solely based on the fact that you have to live with yourself and the fact that you made that choice.

🤣🤣 savage

I don't actually own a Yamaha guitar currently, but I've played a Pacifica 112 and 612 and they were basically the same guitar. The 612 was just a whole lot prettier and had gold coloured hardware (gross)

If I were in the market for a cheap Strat copy, I'd probably get a 112. I think they have an even cheaper one now but I don't know anything about it.

Yamaha really is all that. I had a cheap Yamaha bass and an expensive Warwick bass and when I was recording, guess which one the recording engineer preferred. That may be more of a comment on recording a Warwick than anything, but still. The Yamaha sounded great on those songs (too bad it wasn't a better band lol.)

I would agree on Yamaha, just make sure you play it 1st and get a good setup or learn to do it on your own. I don't own one but have handled a couple, I'd say they come in a bit nicer than the Ibanez Gio stuff and just under their lower main line of instruments. Depending on what price point the Epiphones are you can also get a great guitar cheap - their set neck models, pound for pound, are better built than their Gibson counterparts, mainly because Gibson still cuts the headstock along with the neck, creating a weak spot. Epiphones are done with a scarf joint which is much stronger if it happens to take a spill.