The radius is flatter than on a Tele at 13.75 inches. Great workmanship and quality materials throughout. Features at least equivalent to a Tele, so a "10".

The neck pu is jazzy. The bridge pu, as a single coil size humbucker, is a bit of a compromise: it's not quite as twangy as a Tele, and it won't quite shred, but it'll cover everything in between, and it's quiet. Together they do a great "Keef" Richards (etc.) thing.

I got this used, and it was well taken care of. Action and intonation are perfect. The finish is flawless and the fittings like the neck pocket (etc.) are impeccable.

Build like a rock, with little to go wrong.

No experience, but I've heard they're great.

This guitar won't do everything but it'll take care of a lot. Nice to have at least one guitar without a tremelo and the associated hassles. Simple and easy to use. I replaced the string retainer with a graphite one and added a second. The output jack plate could have been metal, but the plastic one will do. A great, solid instrument and value.

Made in Japan Mike Stern Pacifica "Telecaster" signature Guitar.
This is the coolest and hottest (Seymour Duncan Humbuckers) tele i ever played. I replaced the bridge by a Gotho Telecaster bridge which looks nice and has a simular response. The neck is a real winner and i like to thank Mike for the design. Body is a 2-piece ash body with binding on the top side and a smooth engraving for the picking arm, cool 2. Did i say that the inlines on the neck really shine?

Well, it plays very well. The humbuckers give it a fat sound. No noise, not too bright, like a Fender Tele, but more detailed.
I use this guitar for funk, jazz and everything else and it works out fine. What more can i say.
Not a classical Tele sound, but I like it very much.

The setup was done by my local guitar craftsman and they did a good job.
Yamaha did a good job 2; really nice body and neck.

Well this guitar is as solid as any Fenders, what more can i say.

I am playing guitar and bass for 20 years now.
One cannot say that i am a jazz player but who cares when playing this axe.
I tried out many guitars untill now and I find the Mike Stern made by Yamaha is the best electric guitar I had the pleasure to play with. Thanks to Mike for the layout.

I already own 3 guitars , but when I saw this orange beast I had to get it, Not sure were it is made but the pickups are seymore duncan and work great it has one humbucker style pickup and one single coil for a nice mix of sounds the body is ash the neck and fretboard are both maple,the neck feels good in the hand . there is a 3 way switch for the pickups 1 volume 1 tone control.

the reason I bought this guitar was the pickup configuration , I like the mix between the humbucker and single coil,you can go from crisp and clear to raunchy with a flick of a switch and the turn of a knob.I currently use it with a Fender Blues distorton pedal and boss sd1 super overdrive, I am playing through a 30watt marshall

The guitar when played on factory settings was good but I made a small adjustment to the pickups and string hight but it is personal preference .the finish was fine ,I like the matt finish on the neck you hand slides nicely,all hardware and finish was excellent.

Well I have had this one for a month of band rehearsals and nothing has shown sighns of wear ,the hardware seems to be very good quality,not too sure about the finish it seems a little thin but I have never owned a natural wood stained guitar before. I think it would be fine on a gig without a backup.

I have just got back in to playing ,I stopped playing after highschool,and when I got married the wife encouraged me to take it up again,Ive be back at it about 2 months.I own a jay turser jazz box
semi hollowbody , and a BcRich Flying V , And a Washburn Chicago ,I play through a Marshal mx 30 and use a Boss super overdrive and Fender
Blues Master 2 Pedals.If It was Stolen I think I would Definetly buy another one it is great quality for the money. I compared it to a squire telecaster , but I found I liked the sound out of the Yamaha better not as tinney. I like the orange stain but I hate the black pickguard , the more I see it the more it just seems wrong ,im going to change that soon.

Tele style string through body guitar. Maple neck. Superb quality of construction. Good old fashioned workhorse. I'm giving it a 10 because of its quality

The stock nech humbucker and bridge hotrail were loved by my son who likes heavy metal. I replaced them with a Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup at the neck and an alnico pro single coil tele pickup at the bridge. The young fellow in the guitar shop who replaced the pickups must also have liked heavy metal, because they came back set too high and close to the strings - too mushy. I lowered them down and now the guitar plays superbly - every note articulates beautifully. Highly recommended set up for Jazz, Blues, clean stuff and recording.

