Fender Squier Cyclone

Nommal Squier Cyclone S/H Alder body with Maple neck rosewood fretboard, pretty sure its an 03 model.

Play lots of styles from Rock to classical and everything in between.This guitar is a great all rounder. Use it mostly with my Ledford high gain head,straight in. Stuff aroudn recording with a multieffects as well and guitar is at home in either setting. Typical ammount of single coil hum you would expect from a strat like pup, it is a little quieter than my Fender Jagstands neck pup was.I think it sounds pretty simaler to strat, maybe with a slight deeper voice due to the scale differances.Dose typical fender s/c in neck type twank and growls niceley when using the bucker, not really a huge variety. As others have said, with the stock set-up the middle setting is pointless, uprade the pups though and it may well change that.No dislikes at all for what the guitar is in regards to layout design.

Got it 2nd hand, other owner had not used it and never had it set-up, factory setup was no worse than a MIJ Fender set-up, action to high etc etc. Intotation was ok. Pick-ups poorly adjusted, as far as im concerned you are nto going to get a well set-up guitar from factory unless you are spending mega dollars, so these things did not concern me on a cheap guitar. The finish ont he body is brilliant and seems very well wearing.

NOW FOR THE BAD BITS:Now I dont know if this is indicative of all of them, but the strign spacing on the nut on mine was HORRIBLY out,really affects the guitars playability,i would advise trying before you buy, do not buya boxed one or oen online, maybe some are ok, mine was FAR from OK,i wish i could post a pic here of how F!@#$D the string spacing really is,i am not a luthier, far from it but i could (and will do) a much better job myself.Control plate is also poorly cut/punched and has a nasty burr on it, not very well plated/chromed either.Losses out a fair bit with these two faults, mostly the nut issue

Seems to be pretty reliable,only issues i have with mine are factory set-up/build issues,i have knocked it a few times and it does not have a mark on it.

n/a

Havent been playing long.I only own top quality amps, have no idea what this guitar would sound like through a cheap amp,probbably not as good.I only even considered getting this guitar as a temporary axe so as i could sell my Fender Jagstang to pay of some other gear i had on order, i have a custom Mustang styled guitar on the way, this is only temporary, for it desired purpouse it is serving me better than expected, i wish i had gotten one of these(or a Fender cyclone)before i got my Jagstang, as apart from the nut issue and neck finish the cyclone is a lot beter performer than the much more expensive Jag-stang. If you are a begginer after a versitile guitar and dont want the OH SO COMMON LP or STRAT styled guitar give one of these ago, just check the build quality on the one you are going to buy.It scores well for a $200AU guitar, i would rate it 2 points higher if not for the woefull string spacing.

1x volume knob, 1x tone knob, single coil and bridge humbucker with tremolo. Standard stuff, not flash, does the job. Rosewood neck, nice for soloing on, alder body (nice and comfortable)from indonesia. Your basic Kurt Cobain wanabee guitar.

Excellent crunch from the humbucker, sounds great when turned to high gains. Single coil a bit weak and thin, and between the two is nothing much. I use it through a Behringer GMX210 and it blows my garage roof off.

Perfect setup, right intonation, no loose ends, except for one of the tuning heads that was a bit loose, but otherwise fine.

I've gigged with it three times without a backup and it has been fine on every one- even after strumming hard and using the whammy bar roughly its tone is brilliant. It's nice and comfortable, not too heavy, and hey- its made by fender.

Never tried- there's nothing wrong with it yet.

