What do you use your middle pickup for, on your strat?

[Flogger59]

Clean it's a great rhythm tone if you do funk, or stuff like Long Train Running when the neck pickup is too tubby. With gain, it's the Trower position.

[Faber]

Very good position for rock rhythm - think stones, the who etc.

[Shenaniganizer]

So.. are these types of tones achievable from the in-between position of a bridge single coil and a neck single coil, on a strat?

[csm]

Fake-acoustic parts ... with the volume down so it's as clean as possible, I use it for anything which -- if I was recording and had a bunch of guitars to hand -- I'd choose to play on an acoustic.

 

I don't quack as much as I used to (fake-Nile-Rodgers/Robt Cray tones not currently required), but those notch positions, slightly gained up, get you as close to Green-O-Tone (Black Magic Woman etc) as a Strat will take you.

[straycat113]

Like Blackmore and Yngwie I dont use it at all, I sink it as it gets in the way of my picking.

[mightysasquatch]

 

I use the middle for soloing. But I ain't no Clapton.

 

 

Me too.

[scuzzo]

i find that pickup kinda a mystery.. im sure there all sort of cool things you can do with it.. but i just dont seem to use it near enough.. its either front or 4 or 6 or back.. but there has to be some cool stuff to do with it.. im just not there.. i guess.

[cephus]

I should have left my selector as a 3-position (as it was when i bought it). I never use 2 and 4. I use the middle pickup 60-80% of the time. I have a duncan qp at the bridge that I don't use all that much. The stock rhythm pickup is nice.

 

On my homemade guitar, I am going to gut it from sss to hsh. or p90 s p90. I like HH / PP guitars so much. I am going to wire it with a standard gibson 3-position to control the p90s and another 3 position with middle S alone, combined with the p90s, or p90s alone. As soon as I finger out how to wire it.

 

The middle pickup has the best dynamic range I think. I can back off and play lighter for rhythm and dig in to play leads. It also allows me to roll off the volume without it getting too muddy.

[wagdog]

I should also mention that the mid/bridge combo in-series sounds great, almost like a humbucker.

[Uma Floresta]

If I had a Strat, the first thing I'd do to it would be to get rid of the middle pickup.

[bsman]

It has a nice, clear tone played clean that is useful for lots of stuff. I haven't used it too much with dirt, but maybe I'll have to. Actually, I haven't been playing my strat (clone) much lately -- perhaps I'll have to revisit it....

[Wildwind]

Quack of course, but I do use it alone both clean and dirty. Sounds cool with a bit of trem action clean, sings nice for lead. Running Area 58s in that spot.

[onelife]

 

Hmmm.. Does the "quack" have something to do with the position of the pickup itself, more than the actual pickup itself? I know that positions of pickups according to how close they are to the bridge or neck can have a rather large effect on tone. Do you think you can get a quack-ish tone between a single coil bridge, and single coil neck?

 

 

 

The quack is definitely a result of the position of the pickup. You can play "Sultans of Swing" on a three pickup Les Paul Custom.

 

It has to do with the harmonic content of the string vibration at the middle pickup position combined with the harmonic content at the bridge or neck position. Some frequencies will be in phase and others various degrees out of phase - the combination gives the quack.

 

Paul Reed Smith had a good handle on this when he developed the Custom 24. Even though the guitar has two humbuckers, he setup a system where one coil from one pickup can be combined with one coil from the other.

 

When the two inside coils are combined in parallel (the coils closest to each other) the sound is very close to the strat quack. You will notice the bridge pickup on a strat has a bit of distance between it and the bridge. By using a 25" scale (a bit shorter than a srtat but longer than a Gibson) combined with a 24 fret fingerboard, he positioned the pickups so the inside coils are close to the relative positions of the bridge and middle of the strat.

 

The icing on the cake, so to speak, with the Custom 24 is the fact that he arranged the coils and the magnets in the pickups so that all five switch positions are actually humbucking. The single coils sound comes from combining coils in parallel where a regular humbucker combines the coils in series.

[scuzzo]

little side bar here.. but just a hint of phaser will do wonders for a strat that is not quite quacking... say that 3 times real fast.. huh.. well any how..

i think it really helps with the quack... not enough phase to where its Woww ing

but just shy of 45%.. cool thread.. one bad ish thing is the hum of the mid pup. but its a strat kinda deal.. so ya deal.

[DavidMgT]

I like the neck+middle combo with a slightly overdriven amp. It makes for a great crunchy, but clear, sound.

[Mel Cooley]

Playing the intro to La Bamba. Making the 2 and 4 positions sounds twingy. Actually I lower the middle pickup (very low) and use it for quiet strumming when backing up someone. I have a blend pot mod (master vol/master tone/blend) for a more full throttle, more Tele-like version of the "middle sound".

[blingdogg]

I like the middle pickup. It's underrated but sounds cool. I like the hollow, spanky tone it has and I use it sometimes for funky rhythm. I like it with my univibe pedal.

[Doctor Morbius]

What do you use your middle pickup for, on your strat?

Surf!

[J-E-M]

 

I use it to make the neck and bridge pups sound cool.

 

 

And with the pickups wired in series the sound is even better: fat with a bit of twang, but not so glassy (as they would be with parallel wiring).

[evh1984]

I hate the middle pickup. Gets in the way of picking. Plus, it just LOOKS bad, dammit....

 

While I'm raving, Leo and George should've placed the Strat's volume knob about an inch lower

[bdegrande]

Pretty much everything, and I rarely use the 2 and 4 positions.

[blingdogg]

I rarely use the 2 and 4 positions.

Same here. I hear so many Strat players love the 2 and 4, but to me... they're just okay, and I never play on them for long. They certainly get the least use out of me. They sound too... weak.

[richey888]

Any song by the Romantics (if you're in a cove band), if you wanna cut through a band mix, and I personally use the middle with fuzz and the tone rolled off. Woman tone deluxe!

[jhamnett]

 

I should have left my selector as a 3-position (as it was when i bought it). I never use 2 and 4. I use the middle pickup 60-80% of the time. I have a duncan qp at the bridge that I don't use all that much. The stock rhythm pickup is nice. On my homemade guitar, I am going to gut it from sss to hsh. or p90 s p90. I like HH / PP guitars so much. I am going to wire it with a standard gibson 3-position to control the p90s and another 3 position with middle S alone, combined with the p90s, or p90s alone. As soon as I finger out how to wire it. The middle pickup has the best dynamic range I think. I can back off and play lighter for rhythm and dig in to play leads. It also allows me to roll off the volume without it getting too muddy.

 

 

Get some BG S90s in the neck and bridge. Strat sized P90s that sounds awesome! PM "Norcal_git_r" he winds them.

 

 

 

Oh, I use the middle for Clapton, Hendrix... and when I want to get down and dirty.

[Electric Monk]

I love the middle position for just about anything. Reasonably high gain sounds cool, clean is interesting, rhythm sounds cool.... yeah.

 

oh and for slide too! because it cuts through alright but isn't overly bright and piercing as it so frequently is for me. But not as flubby and indistinct as the neck pickup.