Why is there not tons of love for the Pacifica?

Basher

More of a general Yamaha, rather than Pacifica, comment but...

In 2010 I was looking for one of their TVL guitars (semi, 3xP90). They were still on the website but nowhere to be found in the shops so I contacted Yamaha direct to see if they were still available. I got a nice email explaining that they were being discontinued, so I bought a used one.

I'd also asked about some other models that were discontinued (AES) and in the email the Yamaha chap said the following:

"Over the last couple of years we've refined our electric range to a core of key products and are only now starting to re-launch and re-introduce new electric guitar models. This year we've launched new SG and Pacifica electrics. Bare with us, we have a lot of things on the horizon ; )"

 
Forgive me if I've missed anything but, other than the Pacificas, there doesn't seem to have been too much of interest coming out of the Yamaha electric guitar department. I can only assume that it's just not a very important part of the business for them any more.

imalone

AES and SA (looks like the TVL was a signature model SA) are on sale again. Their signature range is so small as to be non-existent. Buying Line6 means Variax is now part of the Yamaha range. I'd agree they're not particularly guitar focused.

MrBump

Great guitars, but they suffer a little from being seen as "entry", even the more expensive models.

But I'm a big fan of Yamaha stuff.  Have and SG and a Yam bass.

blueskunk

GuitarMonkey;634746" said:

The guitarist in Mali band in exile Songhoy Blues made a very respectable noise with his natural finish Pacifica on Later... a couple of weeks ago.

Cool guy or what.

Love african blues

ROOG

I don't know if my experience is typical, but when I went into a guitar shop to test an amp, the shop tech asked if I would like any particular type of guitar to 'audition' it with. I spotted a base Pacifica and thought that would do, it's a Yamaha it will be a good, well made instrument. How wrong was I, I'd heard of guitars with razor fret ends but had not encountered one until the low end Pacifica. Not nice at all, and as others have said small necks too.

daveyh

Actually that's reminded me, Phil X has a signature Pacifica on the way! http://uk.yamaha.com/en/news_events/artists/phil_x_solo/

imalone said:

Philly_Q said:

GuitarMonkey said:

Mike Stern is the only Yamaha Pacifica endorsee I can think of.

I can think of a couple of others from the pre-grunge era, Michael Lee Firkins and Bill Leverty of Firehouse.  Not exactly household names, I grant you.

Phil X is another Yamaha player (not a Pacifica though). Matt Bellamy used one in the early days of Muse (around the time of their first album).

Philly_Q

I thought Phil X had recently signed an endorsement deal with Framus?

http://www.warwick.de/en/Framus---Products--Guitars-and-Amps--E-Guitars--Custom-Shop--Basic-Guitar-Models--Signature--Phil-XG-Signature.html

daveyh

There ya go then! Phil X has used ESP/LTD Vipers for a long time and the Framus basically looks like a ripoff of that. Interestingly two of my favourite guitarists are both Framus endorses.

Philly_Q said:

I thought Phil X had recently signed an endorsement deal with Framus?

http://www.warwick.de/en/Framus---Products--Guitars-and-Amps--E-Guitars--Custom-Shop--Basic-Guitar-Models--Signature--Phil-XG-Signature.html

mike257

Basher said:

In 2010 I was looking for one of their TVL guitars (semi, 3xP90). They were still on the website but nowhere to be found in the shops so I contacted Yamaha direct to see if they were still available. I got a nice email explaining that they were being discontinued, so I bought a used one.

Off topic, but how was it?  I always fancied one of these.  I'm quite partial to the look of his signature Fender too, man has nice taste in guitars!

Philly_Q

daveyh said:

There ya go then! Phil X has used ESP/LTD Vipers for a long time and the Framus basically looks like a ripoff of that. Interestingly two of my favourite guitarists are both Framus endorses.

Philly_Q said:

I thought Phil X had recently signed an endorsement deal with Framus?

http://www.warwick.de/en/Framus---Products--Guitars-and-Amps--E-Guitars--Custom-Shop--Basic-Guitar-Models--Signature--Phil-XG-Signature.html

Who's the other Framus player?

Basher

mike257 said:

Basher said:

In 2010 I was looking for one of their TVL guitars (semi, 3xP90). They were still on the website but nowhere to be found in the shops so I contacted Yamaha direct to see if they were still available. I got a nice email explaining that they were being discontinued, so I bought a used one.

Off topic, but how was it?  I always fancied one of these.  I'm quite partial to the look of his signature Fender too, man has nice taste in guitars!

It was very nice. The 3 pickup switching was a bit unusual but was quick enough to get your head round and it gave all the options (i.e. including all P90s together).

Drawback was it was heavy - mine was 9lb-ish and some were quite a bit more. Other than that, the usual 335 gripe of poor access to electronics (even worse through those split f-holes).

