Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:11 pm

Wow! The decals arrived fairly quickly. Great service! Opinions, please:

So, here is my old daphne blue Fender Cyclone II with the cream stripes that I had to sell off.

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Here is the new Squier Cyclone with the new decals (not applied yet).

I think the "Sonic Blue" stripes are dark enough to work, although not quite a match to the pickup foil blue.

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Here are the Olympic White stripes if I wanted to be similar (not exact) to my old Fender Cyclone II.

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I think I'll save the black, gold, and red stripe decals for future Mustang builds. The black or gold stripes could work on my shoreline gold Squier Contemporary Jag HH and the black stripes could work on my Fender Player Mustang 90 if I keep the Lollar P90s with black covers on it. However, these finishes are very nice and I'm not sure if that's what I'd want to do on either of these guitars. I'm leaning towards leaving well enough alone for now. 8)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:39 pm

The blue stripes are SEXY!!!
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Embenny » Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:02 pm

Blue picks up on the colour of the pickups better than the white picks up on the pickguard, but it depends whether you want more of an homage to your old guitar or not.
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:32 pm

Thanks, guys! I'm going with blue! 8)

Hey Mike, after a month sitting in US Customs in Los Angeles, my D'Urbano Magnetics Firebird pickups set (ALNICO 5) finally arrived for my Fender Player Mustang (burgundy mist). I'll try to install them this weekend! :w00t:
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Embenny » Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:29 pm

Nice! I have a feeling you'll love them.
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sat Aug 07, 2021 11:59 am

My Q Strat '64 Hand Wound set and my Q '62-'63 Jag set arrived today from Croatia. Going to be a busy day or so with pickup install projects! 8)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by BTL » Sat Aug 07, 2021 3:13 pm

I had never seen the Cyclone before...that's really cool! Based on scarcity and current prices, this looks like it might be a pretty good deal:

https://reverb.com/item/42289282-2002-2 ... aphne-blue

No affiliation, just intrigued by the model.
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sat Aug 07, 2021 3:17 pm

Nice! I'd grab another if I could, but I've got a NGD coming by the end of the month. 8)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sat Aug 07, 2021 5:32 pm

Not gonna lie - lost the instructions and I fiddled for way longer than it needed to be as I struggled with smoothing out parts that weren't playing nice with the body's contours. >:(

Finally figured out the issue (peeling the top plastic backing(?) before I finally got it to smooth out as best as I could. :fp:

I still may have to remove it as I don't think it's got enough adhesive left in some areas (ends) from my struggles with it and some small bubbles exist that I can't smooth out.

I might have to go with the Oly White stripes after all now that I know how to do it right... or I'll just buy another blue stripes decal.

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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Gordon » Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:09 pm

You need matching blue knobs and switches. :ph34r:
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by CROSS_guitars » Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:17 pm

bummer about the air bubbles.
You might be able to fix them using a hair dryer.

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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Lost In Autumn » Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:11 am

Surfysonic wrote:
Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:32 pm
Hey Mike, after a month sitting in US Customs in Los Angeles, my D'Urbano Magnetics Firebird pickups set (ALNICO 5) finally arrived for my Fender Player Mustang (burgundy mist). I'll try to install them this weekend! :w00t:
You’re in for a treat! I put a set in my DiPinto Belvedere, they’re outstanding pickups!

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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:46 am

CROSS_guitars wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:17 pm
bummer about the air bubbles.
You might be able to fix them using a hair dryer.
I'll give it a shot, thanks very much for the suggestion! :)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Aug 08, 2021 8:47 am

Gordon wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:09 pm
You need matching blue knobs and switches. :ph34r:
That's such a crazy idea...that it just...might...work! I'll see what I can hunt down! Thanks! 8)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Aug 08, 2021 9:05 am

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:11 am
Surfysonic wrote:
Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:32 pm
Hey Mike, after a month sitting in US Customs in Los Angeles, my D'Urbano Magnetics Firebird pickups set (ALNICO 5) finally arrived for my Fender Player Mustang (burgundy mist). I'll try to install them this weekend! :w00t:
You’re in for a treat! I put a set in my DiPinto Belvedere, they’re outstanding pickups!
Installed them in the Fender Player Mustang last night and they sound great! I need to fiddle with the bridge height as it's a bit too low at the moment.

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