Yamaha Pacifica 112 Electric Guitar Review - The Best Budget Guitar? 

Sir, you get an automatic LIKE for being LEFT HANDED !!!!!!!

"Please don't let the thumbnail be him in a mirror." Finally, an actual lefty.

This was my first proper guitar. I played it day in, day out for about 7 years before I finally had enough money for a strat. Was amazed at how good the Pacifica felt and sounded all those years. Still can’t bring myself to get rid of it

Nice one, when this guitar came out it redifined budget guitars, there was nothing that compared to it for the price, they flew out of the stores. The build quality and playability is excellent and can easily be up graded, in my experience I don't think Yamaha have really ever made a bad guitar...

I bought one for my daughter 20 years ago when she wanted to learn guitar, along with a Peavy amp. When her interest faded I fell in love with it, it’s the neck, absolutely wonderful for my small hands, guess they made it smaller for kids, first real guitar and all that. In any case when she got interested again I got another with rosewood instead of maple like hers. I have a 1989 “real” Strat M series made in Japan which has a small neck for a Strat but it’s a different bird and much heavier, both resonate in your gut like really good guitars, amazing!

The intro was the best most original demo you’ve played. Well done!

Loved that walk down lead on the intro. I'm gonna cop that one for myself!!! Got me thinking of getting a Yamahami!!

My first electric! Great guitar and review

The Pacifica is my favorite non-Strat Strat shape (It even looks good backwards!). The Pacifica is one of those guitars that you always think about trying out, but then you forget they exist for a while, until you see a video about one, then you start thinking about getting one again. Yamaha doesn't make junk at any price point. It's too bad they don't have more of a presence in the US, but I've read that they're not really interested in pursuing more of a market share here than they already have. In Asia they have a whole chain of huge Yamaha STORES.

My first guitar mate! Still got it to this day 16 years later and the lefty still rips! Put a Duncan in the bridge and she screams

Real nice demo that tempts me to buy one, in spite of already too many. I loved your clean tones blues finger picking. Yes this Pacifica sounds like a real good stratocaster 👍 this guitar is €210 at Thomann in Europe.

I used to gig with one of these Pac112 and loved it

Sounds great! Nice playing Shane! 🌞

I purchased this exact guitar in mint condition from a friend. You could not buy a better guitar for the money. I liked it better than my deluxe American Strat. I couldn't believe it. The Yamaha has great sound and playability. This review is spot on.

Was my first guitar back in the 90s. Very solid choice! Great starter guitar.

This was my first guitar back in '03 and I attribute a lot of my continuing to play on the quality of this instrument even compared to more pricey guitars I've owned since

Maybe one of the best budget guitars out there? What do you think of the Yamaha Pacifica range? Check them out online here: ► Sweetwater (USA) - imp.i114863.net/YzzeK ► Thomann (Global) - bit.ly/2yGNtN4 ► Amazon UK - amzn.to/2Va09U1 ► Amazon Canada - amzn.to/2Xhilhe (affiliate links)

Those Yamahas have been some of the best budget guitars since I was 16 (which is way too many years ago!) Awesome playing as usual mate. The necks on them are lovely as well!

Great review, i have the 311h in amazing red metallic. It's a hardtail with tapped humbucker and a p90 in the neck, grover locking tuners and graph tech nut and string trees. It's outstanding and then there's the price- around £300, which is incredible.

Thanks for the video. I love the feel, balance, and sound of a Yamaha guitar and bass. I have a brother-in-law that plays professionally and after he played my Pacifica, he asked to buy it.

Love your videos ! I bought a 2014 sunburst 112 j at a pawn shop for $80.00. Wow what a great all around guitar. I upgraded the nut with a LSR rolling nut and put some locking tuners on it. For the money you cant beat it!!!! Thank You!!

thanks shane i was shocked when u said ur aussie. nice to see a brother out here. i gonna get on of these

Killer intro! And nice guitar tho, love that natural finish.

Extremely helpful, thank you

Great demo!

I swear to god you are everywhere dude! Whether I’m looking for a microphone review, audio station or guitar you have a different channel for everything! A nice surprise to run into you though, I’m thinking about buying one of these soon!

