Share your thoughts on the strat middle pickup.

[Jkater]

I hear different things. Want to hear more.

 

[mutant_guitar]

i don't tend to use it much by itself, but i dig the quack sounds you can get on a strat using it.

[Saturn]

I like the middle pup. I use the mid/neck combo quite a bit but not fond of the mid/bridge. The mid/bridge is a little to thin sounding for my liking but I use all the other positions on my Strat. The middle pick up is one of the things that makes the Strat sound IMO.

[twotimingpete]

I'm still new to the strat (had one for 2 days now) and I see some uses for it, but I think for the most part there's overlap.. I guess what I mean is if I'm going for a neck sound I'll go for the neck usually, since, to me, the middle pup sounds sorta like a "slightly less necky" neck pickup.

 

middle pickup: http://www.gulchcomic.com/images/stratsounds.mp3

[backtoblue]

I don't ever use just the middle pup myself. To me it's there for the in-between settings.

[m90guy]

The strat master...
[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

[Les Paul Lover]

My strat like Vigier Expert is wired so that the middle position is neck & bridge pick ups together - does get some lovely woody straty tones from it.

 

The good thing is that it sounds distinctively different from all other 1-2-4-5 positions.

[Josh S]

I like to have my middle pickup adjusted really low - that way I can use it whenever I need clean rhythm. Seems to work well for me

[b_f_c_99]

On my strat I have a hot rail in the bridge, then singles in the middle and neck.
I use the middle all the time, it's perfect for the jangly just barely breaking up stuff.

[FXR]

I use the middle all the time on rhythm for classic and southern rock. Sounds great.

 

If I go gain, I usually go to the middle and bridge. But with the tone split, I can dial out some bridge harshness. Sounds great.

 

I like the middle and neck for blues solo stuff.

[jrockbridge]

I play the middle pickup on my Strat more than any other pup. I like the glassy tone and I play a lot of rhythm guitar. Of course, I use the other positions as well.

 

My main Strat is a little bit different from the traditional setup. I have a master tone knob and a blender knob. Also, my bridge pup is wound high output with ceramic magnets. I use the middle/bridge for a quack sound. Also, if I want a bit of hum cancel without the quack, I use middle/bridge and dial in some neck pup with the blender until I've cancelled out the quack.

 

There are times when I dial in neck/bridge with the blender. It's a different sound that is not typical of a Strat. It sounds a little bit like the middle position on a 2 SC pickup Tele without the hum cancellation.

[faberbz]

Love it.

 

When I'm playing country, I'll sometimes go bridge-middle for a touch of warmth.

 

When I'm playing bluesy or rock stuff, I'll go middle-neck, or sometimes just middle.

[Alecto]

 

 

That's a great vid. For those who don't know, Carl Verheyen's a first-call session player who's played on soundtracks to The Crow, The Usual Suspects and Ratatouille.

 

I'll have to try the 'pluck the B string then grip the bottom bout' trick the next time I'm trying out a guitar.

[vintage clubber]

I have started using it more and more lately. I really like the middle pickup in my Warmonth - Kent Armstrong Tweedtone. It just sounds sweet! I saw Tom Principato a couple of months ago and he used the middle pickup on his strat quite a bit. I believe Clapton also uses his middle pickup quite a bit for solos.

[wagdog]

I mostly use the middle in combo w/the neck or bridge. It's also really great sounding in series with the bridge. By itself, it's useful, but I rarely use it that way and tend use the neck by itself WAY more often then any other pickup alone.

[jpnyc]

I rarely use the middle alone but I love using the 1/2 and 2/3 settings.

[Mark Wein]

I've just started using the middle pickup more since I put some Duncan Antiquities in my 1979 Tokai....I don't even really care for the position on my Suhr strat but for some reason on this guitar it seems to work for me.

[Frets99]

My strat like Vigier Expert is wired so that the middle position is neck & bridge pick ups together - does get some lovely woody straty tones from it. The good thing is that it sounds distinctively different from all other 1-2-4-5 positions.

 

 

I get the bridge neck thing from my Fender Deluxe Player strat as well. It's a great setting for a strat. I also like the glassiness of the middle pup. Gives a nice jangle.

[RockNote]

Well, the strat has several raison d'etres - the contoured body, the trem, the versatility, etc. - but the middle pickup is a raison d'etre in its own right. Let's just say a strat with no middle pickup is no strat in my book. Pace Yngwie, who doesn't use it.

[Metalrulez]

The middle is what makes a Strat sound like a Strat. No quack no Strat.

[prolog]

The middle pickup is the sweet, balanced pickup. It doesn't bark like the bridge, and it doesn't growl like the neck. It's a compromise that compromises nothing. It gives a wonderful, singing tone, and it's probably my favourite of the standard five positions on a Strat.

[Alecto]

And yes, I use the Strat's middle pickup all the time, whether it's by itself, or in some combination with the other two pickups. It's a different colour from the guitar.

[nuke_diver]

I rarely used it until I got my V60's. Now I find it much more useful due to the improvments in the PUs. The one position I don't seem to use much is neck/mid

[mister natural]

love it

I play prolly neck the most - middle second - neck/mid third

almost never play bridge only - If I'm doing a high-gain lead line; I pull out the Parker

[mrbrown49]

Middle pup is my favorite for rhythm parts especially when finger

picking folkish chord changes. It's full and warm, but clear enough for all notes to ring out clear.