Great video as usual Darrell. I own the Player Strat HSS Ltd edition in "Blueburst." You're right. No coil split ability. The Player Tele HH does have a push/pull for coil splitting so I don't know why they didn't do it with the Strat. Love it though, and it might be shallow, but if I'm going to own an S or T type, I want it to say "Fender" on it and I don't mind spending a little extra money to own a small piece of that heritage and pedigree. That said, if someone doesn't care about that sort of thing, save a few bucks and get the Yamaha. Cheers!

Another factor is the Fret radius (and I think width if I remember correctly). I had a 212V. Great guitar. Stayed in tune. Not as sexy as a Fender or Squier. Flatter radius (13 vs 9?). As a budget hack guitarist, I like Squiers, but also appreciate the value of the Yamahas. Hard to find bargains on the 611 or Revstars.

Darrell what's the gray black guitar behind your right shoulder at the beginning

Hey Darrell great video have you done a telecaster shootout before?

I was about to comment to do this vid on your Pacifica video earlier lmao

Some years ago ,I was in a support band , 3 songs in I snapped the E string , the guitarist from the highlighted band , gave me his Pacifica so I could continue playing , the only difference between my strat and the Pacifica was the Yamaha was a brighter sound - I never noticed any playability issues , in fact I bought one after .

You are definitely paying for the name. A modern G&L plays better than a modern fender but of course the fender cost more. Opinion of course.

I don't have a lot of experience with Yamaha electrics but their acoustic guitars are excellent.

I totally agree! I own 2 Yamaha guitars and they're both fantastic. One of them is 40ish years old too.

You can really get a Stratocaster-guitar for a very much cheaper price, but in better quality and Playability!!!!! I play a CAR-red ESP 400-Series Strat ( production for Europe with pre CBS-head) with 42 annual-rings, bookmatched maple-neck on a serial guitar (!!!!!!!!), the hubs of the frets on the edge of the freetboard are sealed with filling compound, and already the dry sound in aspection of sustain, attack, knack, twang, glasy-wiry-spectre are better and much louder than on every Fender USA-Custom-Shop-Stratocaster till these days (fact!!!) !!! So, this guitar defeats every Custom-Shop-Strat!!!! And for going out i play two different BLADE Texas-Strats-models, who are in quality and sound very close to the ESP, but with flat neck-body-joint, so the playability is much better, to! I´ve forgotten, on my ESP and on the BLADEs the chord opens harmoniously, on most of the Fenders i´ve tested ( different stock-production-guitars an many Custom-Shop-Strats), NOT!!!! So, if the chord don´t open harmoniously ( like on most Fenders) what would i want to do with such a guitar????? Only playing solos?????? For playing rhytm i need the chords-opening-harmoniously, if this is not there, you can throw it into trash!!!!!!!!!!

I was between a Yamaha Pacifica 112v (the colors) and Fender Player Strat (made in Mexico). They both have quite a good range of colors (was mostly looking at blue or red with maple necks). I ended up buying a Cort G290 FAT BBB. I do not regret my purchase. I am quite happy with it actually; because, I can also get some heavy sounds from both the bridge and neck pickups as well. I always thought of upgrading the pickups later on as I have installed Seymour Duncan 16b and 1n on my first beginner Ievel Ibanez guitar (it really changed the tone btw). However, I did not need it with the Cort g290 fat as its pickups (VTH-77 set) have a character of their own. They felt like Seymour Duncan Hyperion pickups; different sound-wise from SD but very unique sounding.

Is that when you recommend it with force or threat? Lol

Whats crazy is you aren't getting a fender strat for any less than 1000 NEW so how are they compared especially if Pacific's start around 300. Is it a certain model or something that's more comparable

Correct

I agree. Yamaha is a big big brand of guitars, basses and pianos

@@turbilon3881 bikes and motor boats)

My favourite motorbike was Yamaha XS 650 back in the day.

