Yamaha: Pacifica 510V

When Rich Lasner, the proverbial Ibanez RG designer switched camps in the late 1980s, he went to Yamaha. Lasner, together with Leo Knapp, prototyped the Pacifica models which went into regular production in the 1990s. Michael Lee Firkins & Bill Leverty were esteemed Pacifica endorsers & we know what these chaps could do. The Pacifica glory took a tremendous dip along the way, at one point in time, only the 112 version was in production. Everything else was removed from the catalogs. Maybe the economy at that point in time dictated the manufacturing of motor engines more than instruments & who would want a Pacifica anyway, yes?

Construction/ fit/ finish

The 510V you see here is part of the new wave of Pacificas in the market today. This one debuted in 2011, made in Indonesia. The '5' you see there is a reference to its tier, compared to a 112, the 510 sits way above the order featuring some of the best production standards & features you get for the asking price. The 510 has a very synthetic finish at the neck due to its intense lacquering. However, the appointments & details of the 510V neck has to be one of the best I've come across when it comes to standard production models. Particularly inviting is the fret edges which were well levelled & the nut slots manifested no choking. The 510V body is a simple alder, a very balanced feel together with the neck. I enjoyed playing it both sitting down & strapped on. All hardware here were well fixed less one string retainer which was misaligned during test time; nothing a screw driver couldn't fix. A no-frills yamaha with lots of good QC on board- what's there not to like in this department?

Playbility/ tone

The finished neck there is a little tricky when one has a sweaty palm but the feel remains very inviting. The profile is an interesting C with enough depth for blues bending moments. The action right out of the box was low-profile but our dear single coil loving brothers might set it up for a little more twang, action-wise. The immediate benefit of a single pickup guitar is that acres of space at the picking area so all forms of right hand techniques will benefit from this vacancy. If you are at home with a shred-type guitar of another brand, this one won't be any different.

Coming to that solitary Seymour Duncan P-Rails in the bridge position- it's simply an awesome highlight with enough dynamics to adapt to various music genres- rock, blues, metal to name a few. This pickup is one of my favourite because it has a flat response to begin with; that's right, equal servings of treble, midrange & bass. This is especially rewarding for clean applications involving the split coils. Since the selector is a 3-way version, it means you get three different tones to work with; full humbucking, P-90 type tone & a single coil voicing coming from that rail portion. The cleans are appealing considering they come from the bridge position which is quite devoid of that treble end roundness but the P-90 character has enough fatness to mimic this if one rolls back the tone control to taste. The humbucking mode is menacing enough with lots of distortion. In fact, you can pull off (no pun intended) some black metal with relative ease.

Conclusion
The Pacifica 510V is a versatile instrument put down by cynics who think the single pickup lacks tonal options. This is true if the manufacturer did not include a pickup selector to offer additional tones. Coupled with great playability, the 510V shouldn't be dismissed as an introvert's tool but it is very difficult to sway guitarists in general because they are mostly traditionalists who are not as contemporary in their instrument embrace (how else do you think the Les Paul & Strat survived all those years?). If you doubt Indonesian manufacturing standards, this would give some insights on quality .

Rating: 79%

Availability: Yamaha Beat Spot/ Sound Alchemy
List: $784 $769