Superb quality guitar. Bought by me second hand from e-bay and needed a set up, but I bet it came from the factory set up really nice.

I don't gig any more, but this guitar is the perfect workhorse, more robust even than Fender's first.

Contacted the UK agents once for help in understanding the controls on a new RBX760A bass - nice helpful lot.

I've been playing for nearly thirty years. This guitar isbetter than a lot of more expensive guitars. I also have a Pacifica 604W, which is fantastic. You get a lot of quality for very reasonable money from Yamaha.

Short and sweet because it's been reviewed so many times before...
A basic tele copy with a single coil at the bridge and humbucker at the neck. The beauty in Pacifica models are the necks. Very comfy and fast without a ton if spray on them. Even the little plastic truss rod cover is done better than guitars costing $1000 bucks.
No locking nut, coil tap switch, batteries.... this is designed as a no nonsense workhorse. It has what it needs to get the job done.

Play primarily blues and rock on it through Roland amps. It covers the sonic playfield good. Not quite as twangy as a regular tele or
cheaper copies. The pickups are good enough to keep. Though I don't play Jazz you can can some sweet sounds if that's your style. I listened to plenty of Fenders and this sounded better. Years ago I played a Peavey Reactor that's a Tele copy against a wall of Fenders and prefered the Peavey. Listen woth your ears and not your eyes.

The tuners may need to be replaced in the future. Time will tell. All other hardware seems solid. I can find no faults. Yamaha QA seems pretty good with all their products.

I put strap locks on and she was good to go. No problem in over a year.

I always buy used.

Harmony Central is the first place I go when shopping for equipment. I try to pass the reviews from punks and look for old timers on HC that can speak their mind without fear of advertisers dollars going away due to a negative reviews. Listen to the old timers! A broomstick and piece of chickenwire won't cut it. You do need to spend some cash. The sound is in your hands and heart and the equipment is the tool to let others hear your music. Practice, practice, practice! For the price you can't beat this model if you want a Tele copy. Great job Yamaha............

I purchased a new Yamaha 311S, rosewood neck, vintage blond finish. The rest of the features are well stated in the previou review. This is my first electric.

I play jazz and was looking for an inexpensive, non arch-top capable of producing a nice mid-range tone. I do hope to get an arch top but I was afraid that at this price point I wouldn't find anything worthwhile and I can't justify the purchase of a more expensive one, like a Hofner Verythin. The guitar came with light gauge strings, unknown brand. I'm not convinced about the light gauge and have some Thomastik Jazz Swings in 11, 12 and 12 gauge on order to try them out. With the current strings, I use the neck humbucker exclusively. This pickup gives a pretty nice though generic mid-tone, picks up articulations pretty nicely. I think it lacks a little body but I need to replace the strings first to be sure what role the pickup plays. The mixed position and bridge-only add a nice twang but it's not what I'm looking for. If the pickup turns out to be not quite what I'm looking for, I may replace it with a Lollar Charlie Christian but that'll require some luthier work. We'll see.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the guitar played out of the box. I haven't found a reason to adjust anything with the current strings. The action is pretty good, in combination with the light gauge strings, the neck very nice to play. The neck is perfectly straight. No tuning issues from what I could tell with the current strings. I imagine I will have to make some adjustments when I try out the heavier gauge strings. The fit and finish are excellent. The hardware is good and solid, the neck to body fit is very good, neck shape is very comfortable and the finish feels great in my hand. One thing I feared based on previous reviews was the fret finish. I'm happy to say the frets are fine, I haven't had any issue with the 1st string getting caught. The body finish is quite nice, the binding fine and pretty. The tone and volume knobs are solid but they need adjustment; the cone shaped pickup selector knob is the tackiest thing on the guitar, but seems pretty solidly set which is the only thing I care about. It's a very nice guitar to look at. Weight is pretty good, medium heavy.

I've had it for too short a time period. My gut tells me it will be reliable.

No need so far.

I'm a jazz upright and electric bass player. I've plunged into guitar this past year. Until now I've been playing an Ovation Legend 1867, which I enjoy immensely (except for a grounding noise issue).