The centre block was, I believe, larger than a 335 and made of mahogany which might explain the weight. The overall impression I had was of a 335 that had eaten a P90 Les Paul, a-la those snake/crocodile face-offs you see on YouTube. As I already had a P90 Les Paul, I decided to keep that and move the TVL along, getting an SA2200 a year or so later.

The SA is a bit lighter (8lb) and more "refined" feeling but I wish it came in the red finish without the flames and gold hardware and had the bigsby and chunkier neck of the TVL.

I do still miss it though. I think it was probably the coolest looking guitar I've ever owned. 

EdGrip

Just seen this thread after putting up my own about having Yamaha GAS. Characterless. I don't think they're characterless, they're just too-cool-for-school. They're above all that brand-name cluster-wanking in the guitar world. They think they are better than it, but are far too modest ever to say so. In fact they had forgotten they even made guitars until you mentioned it. Yamaha are just out there on the margins, quietly churning out perfectly competent guitars and pianos and saxophones and mixing consoles and motorbikes and outboard engines and spoons and things.

I think that's the appeal for me. I like to think I'm better than brands and labels and buying-the-lifestyle and fashion and tribalism. I much prefer buying used things to new things. I type this in Tesco jeans, a Cotton Traders fleece and M&S underpants. The overall effect to the untrained eye is of a characterless pod-person with no inner life, but I like to think of it as refining my audience down to the kind of people who get that I do have an inner life, it's just a ridiculous one that involves me over-thinking the nobility of being characterless. 

TLDR: I am a Yamaha human. 

daveyh

Stevie Salas, who interestingly also used to endorse the Yamaha Pacifica

Philly_Q said:

daveyh said:

There ya go then! Phil X has used ESP/LTD Vipers for a long time and the Framus basically looks like a ripoff of that. Interestingly two of my favourite guitarists are both Framus endorses.

Philly_Q said:

I thought Phil X had recently signed an endorsement deal with Framus?

http://www.warwick.de/en/Framus---Products--Guitars-and-Amps--E-Guitars--Custom-Shop--Basic-Guitar-Models--Signature--Phil-XG-Signature.html

Who's the other Framus player?

Philly_Q said:

daveyh said:

There ya go then! Phil X has used ESP/LTD Vipers for a long time and the Framus basically looks like a ripoff of that. Interestingly two of my favourite guitarists are both Framus endorses.

Philly_Q said:

I thought Phil X had recently signed an endorsement deal with Framus?

http://www.warwick.de/en/Framus---Products--Guitars-and-Amps--E-Guitars--Custom-Shop--Basic-Guitar-Models--Signature--Phil-XG-Signature.html

Who's the other Framus player?

imalone

EdGrip said:

Just seen this thread after putting up my own about having Yamaha GAS. Characterless. I don't think they're characterless, they're just too-cool-for-school. They're above all that brand-name cluster-wanking in the guitar world. They think they are better than it, but are far too modest ever to say so. In fact they had forgotten they even made guitars until you mentioned it. Yamaha are just out there on the margins, quietly churning out perfectly competent guitars and pianos and saxophones and mixing consoles and motorbikes and outboard engines and spoons and things.

The interesting thing is Yamaha started off as a musical instruments company, making organs. Now people say things like, "why would I want a guitar from a motorbike company?" But their logo has included a tuning fork for a long time. Admittedly they were late to the party with electric guitars.

Philly_Q

daveyh said:

Stevie Salas, who interestingly also used to endorse the Yamaha Pacifica

Stevie Salas is a bit of an endorsement whore, isn't he? 

I remember him using Hamers (that might not have been an actual endorsement, to be fair), the Yamaha Weddington LP-alike, a Washburn model and now the Framus (which looks like a tart's handbag).

SNAKEBITE

When I think of entry level I think of Squire.

When I think of moving up, it's Fender.

I guess that's what it was when I was younger.

I have nothing against the Pacifica, but for me, and this is only my personal opinion, Squire is where it's at. They seem to have more character. If that makes sense.

GuitarMonkey

In the heyday of the Yamaha Pacifica, Squier guitars had plywood bodies and the Yamahas had nice solid wood ones. Lots of people, including me, bought a Pacifica.

Then Squier upped their game and started using proper wood. That, and their close resemblance to the Fender equivalent, meant that Yamaha sales declined.

Jeremiah

Maybe another problem is that they exist in an awkward area somewhere between "traditional Strat copy" and "superstrat."

If someone wants a traditional Strat, well there's Fender/Squier, while someone looking for a superstrat would be more likely to go for something with a more obviously "metal" look, e.g. Ibanez or Jackson, so the Pacifica is neither of these things.

Pete24v

I'm toying with buying a 611 with a trem,nice had 3 basic pacifica models over years, all good.

GuitarZero

imalone said:

AES and SA (looks like the TVL was a signature model SA) are on sale again. Their signature range is so small as to be non-existent. Buying Line6 means Variax is now part of the Yamaha range. I'd agree they're not particularly guitar focused.

Interestingly enough, the new Variax Standard looks like a Pacifica with Variax guts.

http://uk.line6.com/variax-standard/