I have a Yamaha pasifica 120h which is double humbucker with single coil push pull pot. It’s amazing and it’s about 400$ range. I’m not thinking to change anytime soon

Well said, John, I really thought the same thing, and the cherry burst finish just does it for me. Add a humbucker in the bridge position, and there would be more Fender fun. 👍👍👍

Have you ever checked out the Fender mod shop? It’s a surprisingly deep way to build a sub 2k custom style fender model. I built one with roasted neck, personalized color, pickup choice and layout, bridge, tuners and case for under 2k. I was super impressed.

@@allendean9807 I did my own. I bought a MIM, put on a rail tail, a slimline SD Humbucker in the bridge that’s split, a micro switch to put neck in all combos, locking tuners and coming today is a new Fender neck with black headstock, and built my own custom shop super Strat. The best part of Fender - totally customizable. The only original left is the body lol.

@@johntedesco6304 that’s so cool! I’m going to pull the trigger on this mod shop strat in the coming weeks. I really enjoyed the site and customization. And, since i always deck my strat terms, having a hard tail stock is very exciting!

Can eq make the yamaha sound like a fender?

PAC311H G&B bridge PU *tone* is truly fab, but its output is underwhelming. Beautiful guitar in all other respects, but lacklustre for rock as it comes OOTB. I own & play a 311H too alongside my 612VII,112V Pacificas (& others).

@@theblytonian3906 I agree that the bridge pickup wasn’t made for the heavy stuff, I’m planning on replacing it with a Duncan Custom 5. Everything else I plan on keeping the same for now

@@freakfletch0 That's what I did. It's such a shame, as the original's tone is tops. In retrospect, I'd fit a different replacement PUP from the TB-14 as I did, but I did so before I bought my TB-14 fitted 612V. Great guitar. I like it as much if not more than my 612. The G&B P90 kicks arse.

@@theblytonian3906 I agree that the P90 sounds great

@@freakfletch0 The 311H is a hidden gem. So underated, overshadowed in the attention it deserves in being sandwiched between the 112V/212V & 611H/612V price segments.

My first guitar Was the yamaha erg121c which I bought used with amp for 90 Euros. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think there is a cheaper yamaha guitar. It's a great guitar ! It holds tune F-ing great, the neck feels great too. I got an ibanez JEMJR-WH for about 500 Euro and the yamaha puts it to shame. I bought a made in Japan boxer strat, and its awesome. It sounds way better than the yamaha but I think that's because of the pickups. Get the yamaha, put on some nice pickups and that's all you're gonna need. I will never sell my cheapo erg121c, because 1 it's so good, and 2 I can experiment with alternative tunings without having to adjust trem. And 3, if it gets dings and dongs I don't give a sh.t ... I can always recommend yamaha guitars

@@fpvollgasgermany7919 I

Agree

If you can accept that you are paying $200 for the decal, then cool. I've had a Yamaha 604w for over 20 years. I stays in tune and sounds great. My only wish would be a slightly chunkier neck.

Superior in some ways, but not in others.

Totally agree !!

scooped mids are a plague. nice switch you made!

@@DavidRFIT Exactly ! It's only ButtHead Metal heads that like scooped mid crap....it just makes everything sound like garbage and everything disappears in the mix.

I'm a newbie. I've been trying to find the difference between the 611 and 612. Please.. what makes up the price difference?

@@claydowdy9596 the 611 and 612 are very close in price. The difference is the 612 has more pickups. The 611 is a humbucker and a P90 in the neck. The 612 is a humbucker and two Strat single coils.

@@TheBigGuppy Thank you!!

You did right - I bought the yamaha 10 years ago and have never regretted it....

Can you split the bridge pickup when the 5-way switch is in position 2? Because if you can, I think you've got all the Strat tones except position 4.

How much its cost bro?

@@mal2ksc as a Yamaha Pacifica owner, yes it does

should've been much more than $200 difference. where are you from?

Absolutely, I tried a player and ended up with a Schecter Nick Johnson SSS. What a great guitar, especially the roasted neck.