It took me quite a while before making my decision to buy this guitar. I was pretty fixed on spending somewhere around 300 Euros for whatever I was going to get. I live in Madrid, Spain and there's not a very wide selection of electrics here for one to try. Among other things, nobody had the Yamaha 311 in stock. I was wary of the price/value relationship of Fenders, though some Squier models seem to have a good reputation. Still the Squiers seem to require some adjustment. I ended up betting on the 311 based on the reviews here and elsewhere and Yamaha's solid reputation for quality. I wanted something that was more likely to play the way I wanted out of the box and so far this baby fits the bill. I feel I've gotten a lot of bang for the buck up to now.

If it were stolen I would immediately replace it with an identical model. What I like best about it is the solid feel it has and how very comfortable it is to play. It was a shot in the dark for me as I hadn't tried it beforehand but the bet was redeemed. It's outstanding for the price.

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.

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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.

You can basically read all of the other submissions for all of this. A

I play anything from jazz/blues through to stoner rock and it suits everything quite well, more so the jazzy and bluesy than the heavier stuff. No noise at all yet (fingers crossed). Really crispy blues tone and a beautiful warm jazz tone suit me fine!

Set up is OK straight out of the box, but I will be changing to a higher gauge of string (I think these are 9's). The wood is nice and you get a truckload of sustain outta this baby.

Used it live without backup and it's stood the test well. I have literally had no problems at all with it. I think it will last too!

Never dealt with em.

I have been playing for 3 years and this is my second electric (first one was a piece of crap ashton.) I would buy this again if it were stolen or lost without any hesitation. I compared it to a mexican telecaster and whilst the fender played better - i like this sound much more.

Guitar manufactured during 2001 in Taiwan, tele body style in transparent orange. 22 frets, laminated top, one volume, one tone, three-way switch. Neck pick-up is a full-sized humbucker and the bridge is a single-coil sized hotrails style, no particular make indicated on the pick-up themselves, passive electronics. Maple top on alder body. Tele style bridge, no-name tuners of good quality. The neck has an excellent shape that is fairly thin, but not flat. Allen wrenches provided along with the standard cheap cable.

The guitar has an aggressive mid-range sound that works well with both clean and distorted tones. Primarily played through a Marshall JCM 900 half-stack, Behringer Blue Devil, with a Johnson J-Station serving as the pre-amp. Sound is less twangy than a standard tele due to the pick-ups and has a great deal more mid-range. However, there is just enough brightness so that a bit of the traditional tele sound remains. (A tele on steriods would be an apt description)

Fairly well set-up, but had to be adjusted. Equipped with 9's which immediately were changed to 10's. Overall the guitar was set-up quite well, no flaws and no major adjustments were needed. Top is bound rather nicely with no raised areas, gaps, etc.

Solid guitar as are most Yamaha's I have ever played. Good hardware, no corners cut. Excellent glossy finish with no flaws.(I checked thoroughly) I would have no problem playing this guitar at a gig with no back-up. Solid enough to serve as a canoe paddle, table, club, etc.

No experience with Yamaha.

I have been playing for 10 years. I have a wide variety of guitars and amps.(Marshall, Red Bear, Charvel, Behringer, SWR, and Laney Amps. Ibanez, Gibson, Kramer, G&L, Tobias, OLP, Danelectro, Yamaha, Gretsch, Tacoma, Ovation, Rickenbacker, Squier, and various other guitars that I put together using a variety of parts) If lost or stolen I would replace immediately. For $200 you cannot go wrong.

This is a year 2000 Mike Stern series yamaha. Comes with 2 standard humbucker pickups.

I play alot of stuff ranging from Jazz to Metal and this guitar really cant handle much variety. You can get a decent metal sound out of it, but theres one drawback; this guitar has loads and loads of feedback. I find it difficult to jam with my band sometimes which sucks. Besides that though the clean is great. It sounds very bright and clean but the bridge pickup is a little muffly for me. If you like blues, then this is a excellent guitar for you. You can get some sweet Jimmy Page sound out of it. The sustain is excellent on this thing too. It has a very nice feel to it.