Just about to buy one . Thanks for the review

Great review and great playing!

This is a great guitar to begin their guitar playing journey!! 🎸🎸🤙🏾🤙🏾

Great opening jam Shane

I have 2 yamaha 112L Left-Handed Pacificas had them since 1998 one black one natural I wouldn't sell either I been through many strats and teles but, yamahas I love the best!! I hot rodded mine put in some dual coils blades in and put in phase switch. So much flexibility. It's the most beautiful underrated strat on the market! The neck is very fast and straight on both! Uniformity on both.. The black one is heavier than the natural brown one.. Just slightly. Thanks Shane for reviewing! 👍

I bought this same model but in red, second hand, almost 20 years old, but almost like new. I play it daily. I love it!

If I’m not mistaken, this guitar has a Fender-style trem system. I’d expect a demo video to show players how the trem system handles.

I’ve still got mine,it’s a great guitar when set up proper,my one needs a bit of a go over on the intonation side of things(quick fix I’m just lazy) I played my Pacifica over a custom 24 PRS that I once had,that’s long gone now but got my Pacifica in my lap as I write,you honestly can’t go wrong with them

Good review. Plenty of people gig the Yamaha Pacifica. They are near indestructible., stay in tune, have a great action and tone. I love mine.

Great review! The Pacifica 112 was my first guitar. You can't beat them for the money. It is also easily upgraded into a super strat. I actually prefer my Pacifica 612 over my made in Mexico Fender. Give a 612 a try! Or a 611 with the p90's...you won't be disappointed. I also love the Revstar range. Please review some more Yamaha guitars.

i like how the guitar doesn't feel like it wants to really be another guitar or too flashy. To be honest your playing would probably sound great ony any guitar, so solid :D

Bro, you're the man! I have a Fender Champion 50xl and was thinking about a classic vibe or affinity strat but starting looking at the pacificas and im sold!

Thanks for the Video. I just ordered a Pacifica 112j because of your Video. :).

thanks man, great vid! i´m thinking of buying this guitar, it´ll be my first electric :)

I've looked at those in guitar stores for more than 30 years. And I've never picked one up. But in my mind it was always an option.

I picked up an old 012 which was the Indonesian model for £30 from a charity shop. I gave it a clean up and quick set up and it’s a fantastic playing guitar. I gave it to my son and it’s a brill first guitar

I have a beautiful blue metallic 112 , it is a great guitar plays really nice and sounds amazing. I agree highly underrated ! Mine is keeper ! Cheers !

I'd been playing guitar for 30 years when I picked up a pre-owned Pacifica for £100 in 2001. She's still my go-to electric guitar because of her great tone, versatility and playability.

Bought mine in 1996. Left handed also. Love my guitar

Great video man

Brilliant review, I have one and everytime I think of upgrading I look at the reviews for it and end up thinking its a bargain and a real good guitar, thanks for the review

BRO LEFTY THATS INSANEEEEE!!! MAJOR RESPECT TO YOU MAN!

I have a Variax standard which is pretty much a pacifica with fancy gubbins. I find myself gravitating towards it loads because the neck feels great and the magnetic pickups sound fantastic too.

I'm a Tele guy. I own a Yamaha Pacifica as a pseudo-Strat, almost 25 years. And I'm not thinking of trading it for any Fender/Squier Stratocaster. A great guitar that will not let you down.

Thanks! I have one and I played my first house party gig with it 15 years ago. A big sucess. Used a digitech rp200 into a 15 watt Gx 15r crate amp. Like you just said, if things went badly, I could afford make a run for it!

Thank you for using a budget solid state amp, so give a better feel for how most of us hear this guitar if we bought it.

I totally agree with Strats only needing one volume and one tone control ( with the volume placed further away from the high 'E' string to facilitate comfortable picking). I played one of these Pacificas a few years ago and I was quite impressed . The only fault that I found with the one that I played was that the fret edges were slightly protruding .

Im gunna get a yamaha i think il keep you posted shane happy thanks giving shane

I am debating on the guitar in this video or the Black/White lefty model to do an EVH Black/White striped tribute build. User painter's tape and then spraying the black body white would be the most economical route whilst swapping the white pickguard for a black one. Excellent video!

