Some might remember that I've murmured a few things about this guitar in the past. I was playing in a surf guitar band, looking for something to replace a truly awful Squier Stratocaster. My thought was to get a Strat. But I was a bit put off by the extortionate prices the shops were asking for them - double the US prices (I didn't realise then that this is an old story).
So I walked into MusicFest SA in Parrow, Cape Town - an exceptional store that makes you feel welcome. They'll always try to make a plan to accommodate you. There was this vintage styled Yamaha Pacifica on the wall. My buddy had bought a reverse headstock, floyd-rose bridge PAC721 second-hand as his first serious guitar. It was a wise investment. So wise that it's still his main guitar today - and he's a great player (I've seen kids do the "I am not worthy" genuflection when he solos at his shows).
So I kept playing this. It was clearly better spec'd than the Stratocasters I'd seen in the shops. I'd come in and ask to play it again. Finally they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I've never regretted it. It's all the "Strat" I'll ever need (btw, Pacificas are a whole range of guitars - Strat-like, Tele-like, Super-strat like).
I just found an old Guitar Player in which the PAC904 was reviewed along with 36 other solid-body guitars, including a few American and Japanese Fender Strats and Teles (some of which caught serious flak). This is what the huge review panel - including guitar tech guru Dan Erlewine - thought:
"Yamaha Pacifica 904 ($1,249; case $150).
This classy-looking Strat-style guitar has an absolutely sensuous 251/2" -scale Warmoth maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, as well as a rounded four-bolt neck joint. The neck is smooth and blemish-free, and the wide, low frets are beautifully dressed and finished. They're so highly polished you can see yourself in 'em. Likewise, the hard white nut is the best in this lineup.
The 904's flawless tobacco-sunburst finish looks like some '30s-era Gibson flat-tops, and it really enhances the highly figured ash top over the alder body. The mint-colored pickguard adds a hip vintage vibe. Nice modern touches include a satin-nickel Yamaha steel fulcrum bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, and a truss rod that's adjustable from the body end.
The Yamaha pickup scheme consists of an Alnico V single-coil neck, single-coil middle, and double single-coil at the bridge. The controls include volume, tone, 5-way selector, and a push-on/push-off tone-knob function that cuts the rear coil of the bridge humbucker. The switch was dodgy and would not stay reliably in its "in" humbucker position. The 904 is very nicely built and finished right down to the graphite-paint-shielded interior and the neat shielded wiring. The back of its cover plate is also foil-shielded.
The Pacifica 904 delivers an array of superbly balanced clean and distorted textures. It plays very nicely too; like we said, this neck is
mighty good. The trem feels like a classic Strat and gave us no tuning guff whatsoever. The neck and middle pickups retain good clarity in the high-gain modes, offering excellent harmonic overtones. The bridge humbucker is especially fat and clear. The 904 also offers great Strat cluck in the in-between positions (one editor preferred them to those on his '63 Strat), and the coil-cut position delivers yet another lovely clean sound. The Pacifica deserves an A+ for tonal balance, but its sophisticated voices are cooler for clean shimmer than field-clearing macho shred."
- Guitar Player, February 1995
Oh. They also reviewed a PAC 604 which they really liked, but said that the neck wasn't as "orgasmic" as the 904's ? I also love the fact that the Pacificas have decent looking headstocks. Not like a Fender headstock that's melted in the sun.
Most Pacificas are out of production. I've never yet heard a bad review for even the cheapest. I strongly suggest that you check out any that you see offered. And the 904s are honeys.