The action on it is ok. Straight from the factory, it is a little high, but with the right tweekin it is pretty nice. As i said before the sustain is great on it. You can really get some good blues jams out of this guitar. The finish is ok on this guitar, nothing special though.

Well, here is the bad part. So far i have had 2 problems with it, luckily they werent anything major though. The ground wire for the pickups came loose and created a very annoying hum. I am not sure if this is a re-occuring things with this model or not. Also my bridge pickup fell out. The screws werent put in correctly and it just fell right out durin a jam session. Besides that though, everything seems to be fine.

havent messed with customer support

Overall this guitar is not bad (very good for the money), but i didnt like how it got so much damn feedback. And, its not your usual feedback, its the loud high-pitched kind. grrr. i am off to other bigger and better axes.

Year 2000 Mike Stern, Tele body, Korean axe. 22 medium frets with laminated maple top over alder body. 3 way selector with volume and tone pots. Humbucker neck, hot rails bridge no-name pickups. Ashtray bridge/string thru body. No name tuners but awesome neck (the best feature) Kind of a flat U shape but perfect. Cheap cable included.

I purchased this axe for the blues but the stock humbuckers have made a Brit of me fast. Push this baby through a Tech 21 Sansamp. Wanted the Tweed sound but can't stop playing the Marshall settings. Nice an quiet due to better than average stock humbuckers. Rich and thick on the neck, thin on the bridge lead but nice compliment to the neck for a unique sound. Makes people turn their heads who expect the Tele twang but get the humbuckers mids. Not a hell of alot of variety but I'm looking for the best sound the axe can give me.

Action was good for me. (A little high but I play slide). PU's were fine. No noticible flaws except the lack of sting trees. Cheap nut but it's black so it doesn't look that bad. (Nothing worse than a cheap white plasit nut) The key to this axe being a worth it is the neck. Perfect for me. (To each his own) Nice sustain with the neck and the Alder body. I put some Thomastik Brite Wires on it and it made all the difference.

It's a solid body Tele body so it's, well, solid. The hardware is solid as well. A sure headbuster in a bar fight.

Yamaha is the biggest music company on the planet. I haven't dealt with them yet but I know how to get what I want if there's a problem. I'm sure their customer service sucks at the first level but if you push (with patience) you can get them to act.

I'm real happy. I like to let the guitar find it's best sound. This is a Brit axe in Fender drag if you let it find it's own way.

Stylized tele body, maple on maple neck, 25 1/2 inch scale length. Mine is the orange see through finish. I love it. Tele style bridge, full humbucker in the neck position Duncan hot rail in the bridge position. I too purchased mine from Musicians friend on a web blow out. Probably the best $199 guitar I have ever owned.

I really like the sound of mine, it did take some tweaking to bring things in balance. The neck pick up was way too loud, I lowered it a lot. Raised the bridge pick up but found out it shouldn't be too high on the treble side, the tone really changes if you play with this a bit.

This is the worst part. Straight out of the box it needs a lot of work. Way too much relieve on the neck, action unbelievably high. with a little bit of love and care, and a hell of a lot of adjusting, every thing fell into place nicely. I am rating this as a 1 as an indication of how it came out of the box, it is not indicative of how it eventually set up. With the work I put into to it, it now rates a 9. I do like the neck shape and the flat radius fret board.

Who can tell? It seems well built, nothing wimpy here.

No idea about the support Yamaha offers but I have full faith in the guys at Musicians Friend.

Again there are two aspects to this, the way it was delivered and the way it set up with a little work. I really do like this guitar, I don't mind tweaking a guitar a bit, this one needed a hell of a lot of tweaking but it came out great! I like the sound the feel and the look.

Bought this about a month ago on the Musicians Friend web site. Web blowout for $199. What a deal! Alder body (I think...due to light weight) with laminated top and very nice binding (mine's blonde). Two pickups. A full sized humbucker in the neck and a hot rail style single coil sized humbucker in the bridge. String through body design. Tuners seem fairly stable, although I always install Sperzel locking tuners on guitars that I keep (this one is a keeper). The body style is tele....but much more comfortable than a tele. Sculpted in the back. This guitar just feels great in your hands.