This was my second guitar after an Encore copy strat. It really increased my confidence and guitar skills, and for #140, its a steal. I always buy guitars under #200 as there is no point in buying "the brands"- they will be pretty much the same quality. The Cyclone is a well made guitar capable of giving good sounds for a miniscule price. I've been playing for two years and have gone through 4 guitars, and this one has to be the most reliable.

brand new 2005
one volume one tone
one humbucker one single coil
non-locking trem

Humbucker good
single coil not matched up to the humbucker

Plays fine. OK sealed tuners
Good quality construction

Seems sturdy enough

Forget it. Too big a company

I got this guitar to customize - a blemish. It will be all pearlized white when I'm done. It's slightly overprice since you can only get two pickup sounds. The humbucker sounds fine, but the single coil does not match up. In the neck alone toggle position, you get the single coil tone. In the middle position (both PUs) you get the SAME tone. I'm installing a DiMarzio HS2 in the single position which will match up better with the humbucker and eliminate the noise.
Too bad the designers at Squier couldn't figure this out before marketing a cool looking axe. How much more would it of cost Squier to put a better single coil in the Cyclone?????? Not much!!!!!

Made in 2003 Indonesia, has 22 frets,3-way selector. S/H configuration. Supposedly a tex-mex strat pickup and atomic humbucker. Alder wood. Vintage style tremolo bridge. Nice and simple I like it.

I play rock to some metal, and I mainly use the humbucker over the single coil. I like the twangy sound it gets. The main problem I have with the sound is the single coil gets too noisy even when the amp setting is low. Humbucker is pretty silent. The middle selector is pretty useless sounds exactly like the single coil. I give it 6.5 but rounds to 7.

Problems problems problems! Guitar buzzed too much, raised the action and still buzzed, raised it some more and still buzzed! Brought it to my guitar teacher and told me the frets were placed too high and I need to re-fret the whole guitar. Also the neck needed to be scraped so it can be lowered. Too many problems with this. Tuning pegs are loose. The input jack is also loose.

Bumped it a few times and scratches are hardly visible. Won't use it to a gig. I hardly even want to play it anymore because of the problems with it.

Problem is just recent and I still haven't found the time to call. Hopefully the warantee will take care of this.

This is my first guitar and after having the problem my guitar playing time has dramaticly decreased. If it were stolen or lost I wouldn't buy it again. I love its looks and hate its problems!

24.75 frets, Tex mex single coil & atomic humbucker with a 250k tone pot. No coil tapping on humbucker middle toggle position is single coil mixed with humbucker. Nice medium frets

Pros?
1. playability is great with semi high action
2. Pick ups humbucker sounds good with marshal type sounds. Tex mex sounds good on fender stuff and light gain blues stuff.
3. Black with pearloid looks really good.
4. Decent sustain for a bolt on with vintage vibrato.
5. Great finish for a 200$ guitar

Cons?
1. Middle toggle position has noise and this should be single and one of coils of
Humbucker for rhythm to me this middle position on toggle is useless how it is set up now.
2. The hardware on vibrato could have better tolerances I have hard time screwing Trem arm in.
3. Clean sounds this instrument are passable but definitely not its forte. The middle
Toggle position doesn?t help this at all.

Great Rock and blues guitar has attitude and playability and cool mustang body shape make this a good rocker for little money. I really enjoy the comfort and tone of this ax and has been my main player for moment.

made 2004 in Indonesia like other squiers, 22 medium jumbo frets, 3 way selecter, 1 humbucker, 1 single coil pickup, made of alder, has parts of jazzmaster, strat, and mustang. nothing special about features.

AMAZING SOUND, i play it through a Marshall and a Peavey amp, and its amazing! Its perfect for Grunge, punk, rock, in my opinion. tremolo is good, doesn't get out of tune often, but i wouldn't know because i dont use it a lot. in my opingion, i say the squier cyclone version is better than the fender version!

The paint job is outstanding! everything was perfect, and in tune. Musicians friend is very trust worthy!

I have gigged with this, with and without backup. It does the job just great! the strap buttons didnt screw up or anything, so its good. I always bring this guitar to a gig, my second guitar is a squier fat telecaster.

Never dealt with them! So far so good.

