Squier Paranormal Cyclone IL Candy Apple Red

Playing for 50 years and having several kinds of guitars, a few years ago I didn't pay much attention to the Fender Cyclone or the Pawn Shop series. When I saw the Squier Cyclone I thought I should have one.

What I like:
The name Paranormal says it : it is not a strat/Tele/LP/SG, but an hybrid.
They dared to paint it in shell pink with a MOTS pickguard, like the deco of a 1950's snack bar.
A shorter scale can be fun.
I didn't find flaws in the construction or the finish, except a little knot in the wood of the headstock.

What I don't like? A lot of things.
- Poor natural (acoustic) sustain. Cheap poplar body?
- It's a pity they didn't keep the Jaguar pickups of the original Fender Cyclone II but only strat PUs. Noisy and lacking some headroom even for surf music.
- I didn't take off the pickguard but what I have seen on Youtube was terrifying: under the pickguard, long unshielded wires are running everywhere in a big unshielded cavity. By today's standards this is just unacceptable. Many entry level guitars have conductive paint to quiet the beast. Is this too much expensive for Squier?
- 3 pickups but only 1 tone control. Seriously? That's also cutting corners.
- Switches are working the wrong way: they are ON in the upper position. If you play with some enthusiasm you will hit the switches and cut the sound.
- Low quality vintage saddles.
- Narrow tall frets make playing high notes uncomfortable.
- Tuners (seem to be 18:1) have a floating point where nothing happens.

A subjective point: I don't like slim C necks. This is my first laurel fretboard; it feels ok but it looks so artificial. In fact the whole maple neck looks sad and the thick finish doesn't help playing. Even the original little twister decal is missing.
I could go on with the shortcomings and come to the conclusion that the best parts of this Squier are the nut and the pickguard.

At this point what can be done?
- A must: shield the cavities. This is a priority.
- Reverse the wiring of the switches in order to put them ON in the lower position.
- Put decent heavy steel saddles to get some sustain.
- As soon as I lift up the pickguard I will change the pickups.
- I could lightly sand the neck, polish the frets ends which are a little rough, or even make a refret, but I took a more radical decision: I am replacing the whole neck in order to get rid of those narrow frets, slim C, laurel, thick finish and bad tuners.

With many automated processes, building a guitar today is easy. The factory should just concentrate on assembling good quality parts. They failed here.
I do not criticize the workmanship itself; the chinese factory did a good job with what they were given.
But the thinking heads at Fender took several bad decisions regarding the choice of materials and components and how to make use of them.

Disappointing? Yes.
Is the Squier Cyclone worth the street price? Absolutely NOT.
Take a Squier Mustang HH or an Epi LP SL Heritage, add a 3rd pickup and a switch and you'll have a Cyclone's clone, but almost 3 times less expensive.

Leo was an accountant but at least he tried to keep the musicians happy. FMIC forgot the last part of the message.
Shall I keep this guitar? Maybe, but only for its originality: it looks nice hanging on the wall of a bathroom.

All great looks- and sound-wise except some strange buzzing from within the body (not the tremolo springs etc.) from time to time. Hopefully this is only a matter of (re)setting up the instrument properly, perhaps by a luthier... Anyway, good impression and performance overall.