The neck pickup has a nice round tone. No complaints here. The bridge pickup was (to my delight) nice and bright for a humbucker, tight lows, rounded out mids, and nice highs....nice airy tone....HOWEVER, once I turned up the volume and added some distortion this thing made my Jazz Chorus 77 amp squeal like a stuck pig. I will be replacing the bridge pickup with a Bill Lawrence pickup soon (perhaps the L-280). Warning you can not play this guitar at gigging volume with the current bridge pickup unless you stay completely on clean tones for the entire gig. By the way, this axe does very well in the sustain department.

Impeccable. More of what I would expect from a $1000 guitar.

Guitar appears to be very well built. No problems yet. Nice job on the bridge, chrome knobs, stunning finish. Stays in tune fairly well, I expect adding the Sperzels and a graphite nut will make it even more stable than it is.

No exposure to Yamaha tech support.

I've been playing for about 15 years. I play classic rock to metal depending on the gig. This guitar has been a pleasant surprise. If you can get one on the $199 web special do it.....you won't be disappointed. I believe this guitar lists for about $550. I love the neck on this guitar the most........simply incredible!

Made in Taiwan. Orange Stain Finish. Ash veneer/alder body. Maple neck. Standard size humbucker in the neck. Dual-blade in bridge. Fairly light weight.

I think the guitar sounds great with the stock pickups! The neck pickup is great for rock and blues and the bridge pickup has that familiar twang. When used together, they are well balanced. They are fairly high output. This guitar would useful for a wide variety of sounds including rock and blues. Even country. The only thing it won't do is shimmering clean stuff. You would need a single coil guitar for that. For those who want to upgrade, a Dimarzio in the neck and a Bill Lawrence in the bridge would probably sound awesome.

This guitar was perfectly set up out of the box. Action is great. The finish is far better than I expected with binding on top. The tuners are fine. The controls feel solid. The neck is wonderful. What I have come to expect from Yamaha instruments. They do a quality build and set up.

I believe this guitar is rock solid and is built to last a long time. I would gig without a backup (though it is good to have one in case you break a string).

I haven't had to use customer support. It comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

This guitar is a STEAL at $199.99. Retail is $549. Usually selling price is $379. You can't go wrong. It blows away most guitars selling for double that!

Brand new, Maple neck w/ medium jumbo frets, satin finish. The body is "orange stain", Telecaster style single cut away. High gloss finish w/ binding. Finish is acceptable. Ash veneer top. Decent sealed Gotoh style tuners. Humbucker in neck position, single coil in Telecaster style bridge w/ string through body feature. One volume, 1 tone control w/ 3 way switching.

I was hoping for something that looked a little different than my Tele and the price was right. I play Rock, Blues and some C and W stuff. My main amp is a VOX AC30 (doesn't belong to me yet...long story) and a VOX Pathfinder.

I am not happy with the sound of this guitar. The bridge pick up is acceptable, but the neck humbucker is cheap, hollow and has no low end or shimmer. It sounds like a very inexpensive, crappy pick-up w/ enough mid range to make my cat get horny. The worst tone I've experienced to date. The 99 dollar strat copy I bought for my kid has more thump than this piece of shit.

This folks is my biggest bone to pick! The neck socket doesn't fit properly. I can insert a Fender Heavy pick between the upper side of the neck and the body. The strings do not cross over the neck centered. When I removed the neck to shim (due to bad out of box set-up, no big thang..) I was amazed to find no neck pocket at all! The back end of the neck pocket is open to the pick-up cavity. There's a little scrap of wood glued in place, to butt end the neck in place.
This was a first for me. The nut width is smaller than expected. Hard to finger chords w/ larger hands.

Also a first...the string saddles are the wrong width. The bridge is designed for the same width as an American Strat. The saddles provided are the narrower import width. Again I can insert a pick (thin) between the saddles. They float all over, there's isn't even a little trench for the adjustment screws to travel in. The underside is smooth. A set of Graftecs(sp?) will run 40 bucks, no thanks...

The fret work is pretty good and the action is nice. To bad the rest of the guitar is junk. I really wanted to like this thing...

Due to the above mentioned flaws, I wouldn't leave the house with this guitar. It might make a nice kayak paddle however.

