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Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Electric Guitar - Black Certified Open Box

6-string Solidbody Electric with Mahogany Body, Maple Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, and 2 Single-coil and 1 Humbucking Pickup - Black
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Item ID: PAC012BKd2
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Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Electric Guitar - Black
Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Electric Guitar - Black

Certified Open Box Savings!

Save $26 What is Certified Open Box?

The price below reflects your savings.

Savings: $26.00

New for $259.99

Condition Notes:

There are scratches on the lower bout of the top, as well as dents and scratches on the entire back of the body. There are other fine scratches on various parts of the instrument that are not photographed. These scratches do not show well in photos, if at all. Comes with the tremolo bar and the adjustment wrenches.

This item was thoroughly inspected by our factory-authorized service team and is backed by Sweetwater's exclusive 2-year warranty. These images are of the exact item advertised, and provide as accurate a representation of its condition as possible. If you need further information, please call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700.

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Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Electric Guitar - Black
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No more guesswork! Cases with this logo are hand-tested and guaranteed to fit this Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica. See how we do it | Visit the Guitar Case and Gig Bag Buying Guide

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Yamaha PAC012: An Outstanding Beginner Electric Guitar

The Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica electric guitar is a great beginner instrument for younger, emerging players at an incredible price. The Yamaha PAC012 features a lightweight mahogany body with a smooth maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. A killer trio of versatile pickups lets you dial in a variety of tones from clean highs to punchy midrange to low-end growl.

Loaded for sound

The Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica comes with a custom Yamaha ceramic humbucker in the bridge position, perfect for when you want to rock hard and heavy. Two single-coil pickups in the middle and neck positions offer up all kinds of clean, rocking single-coil tones as well. The range this trio of versatile pickups offers lets you explore all kinds of stylistic approaches in just about any genre — and at Sweetwater, we're all about exploration!

Neck made to play

You will love the sleek, C-shaped maple neck with rosewood fingerboard on the Yamaha PAC012. It is smooth, responsive, and instantly playable — great for lead play or chording. And with a vintage tremolo bridge, you can play with the confidence that you will stay in tune.

Yamaha PAC012 Pacifica Features:

  • Lightweight mahogany-body electric that is great for emerging players
  • Smooth, "C"-shaped maple neck and rosewood fingerboard are instantly playable
  • Trio of versatile pickups let you dial in a variety of tones from clean highs to punchy midrange to low-end growl
  • 5-position blade, master volume, and master tone controls provide an array of tone-shaping options

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

What is Certified Open Box Gear?

At Sweetwater, we're so picky that what we call "Certified Open Box" is actually better than what most music retailers sell as "new" gear! Our gear hasn't endured hundreds of people a week plunking away at all the keyboards, fumbling through Stairway to Heaven on every guitar or playing with every fader and knob on a mixer or control surface.

Certified Open Box (also known as a demo) means we’ve had it out of the box for our YouTube channel, displayed at events, tested in our studio, or maybe it was in a customer’s hands for a few days and isn’t ‘factory fresh’ as a result. Every Certified Open Box item we sell has Sweetwater’s 2-year Total Confidence Coverage™ warranty and has been tested and verified up to ‘new’ specs by our factory-authorized technicians to make sure it’s in perfect working order before we ship it to you.

When you buy a Certified Open Box item at Sweetwater, you get:
  • 2-year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty™!
  • Products inspected and tested by our factory-authorized techs, guaranteed to function like new (or better)!
  • FREE shipping on most items
  • Equipment that will MEET or EXCEED your expectations!

Click HERE to browse our current inventory of Certified Open Box equipment. Purchasing Certified Open Box gear from Sweetwater is a smart and safe way to save!

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Electric Guitar Buying Guide

Warranty Info

Sweetwater's FREE 2-Year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty

Extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

  • Save money with FREE parts and labor
  • Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time
  • Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department
Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage
2 Year Total Confidence Coverage
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Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Right-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape Pacifica
  • Body Material Mahogany
  • Body Finish Gloss Polyurethane
  • Color Black
  • Neck
  • Neck Material Maple
  • Neck Shape C
  • Neck Joint Bolt-on
  • Radius 13.75"
  • Fingerboard Material Rosewood
  • Fingerboard Inlay Dots
  • Number of Frets 22, Medium
  • Scale Length 25.5"
  • Nut Width 1.614"
  • Nut Material Urea
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece Vintage Tremolo
  • Tuners Yamaha Sealed
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup Yamaha Ceramic Single-coil
  • Middle Pickup Yamaha Ceramic Single-coil
  • Bridge Pickup Yamaha Ceramic Humbucker
  • Controls 1 x master volume, 1 x master tone
  • Switching 5-way blade pickup switch
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings D'Addario, .009-.042
  • Case/Gig Bag Sold Separately
  • Manufacturer Part Number: PAC012 BLACK

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Reviews

4.4

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beautiful guitar
Bought this guitar for my daughter's guitar lessons. She simply loves it. Easy to play, smooth, and sounds beautiful. The instructor will recommend this guitar to his other students, he approved and have said good compliments. Overall, we are happy with our purchase.
by Lila Rivero from Homestead, Fl on
Yamaha Pacifica PAC012
This guitar is excellent. I would describe it as flawless with all features. It is shipped in the best packaging I ever saw. High quality are the best words to describe this guitar.
One beautiful guitar. Thank you Sweetwater.
by Old retired guy from Nebraska on
Music background: Playing about 7 months
Yamaha pacifica 012
Nice rosewood fingerboard, straight as an arrow. Very easy to play. Setup out of the box very good intonation .pickup height right on the money, frets no sharp edges. Smooth as a baby but. Who said agathis wood does not have good sustain Bovine poo. Very happy with the 012 my 2nd Yamaha pacifica from Sweetwater. Also great customer service.
by Daniel Dunkelberger from AZ on
Music background: My girlfriends brother was the lead Guitarist for a band called the CARS. E EASTON.
Great guitar. Period.
I know a lot of folks like to say, "for the money". That always goes without saying. I've owned a few high-end guitars over the years and a TON of cheaper ones. I can say, at this price-point, the Pacifica is an amazing instrument.

