tremolo

I have bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112M that is in almost unplayed condition as a father-son project guitar. The only thing it does not have is a tremolo. Apparently the music shop cannibalized the trem from this guitar and stuck it back in the repair shop. The seller had bought out all the original shop's inventory and sold the Pac for cheap on ebay. The black finish is gorgeous and appears to be very thickly applied. Tthe maple fingerboard has nice grain and so does the neck. No glue-up lines in the headstock- this is all one piece. Other than the missing trem, the only issue appears to be that a couple of the fret ends need to be filed just a smidge, because you can feel an ever-so-slight protrusion at the neck.

First decision we need to make is for the tremolo. I now know that I need a trem with 2-1/16" spacing. So many decisions. Cast saddles vs. stamped steel. Zinc vs brass vs steel blocks. Like everybody else, I want the most bang for my buck.

FWIW, the woodworking end of things is not a problem. I have a fairly well equipped woodworking shop, so drilling, routing, etc. is not a problem.

Once we get our trem issues figured out, here's what we plan to do:

Pickups:

GFS I01 Strat Vintage alnico stagger single coils for neck and middle

GFS Dream 180 Black on Black for Bridge.

We might vary and do a PAF of Cruncy PAF or even their Liverpool Vintage but the dual-purpose promise of chime and PAF sound from the Dream 180 sounds pretty good.

We plan to do some of the creating wiring techniques, add switches for the whole series / parallel/ out of phase / coil tapping stuff.

This is going to be for everything from Beatles to Jimi to later classic rock like Zepellin. Current amp is a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT.

Why a Pacifia, you ask? When we shopped for a first guitar a few years ago, the Pacifica kept coming up as a good first guitar. We ended up with a 112J in Old Violin Sunburst and it has turned out to be just as described. A great guitar for the money and then some. I've come to prefer it's shape as it varies a bit from the Strat. The Pac 112 is just a bit sleeker. The neck is legendary - everyone seems to rave about it. This first Pac 112J has been played so much it's about due for a fret dressing. We want to mod a guitar, but I hate to start on the first guitar. So we decide to get this Pacifica, experiment on it. We feel like the quality of this guitar justifies it's use as a mid-grade modder.

Interest in hearing advice on the trem issues as well as your thoughts on the pickups.

Take a look at this web site and see if this trem will work for you. www.tremking.com

Designer Sheldon

I have bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112M that is in almost unplayed condition as a father-son project guitar. The only thing it does not have is a tremolo. Apparently the music shop cannibalized the trem from this guitar and stuck it back in the repair shop. The seller had bought out all the original shop's inventory and sold the Pac for cheap on ebay. The black finish is gorgeous and appears to be very thickly applied. Tthe maple fingerboard has nice grain and so does the neck. No glue-up lines in the headstock- this is all one piece. Other than the missing trem, the only issue appears to be that a couple of the fret ends need to be filed just a smidge, because you can feel an ever-so-slight protrusion at the neck.

First decision we need to make is for the tremolo. I now know that I need a trem with 2-1/16" spacing. So many decisions. Cast saddles vs. stamped steel. Zinc vs brass vs steel blocks. Like everybody else, I want the most bang for my buck.

FWIW, the woodworking end of things is not a problem. I have a fairly well equipped woodworking shop, so drilling, routing, etc. is not a problem.

Once we get our trem issues figured out, here's what we plan to do:

Pickups:

GFS I01 Strat Vintage alnico stagger single coils for neck and middle

GFS Dream 180 Black on Black for Bridge.

We might vary and do a PAF of Cruncy PAF or even their Liverpool Vintage but the dual-purpose promise of chime and PAF sound from the Dream 180 sounds pretty good.

We plan to do some of the creating wiring techniques, add switches for the whole series / parallel/ out of phase / coil tapping stuff.

This is going to be for everything from Beatles to Jimi to later classic rock like Zepellin. Current amp is a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT.

Why a Pacifia, you ask? When we shopped for a first guitar a few years ago, the Pacifica kept coming up as a good first guitar. We ended up with a 112J in Old Violin Sunburst and it has turned out to be just as described. A great guitar for the money and then some. I've come to prefer it's shape as it varies a bit from the Strat. The Pac 112 is just a bit sleeker. The neck is legendary - everyone seems to rave about it. This first Pac 112J has been played so much it's about due for a fret dressing. We want to mod a guitar, but I hate to start on the first guitar. So we decide to get this Pacifica, experiment on it. We feel like the quality of this guitar justifies it's use as a mid-grade modder.

Interest in hearing advice on the trem issues as well as your thoughts on the pickups.