# School me on Yamaha guitars?



## MoshJosh (Aug 6, 2014)

So I've seen a few NGDs here and seen a bunch on eBay and I know nothing about them so let's change that. The ones I've seen on ebay go from 100 buck to like upwards of 1k so I'm curious what are the models/features to look out for? I'm assuming country of origin comes in to play but some of the MIJ models seem to go on the cheap like this one which looks rad!

Yamaha RGX 512 R Made in Japan | eBay


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Aug 6, 2014)

Imagine '80s Ibanezes, but not as sought after, which is why they're so cheap.


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## snowblind56 (Aug 6, 2014)

Some of the Pacifica's are plain crap, but some of them are killer guitars. I have a Pacifica 912 that will be a project guitar for me. It has one of the coolest neck joints that I've ever seen. Some of their higher level Pacifica's even had necks made by Warmoth.


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## GRIZ (Aug 6, 2014)

a lot of their acoustic guitars are pretty decent. Surprisingly, the new L series acoustics are great and come with hard cases. they are a good deal from 500-900 and play and sound great. plus, even at the cheap end of their spectrum you still get solid spruce tops. not bad.


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## Black43 (Aug 7, 2014)

I have a Yamaha RGX420. One of the new(ish) ones. Plays better than both its country of origin and price tag would lead you to believe


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## Neilzord (Aug 7, 2014)

I have a 90's yamaha RGX421PRO, Still one of the best guitars I've ever owned. And will never sell it as it cost me a bargain and plays literally like a dream!!! 

Plus it has a Height adjustable locking nut which is an nice little feature! 



 

I've found even the lower end models aren't bad, I'd 100% have a pacifica over a similar priced Squire etc!


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## downburst82 (Aug 7, 2014)

The neck/fretwork one every Yamaha I've played has been excellent! That's including some cheap $100 ones all the way up to stuff like this...


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## Neilzord (Aug 7, 2014)

^ what Model is that? Im intrigued by that little switch at the Nut ?!? 

Nice looking floating trem too!


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## downburst82 (Aug 7, 2014)

Wes Borland Signature

CV820 WB - Signature - Electric Guitars - Guitars & Basses - Musical Instruments - Products - Yamaha United States



The switch by the nut is a quick lock (for the locking nut)


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## Neilzord (Aug 7, 2014)

downburst82 said:


> Wes Borland Signature
> 
> CV820 WB - Signature - Electric Guitars - Guitars & Basses - Musical Instruments - Products - Yamaha United States
> 
> ...



Awesome! It's always nice to see a new take on an old concept. Bridge looks comfortable and although not the most sightly thing in the world the ease of that Nut must be nice.


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## Jason2112 (Aug 7, 2014)

The USA Pacificas from 10+ years ago were excellent guitars (even with the Warmoth necks). The RGTT Ty Tabor models are also really nice. I just ordered an A3R acoustic and I'm really looking forward to it. Yamaha has made some really great guitars over the years even though they are mostly known for their entry-level gear.


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## downburst82 (Aug 7, 2014)

^I forgot about the RGTT!


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## BucketheadRules (Aug 7, 2014)

Their current cheap stuff isn't bad, the entry-level Pacificas are far from dream guitars but they're one of the better budget guitars out there.

There's the high-end SG and SA series that they've been steadily making since the late 70s:






That's a 1977 SG2000, basically intended to be in the Les Paul ballpark but better. This SA2200 is the semi-hollow equivalent:






They also briefly made some Pacificas that were actually desirable - top to bottom, the 1221M, the 821D, the 1421 and the 1412:


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## Nag (Aug 7, 2014)

snowblind56 said:


> Some of the Pacifica's are plain crap, but some of them are killer guitars. I have a Pacifica 912 that will be a project guitar for me. It has one of the coolest neck joints that I've ever seen. Some of their higher level Pacifica's even had necks made by Warmoth.





do you mean this neckjoint ?






it looks a LOT like that newer Washburn design, except the Yamaha one looks cheaper, and I assume they made it first.






ah, the interesting things you learn at random


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## OmegaSlayer (Aug 7, 2014)

I have this guitar, RGX Custom and it's insanely good.




Sometimes one of them pops up on ebay for $ 400.00
If you find one, buy it instantly.
I wouldn't sell mine for $ 1600.00
In my book this is almost on par with Ibanez Prestige.

By the way this is Mahogany, neck through with PAF pick ups, abalone inlays, killswitch that brings you back to bridge humbucker, coil splits, everything from factory.

