Picked one of these rare beauties up recently. Ticks a lot of boxes for me but there's a few things I need to address and some opinions I'd like to here from you guys if that's cool.
This is the dude:
First point of call:
It came without a tremolo arm.
It's a standard synchro trem as far as I'm aware so should I pick up a std strat trem? What length? I know Gilmour favours a short trem and it's a 24.75 scale. Any advantages or disadvantages?
Second:
Lack of a second tone control. I think this is an easy one as I know Jazz Bass' in the 60's used stacked knobs and as far as I can tell the control plate on this could be the same as this:
Would be insane if I could just retrofit that and have a Gibson wiring set up.
Third point:
Colour, I think it looks okay but I was really digging my friends Mascis Jazzmaster and wondered if I could respray it. Logistics, cost etc.
Fourth point:
Pickups!
It has a Tex Mex Strat pick up in the neck and an Atomic Humbucker in the bridge.
I was thinking I could put a Duncan SSL-1 in the neck and maybe something PAF orientated in the bridge to cop a Santana tone. Your thoughts on this would be very much appreciated.
Never modded a guitar before and I know a lot of you on here are seasoned veterans so your wisdom is invaluable.
Cheers,
Shaun
Comments
I've never even heard of a cyclone - what a cool guitar
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
https://www.instagram.com/insta.guitarstuff/
Currently for sale:
24.75 scale Kotzen style telecaster
Grover Jackson superstrat
12 string acoustic
OTO Bim delay pedal
It's funny before I found out these existed I envisioned having something custom built that wasn't too far off. It's got the Fender meets Gibson vibe that I really dig. Really wanted a Toronado but didn't want to have to route it for the trem.
@ICBM, would the 920D stacked Jazz Bass control plate match up exact to the control plate of the Cyclone?
I have a Mexican Jazz so might test it tonight in fact
If it does what I want, sounds as I want, I'm not worried about losing money.
Master tone control worked for me really well so can't help there.
As for pickups I settled on a Duncan alnico 2 on the neck and I couldn't decide between a Duncan jb or a Dimarzio air Norton. The Dimarzio HS2 works very well in the neck too
You could put a lump of money into it and still not be satisfied.
I must admit though, I always rate guitars on what they are and not what they could be.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
So if yours does intonate that'll put the cat amongst the pigeons and start my search all over again lol
Do Fender (or another company) make shorter length bridge saddles?
I'm starting to realise why they were discontinued,consider my chips pissed on!
So what are my options?
Shorter saddles, if they exist?
Move the bridge back... money + luthier + potential mess
Sell it.