I use, and have used a Pacifica for teaching for for the last 9 years. My first one lasted 6yrs of 4 days a week constant work, then it needed a re-fret so i sold it on.. the quote for the re-fret was £120.. sold the guitar for £50. For a few years after that i used my mexican strat, which was my backup gigging guitar. Then sold that to a student, and i bought a Jap strat. Recently i went back to a Pacifica, found a used one on ebay with a gig bag for £40! it has one chip in the paint and a missing trem arm, other than that its perfect.