To answer your question, late 80s-early 90s Yamaha are THAT good.


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## yellowv (Aug 7, 2014)

Nagash said:


> do you mean this neckjoint ?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The Stephens extended cutaway is far from new. It was first used on the N4 in 1990 and was actually invented before that.


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## Kreml (Aug 7, 2014)

The late 80ies Yamaha RGX are insanely solid guitars, especially the RGX6xx and RGX12xx series which were made in Taiwan, the ones that came later were random China guitars which didnt play well.

I had a 1212S, and two 1220A, and they were all flawless Prestige-quality guitars with Gotoh bridges, heavy mahogany bodies, Yamaha passive pickups in the 1212S and Yamaha actives in the 1220A guitars. I still have a 1220A at my parents house, but i sold the other two to finance my RG Prestiges simply liked the thin RG neck better, otherwise i would still be playing Yamaha

But if you like smaller Gibson scale lenght and Gibson style necks with 24 frets and Floyd Rose, the old RGX "Super Les Pauls" are the way to go


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## newmountain (Aug 7, 2014)

The RGX TT is a great guitar. 
Yamaha is a very underrated manufacturer.


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## newmountain (Aug 7, 2014)

The RGX 620DZ in also an interesting one. 
Special locking nut and a very special bridge


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## slapnutz (Aug 7, 2014)

The RGX series from the 80s early 90s are awesome and basically underrated.

Got a RGX312 as a modding project atm and I would give anything to find the super rare RGX1212J (MIJ).. or the lesser rare RGX1212S. International shipping costs be damned!


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## yellowv (Aug 7, 2014)

The Holy Grail of Yamaha guitars.


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## BucketheadRules (Aug 7, 2014)

yellowv said:


> The Stephens extended cutaway is far from new. It was first used on the N4 in 1990 and was actually invented before that.



It was first used before the N4 actually, on the EC29 and 36 models from 1988 (albeit as a neck-thru):







There's also the hyper-rare EC26, which was a bolt-on and would presumably be the first Washburn with that neck joint.











newmountain said:


> The RGX 620DZ in also an interesting one.
> Special locking nut and a very special bridge



I guess that's the same bridge/nut they used on the Wes Borland model.



yellowv said:


> The Holy Grail of Yamaha guitars.



That's the Blues Saraceno model, isn't it? Hateful finish!


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## yellowv (Aug 7, 2014)

When I said first used on the N4 in 90 I was just saying that was how long it's been used on the N4 for reference. As I said it was invented before that just didn't know the exact year. 

And yeah that's the Saraceno. Gaudy as hell but I love it. Especially with yellow pickups. Been trying to find one for years.


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## edsped (Aug 7, 2014)

I have an RGX1212S that I bought for like $450, I wasn't expecting much but it's actually really great. Neck-thru, 24.75" scale, really comfortable neck profile, height adjustable locking nut. The bridge is really interesting, it has ball bearings instead of knife edges so it's very smooth/bouncy/light/etc. and gets insane flutters, like a ZR trem. It also has a thumbwheel on the top of the trem by the low E saddle that lowers a big brass cylinder to block it and make it dive only. The parts are kinda fragile and it's notorious for having shit break on it though. The G string on mine likes to go out of tune sometimes.

It's originally HSS with a 5-way and 3 mini toggles. I know one mini toggle splits the bridge pickup, I'm not completely sure what the other two do but I think one was some kind of phase switch and the other was a series/parallel switch for the single coils. The stock bridge humbucker also sounded horrible. I replaced the bridge and neck pickups with better humbuckers and rewired everything more to my liking and now I love it. I just wish the tuning were rock solid, I get nervous about going crazy with the whammy bar.


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## OmegaSlayer (Aug 8, 2014)

The bridge is actually very good but SOOOOOOOOOO expensive.
I ruined mine when I was a kid (had the RGX for more than 20 years now) and had it replaced a couple of years ago.
Hard to find and costed nearly &#8364; 400,00
Didn't know about the wheel, thanks for the tip ed!


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## s4tch (Aug 8, 2014)

yellowv said:


> The Holy Grail of Yamaha guitars.



This. I've seen one of those selling on ebay for around 400. Too bad I didn't have any funds to bid, this is one of my dream guitars for sure.


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## sojourner (Aug 8, 2014)

Dude, even their budget Pacificas are really nice. I definitely would get them over any Squier/Mexican Strat Fenders. Many professional/virtuoso-level guitarists use Pacificas:


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## thesnowdog (Aug 8, 2014)

"The sound and feel of tomorrow"


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## canuck brian (Aug 8, 2014)

I have a pair of RGX621's that are on par with my S540P2 and my RG770.

