YAMAHA PACIFICA STANDARD PLUS PACS+12M

Yamaha's long-running doublecut finally gets a makeover

- Dave Burrluck

Unlike the majority of large-scale manufacturers, Yamaha doesn't flood the market with new guitar models every five minutes. Last year's Revstar Mk II models came some seven years after the original line was launched, and at the start of this year, the first new Pacifica guitars were announced over a decade after any previous introductions.

Now, the Pacifica dates back to 1990, designed by the small team at then-new Hollywood based R&D centre. It started life as a high-end 'SuperStrat' and achieved colossal sales in the start-up 112 format, introduced around three years later, and still being made today. The two new models fit in at the top of the long-running range: the Standard Plus, on review here, is made in Yamaha's huge Indonesian factory; the new Professional model - which will cost you £2,166 in smaller numbers in Hamamatsu, Japan. While those locations explain some of the considerable price difference, we could argue that the Standard Plus is something of a bargain as its specification is virtually identical to the Professional model.