I'm sending it back for full refund.

I have been playing off and on for 20 years. I currently own a Fender Tele, a DeArmond M72 and S73 (recent acquistions), a Fernandes Strat, a Fernades Native and a Fernandes Retro-Rocket. I also have a Yamaha 12 string that I've had forever.
I would not recommend this guitar at any price. It's possible that I may have received a dud, but how can you have faith in a company that has this level of QC? I would keep your money and buy a MIM Tele or even a Squier. I see some paid around 350(OuCh!*#$). That would more than cover a good MIM.

Most likely a 2000 model. Alder body/Ash veneer top. 22 fret maple neck with a maple fretboard. Full size humbucker in the neck and a "Hotrail" type bridge P.U., 1 vol. 1 tone and a 3-way switch. Just like all tele-types what ya' see is what ya' get.

I use this with many amps (i.e.) a Sunn T50C, Fender Princeton Reverb II, Fender Super Champ, Marshall Studio 15 and a Laney 30 watt Pro Tube head. Out of the box it sounds fairly good, though I do feel as with most players that the pickups are a bit lacking. But stock it has a pretty full sound. Strings thru body gives it pretty good resonation. New P.U.s will most likely boost my rating

Factory set-up is not that impressive, but me like most other players will always get it professionally set up. Out of the box it is very playable. The finish is exceptionally smooth and even, though the grain on the veneer top does look very "manufactured". The neck is exceptionally straight but the frets are a little sharp on the edges (a good set-up will take care of that). Hardware is acceptable though I do plan to change the tuning machines, bridge saddles and most likely the pots and 3-way switch. Those are usually the items that manufacturers let suffer when keeping "budget" in mind. But Yamaha makes the best of the "budget" type guitars.

Haven't had it long enough to tell, though I take very good care of all my gear. I see no problems.

I purchased this used, actually the guy I bought it from barely used it. There was no signs of use on it at all, in fact the plastic was still on the pickguard and control cavity cover. The strings were original too. All this with a Yamaha hardshell case for $199.96 shipped to my door, what a steal! I have played for 12 years now and have owned more than 30 top end electrics. I currently own 4 Gibson Les Paul models of various vintage, along with a Fender Strat (USA). You name it and I've pretty much had it, not to be boastfull, I've just spent too much $$$ on gear. I work on Amps and guitars so I can spot quality when I see it. I think Yamaha is the MOST UNDERRATED manufacturer around. This is the only Asian made guitar in my collection, and though it doesn't have the appeal of the more sought after brands I'm still very proud to play it. These have to be one of the best "Bang for the buck" tele-copies around. If it were stolen I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. Once I swap out P.U.'s I'm sure this will make a great guitar even better! Helluva' Deal, Thanks Mark!

I believe this guitar was made in Korea. It has 22 frets, a master volume and master tone with a three way selector. It has a telecaster style body with a humbucker (Yamaha stock) in the neck and a "hotrails" style in the bridge. It's a tele style fixed bridge. It has an alder body with ash veneer and a maple neck with a maple fretboard. Tuners are non-locking, and I'm pretty sure they are a stock used by Yamaha. No acessories came with the guitar when I bought it.

My previous style was classical guitar, but I wasn't having too much fun with it, so I decided to take a break and go electric. I've played electric for only six months, but I've played guitar both classical and rhythem for 16 years. I'm currently learning songs with riffs but staying close to my rhythem roots, some Metallica and Creed, with various other alternative and hard rock groups as well. I was using a cheap Crate GX-65 with the guitar, but to get a good sound I had to turn it up too loud for my roommates tastes. Now I run it through a Bose Lifestyle (really awesome, I have great tonal control, and a sub-woofer) with a somewhat crappy Zoom 505 II pedal. Plugging the guitar directly into the stereo provides a full sound on the humbucker, and a twangy thinner sound on the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup lacks output. Mixing both pickups provides an even balance in bass/treble and doesn't cut the output very much. The guitar is not extremely bright with the humbucker, but it has enough to make due. I like the humbucker, it provides enough kick to sound similar to hard rock, but it's not quite up to the task. The bridge pickup needs more output, and I rarely use it. It's very trebly, and attempting to use the tone control knob merely cuts into the output.