I've recently scored an old Floyd Rose equipped pacifica 721 (i think). Paper thin neck.

I think the body on my RGX guitars is solid alder. The guitars are built like tanks and have a ton of features that were not even in the realm of possibly owning until they put them on these Yamahas.


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## MoshJosh (Aug 8, 2014)

I went to my favorite local shop today and surprisingly they had this hanging on the wall...



Big question, whats it worth???


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## MoshJosh (Aug 8, 2014)

^^^Hate to double bump my own thread but I need to know if this is a can't miss it type deal ^^^


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Aug 8, 2014)

How much? I believe those are Taiwan-made.


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## MoshJosh (Aug 8, 2014)

250


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## Alex Kenivel (Aug 8, 2014)

Derp.


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## Alex Kenivel (Aug 8, 2014)

My wife's Yamaha acoustic is awesome and loud. 

I read John Fruciante say in a recent interview that he's recording a lot of his guitar parts on a Yamaha electric, I forget the model. He said it was super resonant and that every note on the board rang out at the same volume


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## Jzbass25 (Aug 8, 2014)

Even their cheaper guitars are great, right now I have an extremely cheap pacifica (I started on a pacifica tele too) and one of the rgx a2's and they work great. Also I have a cheaper model sheehan bass which has always served me well.


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## Govan Emmanuel (Aug 10, 2014)

I've played Yamaha Pacifica 212v and they felt amazing, very easy to play. My only problem is when i think of Yamaha i'm always reminded of this


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## sojourner (Aug 10, 2014)

Govan Emmanuel said:


> I've played Yamaha Pacifica 212v and they felt amazing, very easy to play. My only problem is when i think of Yamaha i'm always reminded of this
> 
> http://www.scooterfocus.com/scooter_yamaha_zuma.jpg


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## slapnutz (Aug 10, 2014)

slapnutz said:


> ...and I would give anything to find the super rare RGX1212J (MIJ).. or the lesser rare RGX1212S. International shipping costs be damned!





edsped said:


> I have an RGX1212S.....


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## kuma (Aug 11, 2014)

MoshJosh said:


> I went to my favorite local shop today and surprisingly they had this hanging on the wall...
> 
> 
> 
> Big question, whats it worth???



That's a Pacifica 311MS, the lower end Mike Stern model. I owned one briefly, it was a nice enough guitar, but at the time I didn't get along with the Tele shape or the maple fingerboard. I think they were only around $300 new, so $250 is not the best deal in the world, but on the other hand, if you like the specs and can try it out and see if it's a good one, it's not a bad deal either as they don't come up every day.

Yamaha has made some fantastic and innovative stuff. I've owned several of their guitars over the years, and most that I've sold I wish I had back. Still have my RGX-TT and an acoustic, as well as a DG60 amp, and a THR-10. Unfortunately, I think Yamaha's biggest enemy in the guitar world has been....Yamaha. For whatever reason, in the US at least, they developed a pattern...release a bunch of very cool stuff, and if it didn't sell in a year, it'd get blown out at about a third of the normal price. Totally undermined any value they might have had.


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## Velokki (Aug 12, 2014)

Govan Emmanuel said:


> I've played Yamaha Pacifica 212v and they felt amazing, very easy to play. My only problem is when i think of Yamaha i'm always reminded of this



Hahaha, laughed so much! Yeah, I have Yamaha DTXtreme III high-end e-drums and they're f'in fantastic. Yamaha make some amazing guitars, drums, amps and pianos.


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## Ataraxia2320 (Dec 8, 2014)

Yamaha guitars are serious bang for the buck, especially in the second hand market. Some of their high end pacificas sell for half nothing.


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## Zado (Dec 8, 2014)

OmegaSlayer said:


> I have this guitar, RGX Custom and it's insanely good.
> 
> Sometimes one of them pops up on ebay for $ 400.00
> If you find one, buy it instantly.
> ...



I hate you for this! A friend of mine got ne some years ago,and it's an immense instrument,possibly the one of the best superstrats I've played so far!Killed all Ibbas I've played,prestiges included


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## canuck brian (Dec 10, 2014)

I've got an RGX621, Pacifica 721 and I'm in the process of snagging an RGX821. The early -mid 90's ones will give pretty much anything a run for its money. Great neck joint, solid alder bodies, height adjustable nut, scalloped frets - just great guitars.


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