In the heady days of extreme players pushing the envelope for high-tech guitar designs throughout the 1980s, various “Superstrat” models ruled the roost on stage and in studios. Yamaha Guitar Design—like every other manufacturer—couldn’t help but be deluged with the popularity of humbucker-, HS- and HSS-powered instruments. But Yamaha didn’t set out to explicitly craft a guitar for the metal monsters and shredders of the MTV era.

Instead, they went after the transcendently talented Los Angeles studio guitarists who were recording global mega-hits almost as fast as Ford motorcars used to roll off Detroit assembly lines. Yamaha’s Pacifica series was designed to give top professionals a no-nonsense tool for creating modern sounds—a model that invited over-the-top performance techniques and a variety of tones. The Pacifica line continues to offer superior playability, sonic diversity and road ruggedness in models that stretch from uber-professional to first-time player levels. Yamaha Guitar Group Marketing Manager Brandon Soriano is onboard to provide some history of the Pacifica series and the refinements in the new Pacifica Professional and Standard Plus instruments.

Pictured: Yamaha Pacifica Headstocks

What was the genesis of the Pacifica line?

Soriano: Originally, Pacifica was a collaboration between Hamamatsu, Japan, and our custom shop in Los Angeles. We began development in the late 1980s, and the first model—the 912—came out in 1990. The goal was to create the best guitar for Los Angeles session players. From the get-go, these were meant to be super playable, super versatile and very modern HSS guitars. The new line of Pacifica Professional and Standard Plus carries on that legacy.

Regarding that legacy, how is Yamaha evolving upon the Pacifica’s initial “L.A. ethos?”

Part of producing a modern-style instrument is that it has to stay modern. If everything remained the same as it was in the late ’80s and early ’90s, then it would no longer be a modern instrument. It would be, arguably, a vintage-style instrument—depending on when you want to do the cutoff for what is vintage.

Pictured: Yamaha Pacifica PAC012DLX HSS in Vintage Sunburst

For today’s player, there are a certain set of expectations and needs. For example, something that's plagued HSS players for years has been the imbalance in pickup output. If the humbucker is too hot compared to the two single-coils, it requires a lot of fiddling when switching pickup positions. A major goal for the new Pacifica line was to have pickup output as balanced as possible across the 5-way switch. The new pickups we codeveloped with Rupert Neve Designs accomplished that.

The late Rupert Neve and his team are legendary pro audio designers and innovators. How did the collaboration with Rupert Neve Designs for the Pacifica pickups come about?

The collaboration was really serendipitous. Our pro audio department has worked with them since the early to mid 2000s. While they were at the Neve R&D facility, they saw a pair of electric guitar pickups on a desk. The person who sat there was a longtime Neve employee named Dennis, and he told us he made pickups for fun—just to gift to friends. The Yamaha crew asked if they could take the pickups back to Japan, and he said, “Yes.” So, the Yamaha Japan team put Dennis’ pickups into a guitar, and they just sounded amazing. That sparked a four-year collaboration between Rupert Neve Designs and Yamaha.

Pictured: Yamaha Pacifica Professional PACP12M HSS in Beach Blue Burst

In the professional recording world, Neve is often associated with a very specific warm sound. Was Yamaha seeking that type of sonic imprint for the Pacifica Pro and Standard Plus?

Historically, both companies are well known for their sounds. Rupert Neve products are famous for their warmth, richness and harmonic saturation—especially in the low-frequency range. Yamaha products tend to focus on brilliance, sparkle and clarity. So, the driving factor with the design of the Reflectone pickups was to get both of those things. We didn’t want a bass-heavy pickup at the expense of treble, or a sparkly pickup that sacrifices low end. It took four years to get the perfect balance of bass and treble response. There is a lot of really unique stuff going on under the hood to accomplish that.

So, we have the concept and strategy for the pickups. What about the other elements of the new line?

If we look at Pacifica Professional from the headstock down to the body, every component was made to be as modern as possible, but in a way that makes sense for the player. We've got locking Gotoh tuners. We've got a smooth Graph Tech TUSQ nut that holds tuning really well. We've got stainless steel frets on a 10" to 14" compound radius fingerboard. The neck itself is a new shape for us—a slimmer and more modern C profile—and the finish is really great. It's a custom-tinted satin that’s really comfortable. Also, the fingerboard inlays are a new design.

We've touched on how the pickups are new and modern, and there’s also a coil-split feature on the humbucker via a push-pull tone pot. The body is two-piece alder with light chambering. The body is two-piece alder with light chambering near the neck pickup to decrease body stiffness and a bar of wood in the control cavity on the back to increase stiffness. It’s a balancing act to get the entire body to resonate uniformly.

Pictured: Yamaha Pacifica Standard Plus PACS+12 HSS in Shell White with Rosewood Fingerboard

Truss rod adjustment has been moved to a spoke wheel at the base of the neck. It comes with a little tool, and you can adjust it in seconds. You don't have to take the neck off or loosen any strings. It’s super easy. Finally, there’s a two-point Gotoh bridge that’s extremely smooth and returns to pitch really well. Everything about the guitar is designed to be as streamlined as possible.

As you mentioned earlier, the Pacifica was originally designed for top professional session players. How do you maintain the integrity of that design ideal as you go down the Pacifica line to an under $300 model?

Something Yamaha values very highly in our instruments is bang for the buck, and that applies to the $300 guitar just as much as it applies to the $2,000 guitar. It's intuitive to want to compare this $2,000 guitar to that $2,000 guitar. But what we are trying to do is build a $2,000 guitar that competes with a $4,000 guitar. It’s the same for the lower end of our product lineup. We want our $300 guitar to compete with a $700 or $800 guitar.

So, how can we do that? Yamaha is in the unique position where we own our factories, so we can own this process from start to finish. We have very strict quality control standards. We take our time to get things exactly right and make sure it's the best possible product for the player at the best possible price.

Pictured: Yamaha Pacifica Professional PACP12M HSS in Beach Blue Burst Controls

Another thing unique to Yamaha is our ability to collaborate with other departments within the company. We can learn from the piano department, the saxophone department, the pro audio department. There's this unique ability to learn about design, technology, production, efficiency and more. There's an entire world of different industries Yamaha has access to.

Personally speaking as a player, do you have any preference for a specific Pacifica model?

Funny enough, I've been playing Yamaha guitars for a long time—before I ever worked for the company. My main guitar through all of music school was a Yamaha SA2200. I still have that guitar today, and I still play it on gigs. I think the Pacifica Professional is on the same level as my SA2200. For me, the professional-level instruments are second to none when it just comes to consistency, quality and sound. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better instrument that's not more expensive.