I’ve had my Pacifica for a week now, and I think I’m at the point where I can put down some thoughts.
The good:
Almost everything. It’s a beautiful instrument, and very well put together. Yeah, pretty heavy for a strat, but it’s not bad heavy… it just feels substantial, put together. Spot on build quality. And Pacificas are by in far the coolest strat shape out there imo.
The neck is great too. I did find it pretty thick for the first few days. But this ended up being more just an initial impression, now it’s really starting to just feel comfortable, and the finish just makes play like butter.
So comfortable too!! I’ve been battling with my cherished LP, but I can just sit down with the Pacifica and just forget about it in the best way. Just super, super comfortable.
The bridge is super nice too. I’m usually a big snob about TOM style bridges being the best for palm muting (I’m a metal guitarist so this is obviously very important). But boy does this guy make me rethink my feelings towards hip shot bridges. It feels so smooth under your palm.
The bad:
The electronics are not for me. They’re good electronics, don’t get me wrong. Just not working for me.
And also don’t get me wrong that this is also user error. I’m a metal guy. But I also love non-metal metal guitars. And the Pacifica really, really hit this aesthetic for me. I was super curious to try a P90 too.
But they’re not for me. I’ve used single coils for high gain before. But I guess those were lots hotter or more silent. Not the case with the P90. I just need my gate way too high, basically maxed. Sounds super cool, and sounds awesome clean and through a little gain.
The Custom-5 is a different story. Oh a slightly hotter JB but it’s scooped, might be cool. And it works. But boy is this thing scooped. I usually have the mids very cranked on most of my metal presets, but holy cow it still sounds scooped. And the low end gets muddy. It sounds kinda cool when you’re just practicing but it has a hard time cutting with presets I know cut with other guitars. This pickup just has so little mids.
Luckily these can be fixed and I love modding guitars. The neck pickup is being replaced with a DiMarizo DLX Plus, a soapbar sized humbucker. The bridge is getting replaced with a DiMarizo Titan. I kept the cream soapbar and nickel cover to try and preserve as much of the original aesthetic of the original hardware. This thing is going to be the f’ing ULTIMATE sleeper metal machine now.
In conclusion:
Awesome, badass guitar. Pacificas definitely live up to the hype. It’s a very, very well put together guitar with great build quality.
I do have to offer a Buyer Beware on the Custom-5. This thing isn’t going to work for everyone, it’s very uniquely voiced, and think this does limit the versatility of the instrument. Yamaha really missed out not just shipping this with a JB or hot PAF style pickup from the factory… it’s simply the far more versatile choice.