The strings are through the body, and I had a problem with my high E-string, it kept breaking. I had to have them sand down the action adjuster (I forgot the real name, sorry) to keep it from cutting the string. It no longer has that problem. The action was fine for me, although there was some slight fret buzz that needed to be taken care of.

I don't do live playing yet, so I can't give that great a prediction. I haven't had this guitar long enough to predict it's reliability, but Yamaha in general makes good products. I wish the strap buttons were a little bigger, and the finish seems very solid. The hardware looks solid as well.

Haven't dealt with them yet. I am unsure as to the length of the warrenty.

I have been playing for 16 years, but I just bought an electric 6 months ago. This guitar is really great for the price and makes an excellent first guitar. It's a little more than some of the other starters, but at $340 it isn't that expensive. I am going to replace the pickups in this guitar because I believe that they are its weakest links. That and I need to get a better pedal than that Zoom, but for 80 bucks on a college budget, it's not bad. The "hotrails" style in the bridge needs to go, it's not very useful. It's sound is just plain weak and thin. I compared this guitar to Washburns of similar price and found the sound of the Yamaha to be much fuller, even it's bridge pickup beat the Washburn's humbucker. I highly recommend for your first electric to spend more on your amp than your guitar. Also remember, this is a great beginning guitar or a great budget guitar, but there are better. For the price, this is an excellent value. If it were stolen/lost, I would replace it if I had only 340 bucks.

Bought in 2000,tele style body,tele style bridge,transparent blue finish with a confortable thin maple neck.One humbucker at the neck and a "Hot rail"type at the bridge.It comes in a very very cheap gig bag.

now that's where I know what I'm talking about. This guitar sounds great. I mostly play at home on my 8 track homestudio and occasionaly have friends over for jam sessions.I will play directly in the recorder headphones through a Sonny VF-1 preamp/effect or when playing live through my old dependable Korg A-5 and in a 60 watt Peavey amp.I don't use it when I want a clean sound,for that I use my Godin ST-IV, but for a beautifull bluesy sound it's what I was lookink for.I am more impressed with the neck humbucker,it really purrs and you get get a lot of sound fidling with the tone and the 2 p/u.

The factory set up was so so and I am experimenting a lot with the adjustments(you can afford to do that with a relativaly cheap guitar)
but even so as soon as I tried this guitar at the shop it felt and sounded great in my hands and that is still the most important thing when you buy an intrument.It is realy good looking

Being originaly a Bass player I find the thin neck a bit fragile but it may be just an impression.So I realy can't teel how it would last on the road. The chrome plating looks good and I expect this guitar to give me yars of good company

I love this guitar .I have quite a few basses and guitars and for this kind of price you can't beat it.

You can read about all those things at www.yamahaguitars.com or elsewhere so I won't bother...

this telecaster clone doesn't sound like a telecaster at all. It has two humbuckers so the twang of Leo's first idea is long, long lost. Nevertheless is a wonderful sounding guitar. The neck humbucker is flexible, fat and round. Truly a humbucker and a lovely one this is. I've played VERY expensive P/Us and this one is not miles off. It sounded a lot better through my Fender Bronco Tweed amp than through the Crate combo I've got. The Crate has always sounded pretty dark so neck humbuckers never been its cup of tea. The Fender sounded rich and jazzy. Wonderful.

The Hot rails copy in the bridge position didn't impress me though. It is nice with a twangy mid range bias but the personality of the former made this one sound a bit lacklustre. Good for Rock and blues but not awesome. In my experience I've realised that neck P/Us are more forgiving than bridge units so getting a better one for this one is a must for the pro.

Suming up, a lovely neck humbucking pickup to use with a good quality bright sounding amp and a decent bridge unit.

good finish and good hardware up to Yamaha standards. If you're on a budget and you live in Europe I'd only recommend either Yamaha or Cort guitars, Epiphone aren't bad but a tad expensive and Squier could be awful sometimes.

Well made and reliable

Great sounding guitar in a well presented package. I'd recommend it for anybody looking for a good traditional guitar offering something extra. Not for country though yet great for blues, Rock or even Jazz. Good enough for Mike good enough for me...

