Cheap Yamaha Guitars

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Yamaha are a world renowned company who manufacture some truly outstanding products. From motorcycles to speedboats and jetskis, ATVs to snowmobiles and golfcarts, crossbows to mixing consoles, brass and woodwind instruments to keyboards and beautiful concert grand pianos, Yamaha have got it all covered.

It just so happens that Yamaha also make some great, affordable guitars too!

A cheap yamaha guitar is ideal for the beginner electric guitar because they will be getting hundreds of years of Yamaha’s manufacturing skill and expertise in one great instrument that will provide hours of fun and will above all be excellent value for money.

Yamaha Pacifica
The Pacifica series of guitars are manufactured by Yamaha with value for money in mind and are based on the classic double cutaway shape of the Fender Stratocatser. There are actually 5 models in the series, all of which vary in terms of componentry and materials and therefore price, but the two that are most suited to beginners are the Yamaha Pacifica PAC012 and the Yamaha Pacifica PAC112.

The PAC012
The cheapest in the range is the Yamaha Pacifica PAC012 which is a well constructed, solid guitar that looks, sounds and plays  just as well as any other guitar in the beginner price range.
It comes in several colours, Black, Red Metallic, Dark Blue Metallic and can producs a variety of tones thanks to its HSS pickup configuration. HSS stands for (H)umbucker (S)ingle Coil (S)ingle Coil. With these three pickups you are able to produce an array of tones that will be suitable for a great range of guitar playing styles.
The humbucker at the bridge for example will be great for playing distorted rock and metal chords and riffs, whilst the middle and neck pickups will be great for playing cleaner chords and notes suited to jazz and blues styles.

This is the type of guitar that is so effortlessly easy to play that you won’t want to put it down which certainly helps when you are learning to play. With its low action (the distance between the fretboard and the strings) the beginner electric guitarist will be able to fret chords with the utmost ease. This is why this guitar is so popular in schools and colleges.

In terms of hardware and specifications the Yamaha Pacifica PAC012 certainly delivers for its price, here’s what you can expect.

Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Vintage Tremolo
Tuners: Die-cast Chrome Tuners
Construction: Bolt-on Neck
Body: Solid Agathis
Frets: 22
Radius: 13 3/4″
Pickups: 2X Single Coil, 1X Humbucker
Pickup Switch: 5-Position
Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
Scale Length: 25 1/2″

All in all the Yamaha Pacifica PAC012 is a highly recommended, great all rounder guitar that, for its price and specification, won’t let you down and is perfectly suitable from the beginner stages through to intermediate.

PAC112J
The Yamaha Pacifica PAC112J is the next model up from the PAC012 and to the untrained eye there is no immediate obvious difference between the two. The price difference lies in the fact that the PAC112J is actually constructed of better materials which ultimately make it a better performing and sounding guitar.

One of the most significant differences is in the wood that the body is constructed from. Whereas the body of the PAC012 is made from Agathis, a wood that is perfectly good for making guitar yet is sometimes referred to in the trade as ‘poor man’s mahogany’, the Yamaha Pacifica PAC112J is made from Solid Alder, a wood that is substantially better.
Alder is in fact used by many guitar makers including Fender and is generally known for having a bright tone, being quite resonant and being light in weight which are of course desirable characteristics when it comes to guitar making materials.

Here are the specifications of the Pacifica PAC112J

Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Vintage Tremolo
Tuners: Die-cast Chrome Tuners
Colors: Black, Lake Blue, Metallic Red, Metallic Orange, Mist Green and Violin Sunburst
Construction: Bolt-on
Body: Solid Alder
Frets: 22
Radius: 13 3/4″
Pickups: 2X Single Coil, 1X Humbucker
Pickup Switch: 5-Position
Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
Scale Length: 25 1/2″

Of course the pickup configuration is the same as the PAC012 so you can expect sonic versatility and an excellent range of tones suited to pretty much all styles of music.

The smooth neck of the guitar makes for easy maneuvering between the low and higher ends meaning that you can reach the lower and higher frets without your hands hanging up anywhere in between.
Another good point to mention is that the frets are even and smooth allowing for unobstructed chord progressions and fretting accuracy.

As with most consumer products you really do get what you pay for and the the same can often be said of guitars. Therefore, if you are looking for a cheap Yamaha guitar and can afford to spend just a little bit more, we would definitely recommend the Yamaha Pacifica PAC112J.

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