When I pulled my 012 out of the box, the only thing I really did was put a radius gauge on the neck and make sure the saddles matched...after I set the action on the low E where I wanted it. That's it. No dressing/filing of the frets, etc.

I've never been a, "Strat guy" but I really needed that tone for the CCM praise team I'm in. When I saw this also had a humbucker, I thought I'd give it a try, and it was NEARLY, perfect.

It played and sounded great. I don't use the tremolo so I locked all the screws down tight, removed the trem arm and it holds tune perfectly. My only issue was the noise when only ONE of the single-coil pickups were active. If the HB or two of the pickups were active, noise was not an issue. I didn't want to be limited by that so I bought some copper shielding tape and shielded the inside of it. That fixed the noise issue! This is common among budget single-coil guitars. Higher-end guitars are shielded at the factory.

Mine is actually the metallic burgundy color but the electronics/hardware are the same. I have no need to swap out the tuners. Once I cranked down the screws on the bridge, it doesn't move. It hold tune as good as any of my fixed-bridge guitars.

What I like are the master volume and tone. On, "real" Strats, I hate where the neck volume control is! I'm always rolling it down because that's where I like to pick. This guitar, with one volume and one tone, is perfect. I've had Gibson's for years and NEVER fiddled with the individual controls. Having just two controls is ideal for me.

I gave this guitar 4 stars primarily due to shielding but also due to the tremolo not staying in tune. I don't use a trem, never have but I have to be accurate.

In my opinion, the Yamaha Pacifica Series are probably the best budget guitar out there. Don't let the, "budget" label bother you. I have a 2013 SG Standard collecting dust.

I just ordered a 112 in violin burst and can't wait to play it!
by Brian Witowski from MARICOPA, AZ on
Great guitar, within price point
Okay, here's my basis. I've owned mostly Gibson LP's and SG's. Every other guitar has been a budget guitar. These have included Harley-Benton's, a Dillion and a Samick S-Copy. All of my HB's were exactly what I expected. They needed some fret work, perhaps some parts replacement, nut filing and PU replacement to my taste. That being said, they stock pick-ups were kn no way deficient. They were exactly what you would expect. Now. to the Yamaha 012...

I purchased this guitar because ALL of my other guitars were humbucking guitars. I hoped one of the HB models would serve my purpose but it was not to be. The tremolo was horrific, the pickups sounded like ass and it was going to take too much work to turn it into a player.

Fast-forward 10 months. I still wanted a, "Strat-ish" sound but didn't want to pay for a Fender. I did some research and come up with a well-regarded instrument; the Yamaha Pacifica. Not a specific model # but just the Pacifica in general. I'd watched some online instructional videos featuring the Pacifica and the teacher was quite skilled. He also suggest this guitar as being, "an amazing guitar that you can't beat for the money."

I pulled the trigger and got a Yamaha Pacifica 012, not knowing there were multiple models of the same guitar. When it arrived, I was shocked! I tuned it up, plugged it into my pedalboard and jammed. It sounded and played great!

Every pickup switch position sounded as it should and the volume was balanced. I played some Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama, and it sounded perfect. This is where the ice cream turns to sh*t.

I hit the whammy bar and checked the tuning. Everything was about a quarter-step sharp. That's about 20-25 cents to those keeping score. Not impressed. BUT, it had older strings on it, they hadn't been stretched and the whammy springs hadn't been adjusted...

Here's my take...

I've NEVER been a whammy-bar guy. Never. Always played LP/SG style guitars. When I played this guitar without using the whammy bar, it stayed in tuned and sounded amazing! The action wasn't terrible but not perfect. The nut needed to be cut a hair lower but all-in-all, it was set up quite well and I'm impressed!

Here's the deal; if you are looking for a budget guitar coming out of the box, playing like a PRS, it's not going to happen! But, if you have a decent guitar tech at your disposal or if YOU are reasonably capable of doing rudimentary mechanical adjustments, then this is a GREAT guitar! I plan to put a hardtail tailpiece on it, which I already have. I do have a few higher-end humbuckers laying around but they're not MANDATORY! The stock pickups sound great! I paid about $240 for this guitar and would do it all over again. The finish looks great, the tuners are coarser than, say, 13:1, and the tremolo falls out of tune to the sharp side after EVERY use. But, since I'm going to, "block" the trem anyway, I don't care.

That being said, unless you're an idiot with no mechanical skills, this is a great value and a great guitar. I could see it being my #1 or #2.
by Brian Witowski from MARICOPA, AZ on
See also: Solid Body Guitars, Yamaha, Yamaha Solidbody Guitars