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The Yamaha Pacifica you actually want

Yamaha Pacifica PAC611HFM

This is one of the best Pacifica guitars from Yamaha. And it's not in your local guitar store.

For you early birds, I wrote about this in my newsletter, and it definitely deserves its own article.

Yamaha for whatever reason does a really crappy job letting guitarists know this guitar actually exists. Or to be more specific, letting guitarists know the good versions of this guitar.

The Pacifica model has 5 trim levels. PAC100, PAC200, PAC300, PAC500 and PAC600. Any model starting with PAC6 is the top of the line. The above model is a PAC611HFM, and wow is it loaded with goodies.

Pacificas that you see in guitar stores are only the PAC1 and PAC2. I best describe those as "okay." Things get better with the PAC3 and PAC5, but it's at PAC6 where this guitar really shines.

Put simply, every upgrade that a guitarist would ordinarily put into a guitar is already here with the PAC611HFM. String saver saddles with Teflon that make your strings last longer, GraphTech TUSQ nut, Seymour Duncan SP90 at the neck, Seymour Duncan TB-14 at the bridge with push/pull at the tone knob for coil split, Grover locking tuners, alder body with flame maple top, 25.5" scale maple neck with satin polyurethane finish, rosewood fingerboard with 13 3/4" radius (very flat for effortless note bending)...

...wow. Just wow.

Yamaha Pacifica PAC611HFM profile

For the price this thing sells for, it should be selling for a lot more.

Good guitar? No. Great guitar.

The only problem is actually finding one. At the time I write this, there are a few of them on Amazon. Grab one while you can.

Published 2018 Jun 16