I own 3 squiers, a bullet (my first guitar) a fat telecaster and the cyclone. I have been playing for 4 1/2 years. I wish they had a red squier cyclone instead of black. although the black finish is great. I had to choose between this and the jagmaster, and i prefered this 1 because it looks like a mustang. If it were stolen or lost, i would get this again or maybe i would get the tom delonge strat from squier.
its a fantastic value for what your getting!

My Cyclone was made in Indonesia some time in 2003.

Basically a multi-piece Mustang body made from alder, with a vintage-style Strat trem, a Strat-style single-coil in the neck position and a humbucker in the bridge. The pickups are similar to the Fender version (described as a Tex-Mex at the neck and 'Atomic' h-bucker at the bridge according to Squier's website), though one wonders why they'd equip the 'budget' line Cyclone with the same p'ups as the Fender version. Controls are pretty straightforward, with a 3-position selector switch and 2 knobs set up as volume/tone on the front-mounted Mustang-style jackplate.

The Gibson-scale (24.75") neck w/skunk-stripe is made from a single piece of maple and capped with a 22-fret rosewood fretboard, terminating in a 70's-style 'big' headstock with chromed die-cast sealed tuners.

The guitar was shipped with the allen wrenches needed for truss and bridge adjustments, and an extra spring for the trem (it came set up with three springs installed).

6 - You get exactly what you expect to.

While I question the pickup description given on the Squier website, I do so solely because it doesn't make a ton of sense to me to sell the same guitar and charge $250 more solely for the decal on the headstock, not because of any deficiency in the Squier's sound.

I play mostly indie-ish rock stuff, and for that, this is a sweet-sounding axe, with an insanely good twangy/crunchy tone in the bridge humbucker. The neck SC (while very sweet sounding, if slightly noisier) has much lower output than the bridge p'up, even when adjusted as high as is reasonable, while still delivering a pretty, bell-like clean tone. Swapping between pickups in the middle of a song creates a dramatic effect that I like, so I'm quite happy with the configuration.

I'd characterize the guitar's sound as bright -- typical of Fenders, with a snappy twang using either pickup, but to be honest, I really favor the humbucker -- it's absolutely a joy to hear with the tone dimed, but can reasonably imitate a heavier sound when you roll off the treble.

While flexibility isn't the Cyclone's strong suit, it's a sweet-sounding guitar, and really shines when used for grunge/indie/surf rock.

9 - I really dig it, but those seeking a more 'metal' sound will probably want to look elsewhere.

When I received my Cyclone from MF, it buzzed a bit on the lower frets, but a 1/4 turn on the truss fixed that, along with some minor bridge adjustments. Intonation was *just* shy of spot-on and the guitar arrived with the trem set up flat against the body, which suits me just perfectly.

The neck pickup needed to be raised significantly, but this sort of thing is expected when one buys a guitar sight-unseen.

What I was surprised by was the Cyclone's overall level of fit and finish, particularly after having heard and read all the horror stories. Despite buying it online -- sight unseen -- my Cyclone is absolutely a joy to play. The neck is an dream, with a slim, fast profile and absolutely immaculate fretwork.

The metallic blue finish was cleanly applied, and aside from a backplate screw installed slightly cockeyed, the guitar was perfect in just about every way. I honestly couldn't ask for a better-playing or feeling guitar, and will likely be ordering another Squier in the future, based on the quality of my Cyclone. At the prices they're asking, why not?

9 - One screw keeps this from a 10.

The straightforward design and overall attention to detail in the construction of my Cyclone inspires a great deal of confidence in it's long-term durability.

Everything -- from the gorgeous poly finish to the solid chromed hardware -- tells me that this is a guitar meant to be played hard. An inspection under the pickguard only confirms this, as the wiring is clean, and the solder joints are all solid. Tuning stability is good, even with fairly heavy trem usage.

9 - Fender simplicity and quality construction make this a guitar to rely on.

No clue, and the Fender and Squier websites are less-than informative.

while they link to the FDP, I find it odd that Fender/Squier doesn't have a more significant online presence.