I have owned a Yamaha Pacifica 120h before and it was excellent. It had two humbuckers and an Alder body.

Prices vary a bunch M8....great review!! Keep it up

I have two Pacificas. One is actually a Variax and the other is one I got for £40 that I use for trying out new pickup and switching arrangements. I've made it modular, so that I have a bunch of pickguards with pups and switches and I can just plug the pickguard into the body. I've even put threaded brass inserts into the body so that the pickguards can be bolted in as many times as you like without having to worry about the screws chewing up the wood. The best mod I've done, though, is to screen the cavities with copper foil - huge difference! The only downside I've found is that both seem to have a best of a dead spot (shorter sustain) around the 12th fret on the G string. I think it's a neck/body resonance that causes the problem . Once you get used to the slightly narrower 40mm nut width they're very playable guitars

I love how people consider them "beginner" guitars, but I have heard of people gigging with them and lving the sound and feel.

I ended up with two Pacifica guitars in a round-about way. I bought a Line 6 Variax Standard which, apart from the Variax electronics, is an SSS Pacifica in all but name. The pale neck wood with satin finish looks very similar to the budget models but the guitar is very well put together and feels good in the hand. The S-type single coils are said to be custom wound for the Variax so I don't know which model from the Pacifica range they'd be equivalent to. They sound Stratty but a little thinner. Good though. The Variax modelling is great fun and completely useable. Nitpickers will undoubtedly find faults but I find the tones in the wide range it offers all pretty distinct and useful. It was part of my plan to combat GAS ... only partially successful ;^) My second Pacifica is the Pacifica 611VFM from near the top end of the range (love that Root Beer colour). A much higher quality finish and a deeper neck. The Seymour Duncan P90/HB(splittable) combination makes it a formidable beast with a tone of it's own. Very much a goto guitar in my rack.

I picked up a barely used 012 entry level model for $165, a great quality guitar for the price. In Canada retail is $ 225 new.

Recently bought a mint used Yamaha PAC510V in Sonic Blue for $300. Quality is much better than expected and plays as well if not better than my other guitars with the obligatory set up.. 👍🇦🇺

Yamaha make some of the finest instruments full stop, and their guitars are probably the best in their price range for playability and value for money. I've been playing a while now and i bought one in the 90s when the Pacifica 112s 1st came out. That guitar is long gone now but I bought another one late last year and put in a Epiphone Clssic 50s Alnico pick-up in the bridge and it sounds sweet and plays really nice too. The neck on them is more modern feeling than a strat style guitar, which siuts me, but for an older model guitar, with a bit of help from a new pick-up, it's one of my favourits, again.

I would LOVE to know what backing track you used!! I have just ordered my first Pacifica, and am looking forward to giving her a go!

The price is amazing, great sound and looks awesome. The frets were very sharp on mine.

I ordered this guitar specifically because it was one of the few lefty guitars that's good for beginners and seems like it's good quality too. Was looking for reviews and saw that you're a lefty too! Super inspiring :)

This Guitar, and the Squier Bullet Mustang, are the two Electric Guitars, I bought in the last 18 months, because of my Fibromyalgia.

Very Nice lefty picking btw The Pacifica sounds like it looks just awesum Hoping to get mine shipped soon,also lefty

Very nice! I hear a darker tone for sure. Smooth!

Nearly every shop in Australia has them on backorder, that tells you a lot, just got the last one in Melbourne.

I have a 012 as a decoration - a model no one ever talks about. :-)

I just got a left handed one. I like the mat natural finish.

I was going to sell mine but after seen you play I’m keeping it

I have the same guitar, but right-handed and in the old violin sunburst color. Really great value per dollar. For some reason I enjoy playing it more than my Mexican Fender Player Series Strat.

These are awesome guitars. A bit hard to find in Canada but when you do you realize how good they really are. If you can ever find a Pacifica 311H it is awesome. Some more high end touches and a P90 in the neck and a humbucker in the bridge. It’s a hard tail, really nice. It’s the budget version of the 611 which is the same with locking tuners and Seymour Duncan pick ups, same configuration as the 311. The value for money is crazy good but they absolutely do not hold value. The stores here sell the 112 V for 350-$400, you can get them used all day for $150.

