Awesome Mod for Cyclone HH

estaban22 · Post by **estaban22** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:28 am

So, my guitar guy talked me into this... He was amazed at how great the Cyclone was (he had never played one before). However, he suggested a modification which I was not sure about at first but I'm extremely happy I decided to go through with it. What he did was add coil taps... so you can switch from the sound of a double humbucker guitar (and the pick ups in the HH are awesome!) to more of a strat type sound. This guitar is as versatile as they come. I'm a bit of a gear whore, but I'll never get rid of this guitar! Here is a picture of my Cyclone HH!:

here is a link to the rest of the pics if you want to see them: http://s953.photobucket.com/albums/ae12 ... lone%20HH/

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 5:38 am

I would have recommended using push/pull pots instead of 3PDT switches (or is it 2pdt?)
you get the same result but you don't have to change the asthetics of the guitar. I also wouldn't have put the switches right beneath the pots as a use my pinky to roll the volume and tone knobs and having a switch right in the way might be painful

just my thoughts

I LOVE that colour, I don't think I've seen a cyclone with two buckers either, what a sweet looking guitar!

MaMo · Post by **MaMo** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:05 am

Haze wrote:
I LOVE that colour, I don't think I've seen a cyclone with two buckers either, what a sweet looking guitar!

As luck would have it, cyclones have a swimming pool route, so any cyclone can be an HH model with a custom pickgaurd.

Glad you're happy with your mods esteban. I have to agree w/ Haze on the Push/pull option, but I'm a bit biased since I have that option on a Gibson Nighthawk so I'm used to it. Out of curiosity, are those the stock pickups you've got in there?

estaban22 · Post by **estaban22** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:35 pm

Yes, those are the stock pickups. Fender Santa Anna and Fender Atomic humbuckers.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 5:30 pm

Oh wow, coil taps. Exciting stuff.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:25 pm

hahahahaha.
looks good dude, glad you dig the mod.
never have seen a cyclone like that before though...

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:43 pm

Very cool cyclone! I've never seen one with a black pickguard. Is it stock? Do the stock pickups have four wires to do this mod? I have a cyclone I with an atomic humbucker in bridgeposition and would think about something like this...

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:55 pm

Looking at this guitar made me think of the Dukes of hazard...the general lee of guitars...nice!

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:59 am

love the look of it minus the switches. Coil taps are awesome, but push-pulls really would have done the job better.

johnniespring · Post by **johnniespring** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:17 am

jagsonic wrote:Very cool cyclone! I've never seen one with a black pickguard. Is it stock? Do the stock pickups have four wires to do this mod? I have a cyclone I with an atomic humbucker in bridgeposition and would think about something like this...

why not have a look yourself?
i'd guess that they must have unless they are replacement pickups and he says they aren't so....

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:23 am

ok, ok

i'm lazy...

Phil O'Keefe · Post by **Phil O'Keefe** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:20 am

Coil tapping would indeed be a cool mod and add a lot of flexibility. I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but I have to agree with the people who voiced a preference for push / pull pots... but either way, it's cool that Fender includes four wire humbuckers "stock" on the 'bucker equipped Cyclones - I didn't know that.

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:27 am

...but we won't forget: Coil tapping is cool and brings more versatility to the guitar. But it NEVER sounds like a real singlecoil.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:01 am

Sure it does. A Humbucker is basically two single coils which are wound opposite polarity, opposite windings and are connected in series. Coil tapping just grounds out one of the coils, leaving you with one single coil remaining in the circuit. I'd be interested to hear your opinion as to why this method doesn't sound like a real single coil

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:06 am

because a normal output humbucker is very low output when split. IMO they sound really thin and crappy and nothing like a normal strat style pickup when split. high output humbuckers sound ok when split though.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:16 am

preeeecisely. These P-Rails, for instance, sound PRETTY DERN GOOD when they are "coil tapped"

I like a fairly hot single coil, somewhere around 6-6.5k is about right for my playing and reacts well with my other gear. The problem is, when you take a standard humbucker wound to somewhere around 7-8k you'll have a wimpy 3.5-4k. It has its place of course, but its not what i think of when someone says "Single Coil" and its certainly not what i prefer them to sound like.

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:28 am

oh... you gave the reason yourself...

I love to have a splitable humbucker in my jagstang. But a single bridge singlecoil of a mustang/strat sounds different.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:29 am

ok a bit off topic here but....

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Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:34 am

jagsonic - i gave my reasons, this is true. i asked for your opinion on the subject. no offense to you of course, i just thought i'd call you out and see if you'd heard the difference yourself and made an educated decision instead of reading about it on interwebs
sorry if that came off as an asshoel, only curious

MAGE

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jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:21 am

Okay...
I've heard the difference myself while playing my jagstang (splitable) compared to my duosonic or strat. The reason why it sounds different i think is:
First the different output of a humbucker and a singlecoil (in case of different windings and thickness of the wires - not to forget the different magnetic materials).
Second i use different distances to the strings on a singlecoil and a humbucker.
Third point: The inactive coil has a magnetic leakage (translated by dict.leo.org)

which will have an effect to the sound of the active second coil.

I hope, i will get a good grade in this examination

Awesome Mod for Cyclone HH

Awesome Mod for Cyclone HH

Re: Awesome Mod for Cyclone HH