"big and "authentic" names still haven't learned the lessons " - I thought the same until I checked the sales ranks. People still want those "authetic" outdated and inconvenient things, and are willing to pay extra for them. I have both - pacifica and Fender Player, as well as number of other guitars. I would cahnge several things on Fender (and I actually did - locking tuners, other saddles that don't have sticking out screws, TUSQ nut), but it seems that Fender has good sense of the market and produce instruments according to average potential customers expectations. It seems that most people are bying Fenders exactly because of classic look and feel. Fender sold more guitars in last year than any other year in Fender's history. So, who we are to explain them how to make and sell guitars...

I compared the frets and the neck of my pacifica 112 with my telly american standard, a PRS custom and a fender custom shop strat and none of them had such good finishes. The PRS one was close but not so perfect that Pacifica. The two Fenders was below. When you pass your hand along the neck you can feel the frets under your fingers, thing that you dont feel on the pacifica. I know it's incredibile! I even made a blind test with my telly american standard and the pacifica. My friends thaught that the most beautiful sounds was coming from the Telecaster while it was coming from the pacifica.

I would argue that yamaha are an authentic brand. I'm pretty sure they have been around a lot longer than Fender and making a much broader range of instruments - their pianos for example are extremely high quality. I'm not knocking Fender, I own both a player series strat and tele and they are both great, I just think with this particular guitar Yamaha haven't helped themselves by using the pacifica name, which is widely associated with their lower price point guitars.

@@davidbarlow431 good point! But still, history of guitar music is always associated with Fender and Gibson at the first place, as countless guitar legends played them. Yamaha is associated with Mike Stern... But any other big name?

I has one from the 90s, in natural finish. Pretty good also.

@@vivito- that sounds like my old one, I wondered where it went.

Really if you do upgrades even a $50 guitar will be as good as any Really. It's like useing a car body. You can make the car be a corvette zr1 underneath but it be a Malibu base model on the outside. The frame is mostly looks and weight. As long as it's put together and finished well.

Too circumstantial. For example a jazz rig is no good without a humbucker on the neck

He's a Canadian, dude. That's like their basic politeness lol.

I was going to say something along these lines. The Fender sounded more 'fendery'; I think a little more detailed is the word I'm looking for. I think If I was looking to make some money playing these guitars, I'd probably pay the premium on the Fender...

Totally agree. I don't know if it's the Fender sound (I'm not there yet) but it just sounded better to me.

i agree

​@kindface definitely the fender sound, all these other brands are chasing that fender quacky clear tone, they all try to imitate but nobody can ever duplicate. You'll only get that from fender and squire in the CV and or custom shop series ...

The Yamaha sounded more musical to me. I don't really know how to describe the sound other than that. Since I'm not chasing "that Fender sound" the Yamaha would definitely be my choice.

I love my two Squiers. Solid build, great sound, and very well priced.

So I'm not saying the modern fenders aren't worth it. I'm not saying that at all, you're comparing a squire to a fender and you're saying that you can't justify the Fender's price so you're keeping the squire. I feel the same exact way about a Mexican fender versus an American fender. Again I'm not saying an American fender isn't better, but for that price tag I simply just cannot justify it. I sometimes feel little to no differences in the models.

I can see that. Squire really gives the mid range fenders a run for their money… I’ve given up all hope on Fender. G&L 4 lyf

@@mykaljoseph I picked me up an older S500 and a Legacy. I wish I tried G&L sooner

Its funny. But its true. I know fan players that blindly defend Fender being worth and all...but I feel that Squire makes a better guitar. Kind of like how Epiphone makes a better guitar versus Gibson.

MIMs have been excellent quality for a while now.

So underrated Yamaha just as good if not better than fender

Many guitars can get that tone. I have a few and none are Fenders.

@@Scott__C of course more guitars can do it, but I've got 6 different models of Fender that do it even when they lack a 2 or a 4, which I've never found a 3 pickup guitar that isn't a Fender, that will deliver that tone.

Just an excuse to buy a Yammy now too lol

Honestly you could resell your fender pretty easily and pickup the Yamaha lol. 2nd hand market is hot

Agreed, I feel like the only big difference most of the time is the sweep of the knob itself (larger having a slower or smoother taper). Other than the range and how the knob reacts though, if they work they work so no real complaints. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Yeah, no bias when he said yamaha is worse because it has smaller pots?! No bias - rotfl. I can't even play guitar but I can feel tons of bias.