N/A - Can't rate it because I haven't had to use it.

This guitar has become far and away my favorite instrument to just pick up and play the hell out of. Just a treat to play, and possessing gobs of indie/grunge mojo and gorgeous tones, this is my 'go-to' axe.

I've played a fair number of other guitars, and very rarely, one just 'comes to life' as you pick it up and start noodling on it. Whether my Cyclone is a rare gem or indicative of all of the Cycs pouring out of Indonesia, I can't say -- all I can say is that this guitar sets a pretty high standard that most other guitars are hard-pressed to live up to, and goes a long way towards alleviating my chronic GAS. :)

Finding that sort of bond with any instrument is pretty special. Finding it in one that was mailed to me without having played it first is even more so.

9 - I can't give *anything* a 10, but damn...

This is a new (bought late 2003) Squier Cyclone. Made in Asia somewhere? Indonesia, I think, I don't want to check.

The features are all available on Squier's website and musiciansfriend.com etc, there's nothign special about mine.

I rated 7 because there's nothing terribly special or different or bad about the features.

I like to play mostly power pop (weezer and the cars-esque, crunchy guitar style), as well as a variety of other things (from punk to southern rock). With its S/H pup config, this guitar is well suited for all of that, though not terribly well suited for any one style.
The guitar does have a variety of sounds though.
I play it through a Behringer Blue Devil.

The tone knob allows for a decent amount of tone-shaping, and the pup switch allows for very different and distinct tones.

There is some noise with the single-coil, but that's expected. The humbucker is pretty silent.

Overall, I play mostly using the humbucker only, and I love the sounds I get from it. When I want to play something more vintage sounding or bluesy or something, I can switch to the single coil. I don't like the single coil sound as much, but I like it plenty.

My only complaint is that the single/humbucker combo setting is not very different at all from the single. However, this isn't a big deal.

For the rep that Squiers get, I thought this guitar was very well set up. Straight from the factory, it had medium action (which was fine), well intoned, the pups were fine.

The fretwork was excellent, imho, nothing to cut myself on or anything.

The finish is nice (i got black so flaws are hard to see, I may be missing some?)

One tuning machine seems to have less resistance than the others but stays in tune anyway decently well.

overall well done

This guitar seems well built in general. I can find nothing to complain about, and in fact,t he guitar has already withstood some minor bumps and such.
Finish seems strong.
I would gig without a backup using this guitar.

no idea

I love this guitar. I've been playing for about a year and a half and its the best electric I've had the pleasure of playing. Outplays all of my friends.
It is currently my only electric guitar and the way it performs, i doubt i'll need another for awhile.
I would buy another (assuming i had the money) in a second if it was stolen.

Excellent guitar overall, especially for the price.

Your basic Mustang wannabee.It has the strat style vibro which takes from the intended sound.A hunk of wood that big will make a sound difference.S-H pickup config, kind of noisy but this is a squire.Fine paint job.

I play a little of everything and with some gear tweeking this can cover most, but don't expect a rocker out of the box.I use all forms of tubed and solid-state gear, this is a bit of a noisy, and somewhat thin sounding axe but I feel with some work (i.e. change of pots/sheilding/pickup change) it could keep up.I've had older Fenders (Mustangs, broncos, musicmasters) and this is just doesn't sound "right" but maybe after 20 yrs aging lololol.

I do my own repairs/set-ups, this needed a little of everything.The main this was bad fret polish and rough ends, if you don't doo your own work expect a trip to the guitar dude.The neck pocket is nice and tight, seems solid.

Only in the studio so far, I'm sure it would hold up like any Fender.

I've been playing for 15+ years, if I had a few more duckets and better situations I'd probably get a Warmoth build up of a Mustang and do it right but this will do for the time being.

