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Well, I said I'd post a review of my Cyclone II a
loooong time ago, so here it is. It took me a while
to get the thing in good order. The guy that sold to
me was pretty straight up; I got it in near mint
condition with the backplate plastic still on it and
not even a single scratch on the pickgaurd. I also
paid about half the MF retail price, so I can't
complain. The thing that had me baffled was the way
it was setup. The trem was sitting up at about a 45
degree angle and it was strung with a set of 10's that
absolutely raked across the frets every time I
strummed it.
So, I maxed out the springs on the trem and set it
down to my liking (real low) and strung it with a set
of D'Addario 11 flatwounds, hoping that the heavier
strings would help bring the neck in some. Well, it
didn't, so I proceeded to adjust the truss rod by a
tiny degree...then another tiny degree...then
another...then I had to raise a few bridge saddles.
Finally, I eliminated the buzzing. I was on pins and
needles the entire time since this was my first time
messing with all this stuff, but I think it turned out
ok. I have no idea why the truss rod was as tight as
it was, unless the move from New York to Georgia
affected it just that much.
But, now that it's all set up, I love it. The daphne
blue with the competition stripe looks awesome with
the pearloid pickgaurd. I posted to the "Ask Fender"
section of the Fender Forum and found out that the
pickups are in fact American Vintage Jaguar Pickups;
the real deal, and they sound fabulous. It has a
Jaguar switch-plate with an individual on/off switch
for each pickup, so you can have them all on (or off,
if you wanted) and Mustang volume and tone knobs. All
in all, I like this guitar much better than the
Japanese Jaguar reissue I got rid of. I was amazed at
what I had been missing in terms of the "surf tone"
after playing this thing strung with flats.
I would say that fit and finish-wise, my Vista series
Jagmaster is a bit nicer for the money, but a totally
different beast, which is why I went for the Cyclone.
If the Guitar Fairie came to me today and told me I
could only keep one, I'd be torn. Hopefully the
Guitar Fairie would never, ever do that to a person.
I also recently discovered that there is, in fact, a
traditional surf combo in my town! They're called The
Curl and they're playing a show tomorrow night which
I'll be checking out and reporting back in on. The
local paper said they were ala Ventures playing
traditionals and originals, so I'm looking forward to
it. I've also heard rumors of a heavily surf-oriented
pyschobilly type garage type punk type band (you know
how nebulous band descriptions can get) called Erector
Set. In addition to that, there's a possibility that
Big Ray and The Futuras will be visiting town within
the next month also. It's like Christmas, only I have
to drive somewhere and pay for it...but it'll be worth
it. So the great musical mecca that is Athens, GA is
not devoid of surf rock after all.
And I've been spinning "Nebula One" on a pretty
constant basis since I got it. Was I the last person
to get one? Best money I've spent on a CD in a long
time. I'd kill to be able to travel to the Sky Bar in
MA to see The Nebulas with The Creeps...but oh well.
You guys take lots of pictures.
Richard
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Hi Richard,
Wow, seams like a real nice Axe you got there. (I only wish it had a
floating trem)
And YES! Nebula One is FAN-TAS-TIC, I really like it as well.
I also like the new "Hypnotic IV" disk "Go Baby Go" in fact I'm getting
ready to attend to the show the are playing here in Belgium.
O.K. I will go and see them for a third time this las 14 days, but hey I
will probabely have to wait another year before they strike down again
in mini Belgium.
And in two weeks it's "Slactone" time....at last I get the chance to see
them live....yipee!!!!
Keep up the good work,
Jerry S. from Belgium