Tele clone, but with neck humbucker and stacked humbucker thingy at bridge.
Nice finish, transparent white showing through to grain, pale maple neck and (seperate) fingerboard.
Very comfortable rib-cage countour, which I find makes a huge difference to gigging comfort.
It comes with a rather flimsy gig bag, which is just about better than nothing, and a neat little tool kit!

I play mostly 60's 70's covers and a bit of blues. My other guitar is a Tele Fender Japan 50's re-issue, which I stopped gigging due to the weight (I'm only a little guy!), and a growing dislike for vintage style necks. The neck 'bucker give a lovely rich and full sound, I use it for more bluesy lead breaks. By playing with the tone control, a surprising variety of sounds can be acheived. The bridge gives some of that tele twang, and the mix suits me nicely for most rhythm stuff. Altogether very versatile.

Set up and finish was really good, fantastic considering the price. Fret edges could be smoother. I've been spoiled by my tele, though, which is super smooth for barre chording up and down the neck. I'll probably invest in a pro set up to smooth off the rough fret ends, and fine tune the action, which is ok, but can be improved.
Neck radius is quite flat, I think, and frets are medium, which I like.
I really like the neck profile, it fits my (not too large) hand really well.

I've had it 4 months now, rehearsing weekly for 2/3 hours at a time. It stays in tune, and nothing has or seems likely to fall off. Knobs and selector are smooth and crackle free.

By reputation, Yamaha and their UK distributors, are rated very highly, though I've no experience of them.

I had been looking at this guitar for 6 months or so, tried it a few times at my local shop. I couldn't believe the "special offer" price when I saw it, and rather reluctantly bought it mail order, which was actualy no problem at all. Even at full price (#250-#299) this is an incredible value guitar. I love the sounds, its comfortable to play, and with a pro set up it will be superb. How do they do it?

This is a 1999 Mike Stern Model Tele made in Taiwan. It's your basic Tele with a 22 fret maple neck and fretboard, Alder body with Ash venere top. It has a humbucker in the neck position and a "Hot Rails" type pickup in the mounted directly into the bridge plate. One volume, one tone and a 3 way selector switch. The guitar is an transparent orange satin finish with chrome hardware and a black pickguard. The frets are medium and that is my only real complaint about the features. I prefer jumbo frets. The neck is thinner than most Tele's but that's a good thing in my book.

This guitar sounds really good for a guitar under $300. I play everything from Blues to Classic Rock to Metal. I mainly wanted a Tele to mess around with open G tunings i.e. Rolling Stones, Black Crowes, or Bad Company and it really fits the bill. The humbucker is the neck puts out a smooth bluesy tone. The bridge pickup has a little of that Tele twang but it's pretty hot since it's a humbucker. I plan to replace this pickup with a Duncan Classic Tele Stack to get more of the classic Tele tone without the noise. I'm really impressed with the tone and the low noise this guitar offers right out of the box

The action was a little high from the factory. Once I lowered it I noticed that the screw heads in the bridge saddles have very ruff edges. This isn't really a problem unless you rest your hand on the bridge while you play. Anothere flaw I noticed was the absence of a string tree on the middle strings. The only string holder on the headstock is for the 1st and 2nd strings but the 3rd, 4th, and 5th strings don't always rest flush against the nut unless you a careful how you wind the strings. This isn't really a major flaw but it's kinda annoying when you are changing strings. Yamaha should either increase the headstock angle or provide a 6 string tree.

I don't forsee any problems. Tele's are pretty much indestructable. I would bring a backup incase I broke a string but I don't think anyting else will ever fall through on this guitar.

I've been playing for over 10 years now and I have owned a Charvel Model 2, a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, a Carvin Bolt-T and right now I have a Gibson Les Paul DC Standard and A Kramer Ferrington Acoustic. This isn't the best guitar I have owned, but it's definitely the best value. It totally blows away the Fender Mexican Standard Piece of Crap and the 72 Reissue and it sounds and plays better than the American Standard Fat Tele and this thing cost about 1/3 of the price. If you can't afford a G&L ASAT Blues Boy ($1200) and you want a good Tele with a Humbucker than this is a great guitar. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.