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Fender Cyclone II

 

Review of the Fender Cyclone II by The Man in the Jar

Could this be the missing link between the Telecaster and the Stratocaster?

Features of the Fender Cyclone II

Tuners - Vintage-style covered (not sealed) tuners worked smoothly to bring the Cyclone into tune. It required only two sweeps across the heads to get the vibrato bridge into balance. The capstans are vintage-style slot types rather than holes. These are more fiddly to restring in a hurry. 

Headstock - Fabulous, flouncy Jazzmaster style headstock with six-on-one-side. The truss rod hole has no cover but is nicely finished.

Nut - White plastic set-in-slot type that is accurate and well finished.

Neck - The maple neck has a comfortable modern "C" profile and is a joy to hold and play. The skunk stripe on the back is of a medium brown rosewood.

Fretboard - The fretboard is a creamy-cappuccino-chocolate rosewood with a good straight grain. Traditional white dot markers are made of what looks like shell. The two markers at the 12th are quite close together which adds to the vintage vibe. 

Frets - The 22 medium frets are well-polished and great for accurate string-bending antics.

Action - The Cyclone had a very decent action from the box. However on a vibrato-equipped guitar the action always ends up being affected by other factors. Essentially you will need to arrive at a personal set-up to get the best action from this instrument. This will be a matter of finding the best balance between the string gauge you prefer and the spring tension of the vibrato.

Body - This body shape has real echoes of the Fender Mustang Bass (who remembers Alan Lancaster?), it's a bit like a "flattened" Strat. It shares the same contouring of the body as a Strat and is therefore eminently comfortable to wear and play. The alder construction will inform the tone and I expect a resolutely Fender noise to be produced. The red finish has a lovely depth and the go-faster stripe adds an essential element of Chav. 

Bridge - Pretty much a standard Fender-style vibrato bridge held on with a line of six screws with the block disappearing into the body to be tensioned by the retaining springs. Each saddle is adjustable for height and intonation and the vibrato arm is a screw-in type.

Pickups - Three American vintage Jaguar style pickups. The vintage vibe is reinforced by the almost unfinished look of the pups, their metal housings extend fingers of metal up to the top edge of the casing. This gives the Cyclone a sparse, business-like, Pacific theatre type of appeal. All the pickups are set at the same angle as a Tele's bridge pickup.  

Controls - There's a master volume and a master tone that are set in a chrome panel somewhat like that on a Jazz Bass. These have very chunky "amp" style knobs. The pickups are controlled by individual two-way slider switches set in a separate chrome plate in the pickguard. This means you can have all three pickups on at once, should you choose to. It's also possible to mute the guitar by knocking all three switches off.  

Pickguard - This three-ply white-black-white pearloid affair adds another splash of vintage class.

Strap-buttons - Medium buttons in the usual places.

Output Jack - On the front at the bottom of the chrome control plate.

Finish - The Cyclone is a "Made in Mexico" so some people will approach it with prejudice. But I could find nothing wrong with this lovely instrument, the finish is good throughout. 

 

Sound of the Fender Cyclone II

Through an overdriven valve amp I found the bridge and neck combination produced a well-balanced general purpose indie rock sound with the inherent slant of the pickup adding extra growl with the whole tonal character being lightened by the alder body and maple neck. The middle pickup alone delivers an interestingly malleable tone that can be forced into Rockabilly or Prog Rock, depending on the amount of overdrive applied. The real revelation for me was the Tele-tone brashness produced by the bridge pickup running alone. I own a couple of good Teles and the Cyclone on this setting would have fooled me on a blind taste test.
On clean amp settings the voices translate really well as what you might expect from a Strat but, again, with that extra low end growl. This is a truly versatile tone-monster made more of a joy by the smoothness and accuracy of the vibrato unit. 

 

Overall Impressions of the Fender Cyclone II 

This strange little beastie has stolen a tiny piece of my heart. It is a real Fender that has a real Fender voice, albeit with an added touch of individuality. The sounds it delivers are a satisfying mix of Telecaster and Stratocaster, and the pickup switching gives all the flexibility of both and then some.
The Fender Cyclone would be a great addition to a Strat or Tele player's arsenal, as it offers a range of unique sounds in its own right as well as being a fine backup to either model.
The Cyclone is also the perfect guitar for the Fender-curious amongst you who don't want to cast their hat into either the Strat or Tele camp but still need top performance from a different-looking guitar.
Indie, punk, ska, country, in fact anything for which you'd naturally use a Tele is meat and potatoes for the Cyclone II.    

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