The Yamaha Pacifica you actually want

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.

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.