Friday, July 8, 2011

Squier Cyclone (with mods!)


I know, I know...a Squier?  But this Cyclone has a little extra mojo, thanks to the Strat pickup in the neck and a special "I meant to do that" wiring mod that puts the two pickups out-of-phase when you flip to the middle position.  Not to mention that both pickups are quite loud by themselves.  So basically, you get the distinctive Mustang body style and some of the extra tonal quirks while only having to contend with a simple Gibson-esque three-way switch.


I have to admit, I often feel cramped when trying to play on a short-scale guitars, but with the nice fat frets this one has I seem to fare a good bit better.  Add in a pearloid pickguard and a Strat-style tremolo bridge and this Cyclone gives you a lot of guitar for the money!


Here's the Cyclone being paired with a cool new gizmo we just got in - the Dan Electrode adjustable power supply.  You can use it to "starve" an effects pedal by adjusting the voltage, simulating the effects of a weak battery.  The end result is that you can pull twisted sounds out of your plain-jane distortion pedals that you'd normally associate with fancy boutique setups and modded-out "circuit bent" stuff.  Check it out!