Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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Gordon
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Gordon » Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:12 pm

Surfysonic wrote:
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)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6x-Guitar-1-4- ... 1516829704 :whistle:

For the switches, however, your only options seems to be painting or redoing the tip (3D painting seems the cheapest here). :(
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Surfysonic
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Aug 08, 2021 5:32 pm

Gordon wrote:
Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:12 pm

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6x-Guitar-1-4- ... 1516829704 :whistle:

For the switches, however, your only options seems to be painting or redoing the tip (3D painting seems the cheapest here). :(
Cool! Thanks for the head's up - I'll get those knobs! 8)

I spent a good part of the day working on four guitars. I tried gently using my heat gun (don't have a blow dryer) to smooth out the bubbles in the stripes decal on the Cyclone with mixed success. It's now more a problem with adhesion. I think I'll put on the Oly White stripes (now that I sort of know how to apply it) and see how that looks. If I miss the blue, I'll order another couple of blue stripes decals.

I then adjusted the height on the D'Urbano Magnetics Firebird pickups on my Fender Player Mustang 90 - sounds great! I'll save the Lollar P90s that they came with and put them to good use in the future - they're outstanding P90s (and my first Lollar pickups).

I next installed my Q handwound 1962-63 Jaguar pickups in my Squier CV '70s Jag - Wow! They sound amazing! Super happy with them. An amazing vintage tone pickup set that I highly recommend. I was also pleasantly surprised that it was relatively simple to remove the claws from the stock CV Jag pickups and use them with the Q pickups (which don't come with the claws). Perfect fit.

Finally, I installed a set of Q handwound Strat '64 pickups in my Squier Classic Vibe '50s Strat. Another winner! Very clear, powerful, and maintaining that vintage tone.

Along with the Q blue foil Strat pickups I have in the Cyclone, I can't recommend Q pickups enough. Reasonably affordable and shipping doesn't take too long from Croatia (depending on how backed up the mail systems (US and otherwise). They weren't held up by US Customs like my D'Urbano pickups from Australia were. Took almost 2 months to finally get the D'Urbano pickups. Not that will dissuade me from future D'Urbano pickup purchases - they're awesome! :)

Thanks for the Q pickups and D'Urbano pickup recommendations! :)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sat Aug 21, 2021 9:54 am

Blue knobs arrived. They're a wee bit smaller (by half! :D ) but I think the smaller size actually works, making the guitar seem bigger if that makes any sense.

I'm gonna leave the blue competition stripes on for now, despite the bubbles.

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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Gordon » Sun Aug 22, 2021 2:44 am

:-* (blue trem tip!)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Aug 22, 2021 3:17 pm

Another thing I missed! I'll see if I can hunt one down! Thanks! 8)
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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by merseymale » Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:02 pm

Surfysonic wrote:
Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:27 pm
My Squier Paranormal Cyclone arrived today (huzzah, ngd!) and I am going to give the stock pickups a fair checking out. If I decide to swap them out for something better, I was initially thinking about getting a set of Fender Pure Vintage '59 Strat pickups - they have a lovely, dark, chime to them. Then I remembered that I have a set of Fender Pure Vintage '65 Jaguar pickups that I can at least put in the neck & bridge...which leads me to ask what would be a good recommended middle pickup? Should I:

1. Leave the stock middle pickup in
2. Put a strat pickup in the middle?
3. Put the two Jag pickups in neck & middle and either leave the stock bridge pickup in or replace it with something else.
4. Other options?

Curious to know if you have one, what you've done to yours, or plan to do, or any general recommendations appreciated! 8)
A)Fit your two jaguar pick ups neck and bridge; make the middle pup a NoiseCancelling DummyCoil
B) replace the tone control with a four-way rotary selector that chooses each pick up separately and also each pick up with its series and its parallel options
C)recess The three switches further into The chrome plate and render them as on-off switches for small Master Tone capacitors that work in series
D) PERHAPS consider turning the middle of these switches into a phase switch for the 2 positions where there are both pick ups on but TBH that might just be a bit too bright and wacky?!


ya Welcome! ;)

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Re: Squier Paranormal Cyclone Pickups Upgrade Recommendations...

Post by Surfysonic » Wed Dec 29, 2021 11:15 pm

merseymale wrote:
Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:02 pm
Surfysonic wrote:
Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:27 pm
My Squier Paranormal Cyclone arrived today (huzzah, ngd!) and I am going to give the stock pickups a fair checking out. If I decide to swap them out for something better, I was initially thinking about getting a set of Fender Pure Vintage '59 Strat pickups - they have a lovely, dark, chime to them. Then I remembered that I have a set of Fender Pure Vintage '65 Jaguar pickups that I can at least put in the neck & bridge...which leads me to ask what would be a good recommended middle pickup? Should I:

1. Leave the stock middle pickup in
2. Put a strat pickup in the middle?
3. Put the two Jag pickups in neck & middle and either leave the stock bridge pickup in or replace it with something else.
4. Other options?

Curious to know if you have one, what you've done to yours, or plan to do, or any general recommendations appreciated! 8)
A)Fit your two jaguar pick ups neck and bridge; make the middle pup a NoiseCancelling DummyCoil
B) replace the tone control with a four-way rotary selector that chooses each pick up separately and also each pick up with its series and its parallel options
C)recess The three switches further into The chrome plate and render them as on-off switches for small Master Tone capacitors that work in series
D) PERHAPS consider turning the middle of these switches into a phase switch for the 2 positions where there are both pick ups on but TBH that might just be a bit too bright and wacky?!


ya Welcome! ;)
Heh, it's been a while. I ended up installing Q Pickups' Stratocaster Foil pickups as seen in my later posts (most recent ones prior to this one).

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