I have been playing since the mid 1960's...and mostly played teles and strats and SGs....but I am a Fender Man.....but I have gotten sick and tired of the same old same old......I still have a Fender B bender Tele from 1996....valued at over $1000...but ho hum....same old same old.....so I started looking into the Jagmaster as I have owned over the years a few jazzmasters and jaguars....but the circuitry on those things rendered them whimpy......so the jagmaster appealed to me...got it.....made in China in 2002...and I love it...these Squiers are as good as the first batch of Japanese Squiers from the early 80s....now that brings me to the Cyclone...
I was going to buy a Fender Cyclone...made in Mexico...but some of that Mexican stuff...really sucks...
so, I read the reviews here in Harmony Central on the Mexican Cyclone...and they were mixed at best...I then went to the Fender site and noticed that, according to them, the Squier Cyclones are made of alder..with the same pu's as the Mexican version...I guess just the labor is cheaper in Indonesia than it is in Mexico?????
so, based on my satisfaction with the Jagmaster I ordered a Squier Cyclone for $199 instead of paying the $450 so so for a Mexican one.
WELL, LO AND BEHOLD THIS GUITAR, AFTER A LITTLE COPPER PAPER WAS ADDED TO THE CONTROL CAVITY FOR EXTRA SHIELDING AND A RESEATING OF THE POTS AND WIRES....KICKS ASS!!!!!! PICTURE A TELE WITH A LES PAUL JR'S ATTITUDE....THAT IS WHAT THIS IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALTHOUGH THE SUPPOSED ATOMIC HUMBUCKER OUTKICKS THE TEX MEX STRAT PU....THEY SOUND FANTASTIC TOGETHER......
YOU MIGHT WANT TO BEEF UP THE STRAT NECK PU SOMEHOW.....BUT I WOULD NOT WANT TO CHANGE THESE PU'S COS WHATEVER THEY ARE...THEY ROCK....IT IS A BASIC GUITAR A FENDER WITH A GIBSON SCALE NECK....SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT...

HOT...SIMPLE AS THAT.....HOT WITH A NASTY BITE...
I WON'T CHANGE THESE PU'S COS ONCE I MINIMIZED THE 60 CYCLE HUM.....AND PLUGGED INTO MY BLUES JR.....WOW....I'M LOVIN' IT...
IT SINGS AND MOANS AND GROWLS AND GROANS...WITH THE BEST OF 'EM

THE BODY IS ALDER, SOLID...THE ROSEWOOD BOARD LOOKS RICH AND OF QUALITY...THE NECK IS SUPER COMFY...A TAD NARROW...AND NOT AS COMFY AS THE JAGMASTER...WHICH IS SUPERB..BUT IT IS IN THE BALLPARK..
THE DEEP BLUE METALLIC PAINT IS FINE...THE BODY IS THICKER THAN A TELE...BUT NOT HEAVY....THE CONTOUR IS VERY ERGONOMIC....
THE WORKMANSHIP IS FAR ABOVE THE MEXICAN STUFF WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT...AND MAY EVEN BE BETTER THAN WHAT IS COMING OUR OF CORONA TO THIS DAY....IF IT HAD A FENDER DECAL ON IT....I WOULD NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE......

SEEMS SOLID...AS SOLID AS ANYTHING ELSE.....

WHO KNOWS...IN THE PAST IT WASN'T MUCH....

BETWEENT THE JAGMASTER AND THE CYCLONE....I AM SET....THE TELE STAYS IN THE CASE...AS IT IS A B BENDER TELE...IT WEIGHS A FREAKING TON...
BUT THESE DON'T...YOU CAN EMBRACE THESE AXES AND THEY MOVE WITH YOU...THEY BECOME PART OF YOU VERY QUICKLY...
YA KNOW..IF FENDER ONLY MADE SQUIERS WITH FENDER LOGOS ON THEM...AND CHARGED WHAT THEY CHARGE FOR SQUIERS...THIS WOULD BE A BETTER WORLD...