Shane also they made a Pacifica 102s Tele style guitar which also an amazing guitar . They are rare , made in Taiwan if you ever see one gran it without any hesitation you will not regret it!

I think the 112v has the push/pull coil split feature as well.

I bought mine in Alabama USA. It was new, 230.00 dollars, made in Indonesia, very well built guitar, it weighed 10 pounds, no joke it was so heavy I weighed it on official scales, but sounded amazing, I blocked the trem off to the body, and every chord, every note the whole guitar vibrated, you could feel it up the neck, so I started blocking all my trems off, and it sustained much better, some more than others but the Pacifica HSS was awesome,

I would love to hear your views on the pac 311h, for not a lot more money than the 112, you get a much higher spec, and it's a proper blues/classic rock machine!

Got one of these great bluesy shredder!

Nice video but I really love your playing. Especially your finger style.

This is exactly the guitar I'm getting as my first. It's been hard to find a selection of left handed instruments at this price point, but this one really spoke to me.

I have this same exact guitar, and I gotta say, it is a definite bang for your buck guitar. I live in California and it costs about $200

Wish I could find something like this but with a Floyd. Great demo. ✌❤🎸

Right in the Blues for the Humbucker in clean!

I love mine,I got a metalic blue and it plays great. I gig with and just love it. I got it for 50 dollars used in Mexico and it stays in tune even if I use the wammy bar.

$160 from a music shop in New Jersey on reverb... I've had it for 2 weeks. Not used to the neck as my Fenders both have very smooth but sticky maple necks. I like the neck profile and flat flet board. Thought my frets were a tad sharp but my finger tips are a tad sensitive due to nerve damage. I love this guitar!

I bought one new for around 200€ back in the late 90's. It was my first electric (I'd been playing a Yamaha acoustic for a number of years) and it's definitely a great beginner's guitar. In the end I traded it in for a MIM Strat in 2002 because I really loved that Mark Knopfler position 2 sound and couldn't get it with the bridge humbucker and middle single coil. Also I have quite big hands and found the slightly chunkier Strat neck easier to play. Still, I would definitely recommend one to someone who is buying their first electric guitar.

Where did you bet neon lamp in the background? Thank you

Any thoughts on which is best out of this Pacifica and the ARTIST STH?

Could you review the Yamaha Pacifica 112V with Alnico V pickups?

Wow shane memories jrgx 112 was my first guitar wasnt the pacifica like though it may have been japan it was 20 plus years ago i wish i had it still red and black wow i miss it

hi, the used font on "PACIFICA" on the head is different from the other reviews of 112j. is it a newly produced one and they change the font?

You should have put the suffix in the description. It's important for those who aren't familiar with distinction between the -J and -V. This is a PAC112J fitted with *ceramic* pickups *without* the pull-push coil split feature for the humbucker. For just AUD$70 dollars more for the 112V in AU you get alnico V PUPs and a pull-push coil split, both functional tonal versatility features, with the humbucker' mounted directly to the Alder body (tonal) not the pickguard, and the aesthetic of metal control knobs. Unarguably both are stunning performers punching way above their respective price points.

From Leo: I know that they are thought of as beginner guitars, but when you play one, they really do play and sound great. I never paid any attention to them until one came in on trade, and I was surprised what a solid product Yamaha makes. They are a tremendous value.

I want to get one of these simply because of the narrow neck shape. Do they have alnico pickups? Killer video.

I love Yamaha instruments, and have 2 budget models, the acoustic CX40 and the Pacifica 012, wich is basically the same guitar except for the ceramic pickups and agathis body, neck and hardware is the same. Both play great and sound great!

My dad has had a black Pacifica for YEARS (probably for about as long as I’ve been alive bc I remember him always having it) and now I have it after I’ve been wanting to play it for years. I ordered new strings and a new guitar cleaning kit so I’m excited to clean it all up. I still need an amp though...

It’s a nice looking guitar for sure.

Just got one from my local pawn shop for 80 bucks! Looks great. looking forward to learning