NGD - Squier Paranormal Cyclone II

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Oct 19, 2020 12:01 am

I ordered this Cyclone II from Guitar Center 3 weeks ago. It was advertised as a blem for a 20% discount. After UPS losing the package for 2 weeks, it finally arrived Friday night.

The "blem", if you can find it:

► Show Spoiler

Fit and finish out of the box was very nice. The "blem" was just one, maybe two miniscule stress cracks in the finish on the neck pocket, I wouldn't have even noticed. It came more/less tuned up which was somewhat worrisome but doesn't seem like anything bad happened during shipping. Action is very low, and strung with 9's. Bridge set up floating, which I like, especially since my Strat is set up locked down. The long Jag/Jazzmaster type vibrato arm is also a nice touch and allows for some more subtle use. Odd thing about the arm is the matte plastic tip, which I've never seen before.

This is my first guitar with an Indian Laurel fretboard. No functionality complaints but it is definitely one of the less beautiful fretboards on a guitar I own. As Freddy mentioned in his Tele thread, it has a very dry, almost chalky finish to it, and looks like it would be a black hole for oils if I tried to condition it. I really am missing the little Cyclone decal on the headstock, wish they kept that.

I thought I hated the pickups at first, but after adjusting the height of the bridge pickup it's much better. I don't think I'll be changing them anytime soon. It's warmer/darker than my Strat, and maybe a bit hotter. I don't mean to say that they're muddy, it's by comparison only and the Strat has very bright pickups. I'm considering swapping the neck and middle pickups to get hum cancelling in the neck/bridge position but then I'd lose the bridge/middle setting...maybe I should just look for a reverse wound neck pickup.

Overall I'm very impressed with this for the price. Here it is next to the reason I bought this/reason I probably didn't need it. At least I have a small collection of Valentine's day themed guitars now.

Post by **Doog** » Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:37 pm

Love itttttt, it's a super nice shade of pink; was 'worried' it was going to be like the other super pale Squiers of late.

How do you find the scale?

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:54 pm

Looks super nice. Without traditional claws it has even rounder, more balanced look to me and with that colour it looks super cocky

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Oct 21, 2020 3:55 am

glad you finally got this fucking thing.

what is it with these paranormal things going missing? my toronado got lost and fucked up too.

ghosts ?

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:01 am

*the X-files theme song is playing

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:06 pm

Doog wrote:Love itttttt, it's a super nice shade of pink; was 'worried' it was going to be like the other super pale Squiers of late.

How do you find the scale?

I'm liking the 24.75" scale length, and the feel of the neck in general. It's the same scale as the Yamaha SA30T I've been playing a lot the past couple years, and not far off the 24.5" scale of my Ovation Tornado...I remember disliking my friend's first gen Cyclone at the time because all I'd ever played at that point was 25.5" scale.

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:05 pm

I love it, I really wish I could justify another guitar right now.

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:52 am

Someone on a FB group ordered a cyclone decal from atexx music. Might be a ballache to add just one decal though?

I think that looks great. Love all these pink fenders and squiers.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:34 am

Congrats! Looks really nice!

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:47 pm

gusman2x wrote:Someone on a FB group ordered a cyclone decal from atexx music. Might be a ballache to add just one decal though?

I think that looks great. Love all these pink fenders and squiers.

yeah it definitely doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t bother me enough to mess with it. It would be one thing if it sat on top of the finish like the decal on my Mustang, but this is under gobs of clearcoat and not raised at all.

I have been thinking of adding white button Klusons to it. Stock tuners work perfectly fine but it just looks like it needs them.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:54 pm

I kinda want one now. Is it a swimming pool route under the guard?

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:56 pm

Noirie. wrote:I kinda want one now. Is it a swimming pool route under the guard?

More or less?

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 10:02 pm

I bought some white button Klusons for this, not realizing the bushing holes are smaller than the Klusons, THANKS metric system.

I didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t trust myself to do a neat job so I left it with Parkway to bore out the holes. Much spendier than I initially thought new tuners would be but at least itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s done right and has authentic Klusons now.

plopswagon · Post by **plopswagon** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 10:43 pm

Nick wrote:
Noirie. wrote:I kinda want one now. Is it a swimming pool route under the guard?
More or less?

You should put a Ã¢â‚¬Å“NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTYÃ¢â‚¬Â� sign in there.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Sat Nov 14, 2020 9:45 am

How is the intonation?

The original Fender Cyclone could never be intonated correctly as the saddles did not travel back far enough...
I have a Wilkinson fitted to mine which solves the issue.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sat Nov 14, 2020 4:41 pm

Johno wrote:How is the intonation?

The original Fender Cyclone could never be intonated correctly as the saddles did not travel back far enough...
I have a Wilkinson fitted to mine which solves the issue.

I haven't heard of that before with Cyclones, but don't have that issue with mine. It was intonated correctly with the 9's it came with, but I did need to move some saddles back when I installed D'Addario 10's. What strings/gauge are on yours?

Setup-wise l think it may be in need of a thin neck shim to help with the angle a bit. Neck is straight but saddles are lower than I like them and the overall angle/string height just feels slightly off. I think it's just a setup thing rather a fault with the guitar because it played great with the 9's it came with. Almost thinking I should've gone with 9.5's for this one but I like using strings that are easy to buy in bulk.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:28 pm

I got a Daphne blue one of these today.

First impressions are v positive. Finish is flawless tbh, neck feels great, the "narrow tall" frets are fine and it looks so pretty. Action out of the box was really low and it feels lovely to play. The trem isn't floating like Nick's was so I'll need to do some reading on setting up Strat trems (am a total n00b in this regard). There was also no spring in the hole for the reverb handle so I think I need one of those to make it less flappy abouty?

I'd ordered some NYXL 10s to go on it but I'm now thinking I might get some 9s or 9.5s instead - it feels pretty good with the, janky, stock strings.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:47 pm

Congrats and glad to hear your first impressions are good!

I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t think standard Strat bridges usually have a spring For the vibrato arm.

I should add that I did finally shim the neck and raised the saddles on mine to a more comfortable height, I think I left the 10Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s on it but it feels pretty good now. Agreed the stock setup feels pretty good with 9Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s, 9.5Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s are probably the sweet spot.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:57 pm

Nick wrote:I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t think standard Strat bridges usually have a spring For the vibrato arm.

My '73 didn't. My '08 USA Standard did.
Edit: mind you, I took it out and put it in a bag, as it fell out any time I took the arm out to put the Strat in the case.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 6:03 pm

Ah, okay. I thought they were kind of a standard thing (I know nothing about Strats).