Yamaha 611vfm anyone actually own one?

zepp76

As title, it seems nobody has one for sale but does anyone actually own and play one? If you do please tell me about it, what do you like about it or what don’t you like about it? Is there anything you would change?

HAL9000

Not sure if it’s any help but I’ve got a Pacifica 611HFM (the hardtail variant of the VFM) that I bought from Yamaha London back in 2018. 

I previously owned a Pacifica 311H which is the 611HFM’s less expensive sibling. Unfortunately I never really bonded with it and eventually it got moved on. However, I kept reading good things about the 611 and finally got the chance to try one out when I was in London one afternoon.

The guitar is well finished with no noticeable flaws or blemishes, and everything feels solid and well put together. Action was good straight out of the box, but intonation needed tweaking. Easily sorted with a bit of screwdriver work.

Pickups (Seymour Duncan’s) are a splittable humbucker in the bridge position and a P90 at the neck. Saddles and nut are by Graphtech, and the locking tuners are Grovers.

Unplugged, the guitar is surprisingly resonant.

The guitar is comfortable and the controls are where i’d want them to be. The neck is definitely on the slim side but for me it’s really comfortable and one of those necks you’re hardly aware of. Radius is a fairly flat 13.75”.

The pickups are well balanced, and are far nicer than those on my old 311. However, since buying the 611 my tastes have moved much more towards those classic Stratty single-coil tones and I’m starting to find the 611’s pickups somewhat too hot and aggressive. I’m finding I need to back the volume off to maybe about six or seven to clean things up - otherwise there’s too much snarl and grit for me these days. Don’t get me wrong - these are decent pickups and the HB/P90 pairing is a really versatile combination that covers plenty of possibilities. It just that nowadays I have a much clearer idea of what I want my sound to be and, sadly, this isn’t it.

Looking under the hood, the electrics are tidy. However the pots and switch look to be on the cheap side - they work well enough though. Right now I’m thinking seriously about whether I want to keep this guitar or not. If I do decide to keep it I’ll definitely be considering upgrading the electrical bits.

Overall a very nice versatile instrument with some different sounds from the usual Tele and Strat tones, However too hot for my ever-changing tastes!

cbilly22

Not a trem version but I played loads of gigs, mainly in a Dr.Feelgood type R'n'B band, with a couple of 611s, first a black one and then a purple one that I modded with a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon. Both great and reliable guitars. Easy to play and rock solid though I did replace the volume pot on both but most of my main guitars will need that at some point as I'm never off the volume. Tone wise, the SD pickups certainly lift it above similarly priced guitars. I never really used the coil split on the 'bucker but the P90 was fantastic on its own or with the bridge pickup for beefier Fenderish tones depending on how the amp was set up. I only changed the bridge pickup on the purple one as I love the Screamin' Demon (far, far more versatile than its poorly chosen name suggests).
Basically if you are in the market for a hot rodded strat type you really can't go wrong. I still have a very modded/beaten up 510 that comes out as a back up sometimes (or at least did before all this Covid malarky). 
Funnily enough, much like @HAL9000 my tastes have changed as well and I spend most of my time playing a Tele or my PRS if I want a bit of humbucker grunt.

rossyamaha

I have the 612v. Basically the same model but hss. I swapped out the pickups for a BKP set of True Grit ones and sanded the finish off the neck. They are the only 2 modes I did. It’s now one of my main guitars. I switch between that and a Suhr and it holds up no problem. It’s a definitely a different tone but just as sweet. It’s got a bit more balls in the low end and more sparkle in the top. Great for the pop stuff. 

The 600 series are way over specced for the price. I see people having a moan about the neck but it is what it is. I don’t find it uncomfortably small or have any problem going from that to a Suhr to a 335 to a Tele so and and so forth. They’re just great guitars. 

zepp76

Thank you to you all for your replies, having hotter pickups is perfect as it’ll be used mainly for playing Maiden tracks as well as other NWOBHM. I’m a bit worried that it has a smallish neck as I have very large hands is it going to be a problem? I hope not as I really do like what this guitar has to offer.

Jalapeno

Birelli Lagrene, played a  hardtail one for a couple of years, and he's no slouch on widdly-widdly noises -admittedly clean/jazz ones

HAL9000

zepp76 said:

Thank you to you all for your replies, having hotter pickups is perfect as it’ll be used mainly for playing Maiden tracks as well as other NWOBHM. I’m a bit worried that it has a smallish neck as I have very large hands is it going to be a problem? I hope not as I really do like what this guitar has to offer.

I have to admit that the slimmer neck did bother me to start with - I seem to recall getting a bit vocal about it on here when I had my 311H. On paper the neck of the 311 and 611 are similar but somehow the 611 feels a little fuller in the hand. Now that I’ve gotten used to it I actually find it very comfortable to play. 

zepp76

Jalapeno said:

Birelli Lagrene, played a  hardtail one for a couple of years, and he's no slouch on widdly-widdly noises -admittedly clean/jazz ones

I’ve been watching his playing on YouTube after he popped up in a search for said guitar. It’s nice to hear the guitar being played (very well) clean. I am really drawn to this guitar, I just hope the skinny neck isn’t a problem but it may be a bonus as I play with my thumb over the top of the neck ala Hendrix (even though I’m not a fan and don’t know where I got the habit). So I’m going to use that as a positive and not let it put me off. It’s now just a case of finding one at the right price.