Yamaha Pacifica 311H

76 Guitarist Summer 2011
£579, £479 & £399
ELECTRICS
Pacifica 611HFM
 £579
 Indonesia
 Alder with flamed
maple veneer
 Maple, bolt-on
 648mm
(25.5 inches)
 Graph Tech Black Tusq
XL/41.5mm
 Rosewood, 250mm
(8.75-inch) radius
 22, medium
 Hardtail bridge with
Graph Tech String Saver saddles,
Grover locking tuners, all
chrome-plated
 52mm
 Seymour Duncan TB-14
Custom 5 Trembucker (bridge),
SP90-1 Vintage Soapbar (neck),
three-way lever pickup selector,
volume, tone (with push/pull
coil-split)
 3.13/6.9
 Pacifica 212VFM
(£330), Pacifica 212VFM/VQM
(£330), Pacifica 1511MS (£990)
 Root beer (as reviewed),
trans black, trans purple



Test results





Pacifica 510V
 £479
 Indonesia
 Alder
 Maple, bolt-on
 648mm
(25.5 inches)
 Graph Tech Black Tusq
XL/41.5mm
 Rosewood, 250mm
(8.75-inch) radius
 22, medium
 Wilkinson VS50-6
vibrato, Grover locking tuners
 55mm
 Seymour Duncan
TBPR-1b P-Rails Trembucker,
three-way lever pickup selector,
volume and tone
 3.45/7.6
Pacifica 012
(£193), Pacifica 112V (£244),
Pacifica 112VCX (£275)
 Black (as reviewed), candy
apple red, old violin sunburst
Test results





Pacifica 311H
 £399
 Indonesia
 Alder
 Maple, bolt-on
 648mm
(25.5 inches)
 Graph Tech Black Tusq
XL/41.5mm
 Rosewood, 250mm
(8.75-inch) radius
 22, medium
 Yamaha hardtail bridge,
Grover locking tuners
 52mm
 Yamaha nickel-covered
humbucker (bridge), P-90-style single-
coil (neck), three-way blade selector,
volume and tone (with push/push
coil-split)
 3.22/7.1
 Pacifica 120S
(£230)
 Vintage white
(as reviewed), black, red metallic,
yellow natural stain
Test results





The Bottom Line
Yamaha 611HFM
We like: Great tones; shrewd
pickup choice; excellent
all-round performance
We dislike: Nothing
Guitarist says: Just what
the range needed – a wholly
versatile, mid-priced
Pacifica with great style
and tones to match
Yamaha 510V
We like: Palpable custom
shop vibe; good choice of
rock tones
We dislike: Occasionally
sticking vibrato
Guitarist says: If your heart
tends to beat to the sound of
guilty pleasures such as
Poison, Warrant, Van Halen
et al, check this out
Yamaha 311H
We like: Great price;
smooth neck
We dislike: A little under-
powered in comparison
to the 611
Guitarist says: Proof that
you don’t need to spend a
small fortune to own a guitar
that plays like a dream and
sounds pretty good too – the
very essence of Yamaha’s
Pacifica concept
our esteemed editor). “But it
had a big influence on the
concept. It gave us inspiration
in terms of the idea of a Pacifica
kitted out with the hardware
that an individual player might
upgrade to.”
Let’s not pull punches. Fender
and Gibson have the heritage in
this market, but that doesn’t
mean there aren’t plenty of us
out there who fancy something
that’s different, cool and great
value for money. Yamaha’s
Pacificas have always ticked
the value box, but these g uitars
add an air of something more
unique and desirable, whether
it’s the LA hot-rod vibe of the
510V, or the classic rock and
blues cool of the 611 and 311:
three good ideas, well executed.
Our fave is the 611 for its
depth of tone, but give them all
a go and see if there’s a budget
boutique choice here for you.
GIT345.rev_yamaha.indd 76 7/18/11 12:37:27 PM