Plus, there is no reasonable downside to have a flatter fingerboard

It's subjective, myself and several others I know would definitely prefer the standard rounded Fender style as its easier to play in my opinion and easier bend notes..

They're ridiculously underrated, imo. I often direct people on the fence about Pacifica guitars to check out Asterism videos, particularly the recent prog-heavy stuff. Hal-Ca really shows what these guitars can do.

Agree! I recently restored an old Pacifica, and had a lot of trouble getting the right parts. Wonderful guitars, but not too many spare parts on the market.

Depending on what you're doing, there's loads of parts for Yamahas. If you're looking to restore one to original spec, then it might get tricky. But if you want to upgrade or replace parts, they're everywhere.

@@CristiNeagu Yeah, the bodies tend to be very similar within body styles, so I don't understand the comment re parts. Maybe if you are doing a google search with yamaha parts, but not if you are just buying parts that fit. If you can swap parts on a $75 Glarry to make a superstrat like he did in previous video, then you can do the same thing to swap out parts on a Yamaha.

@@ws8080 True. And it does depend on the age of the guitar too. Pacificas these days come with a Wilkinson bridge, Graphtech-like tuners (not sure if they're actually Graphtech, but the Ratios are drop in replacements), and a Graphtech nut. That's most of the hardware. Electronics should be pretty much off the shelf (Except the Revstar's boost transformer, but that is never going to break). I don't know if the neck joint on a Pacifica fits a Fender neck. I think the spacing of the screws is correct, but the necks Yamaha use are probably narrower than anything Fender does, but you can get one narrow enough from Warmoth. So yeah, they're pretty easy to upgrade as long as you don't want to use original parts.

As is any HSS.

It's only possible to auto split in position 2 if the humbucker has 4 or more wires. Most certainly not ALWAYS the case.

@@mikehurley5052 not always. Sometime an hss or hsh guitar will have position 2 be humbucker and middle single coil, and position 4 the same

The pacificas also do this

I thought I was the only one that thinks that.

I think it's cause it's too easy to knock the pickup selector switch with your hand while playing live. I'd need a second strat with the switch duct-taped in place if I wanted to use the middle pup.

I'm not a big fan of strats at all.....i hate the quack tones and i think the bridge pick up is pretty horrible but like you , i find the middle pu very versatile, i also like the neck pick up, even more so on a tele ! I have three telecasters where i have strat neck units replacing the normal lipstick unit which i find lack any real character .

Revstars are awesome!...forget Gibson LP's...a Revstar has the tone plus a pull switch that gives you more options and a better neck

@@thornwivans I already ordered one a few weeks ago, can't wait for it to arrive ;)

I really want one of the green Revstars with the tailpiece and P90s.

I have one.. revstar 320

Chris Buck does alright with one ;)

I have one. USA2 Yamaha. Check it out. You don't buy a Yamaha for trade in value but when you play one you usually keep it like my 302s.

I was just curious of which card guitar is later?

Lighter lol

I mean I have a Mexican made strat with no locking tuners and it holds tuning better than my Gibson Flying V. Although I must admit the trem system low key sucks

Locking tuners aren't really a be-all end-all thing. Regular tuners will do just fine as well if they're made of good stuff. I found that winding as little string around the post as possible helped with keeping finicky tuners from going out.

@@matturner6890 I agree that they can work. I just don't think Fender should be selling guitars with poor bridges and tuners. They have created a cottage industry of people manufacturing bridges and tuners to replace their poor hardware. I had a hardtail Strat with safety post tuners and it held a tune very well. My current Strat has an oem vibrato bridge and that is just a poor design. The ball bearing and spring meant to hold the arm in place are frustratingly inadequate, and everyone has known this for decades. I upgraded to a Callaham block and arm and it stays wherever I put it.

This guy gets it.

Ive solved my dilemma Ive decided to get both guitars!

@@thornwivans My thinking always - thanks !!