It's the "plague"-pickup - everyone avoids it!
As I was playing my Floyd, I got to thinking. Do any professional Strat players use the middle pickup predominately? Obviously the bridge alone and neck alone get used a lot, as well as the "quack" positions. The middle alone seems to be the "red-headed stepchild" position on the Strat.
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
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It's the "plague"-pickup - everyone avoids it!
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hehehe
I could name a couple people that use it exclusively for a song or another! thats as far as you can go on that middle pickup hehehe
Funny you should ask. I've just discovered a clean setting on my Behringer Vampire amp that sounds awesome on the middle pickup. Kind of a shimmery twangy snappy thing, if that makes any sense.
Previous to this, I have definitely always avoided it. I realize that lots of people love the neck pickup, but I've never really taken a liking to it. And I'm not crazy about the bridge pickup either. I'm on 2 and 4 almost exclusively, at least till I found this great clean setting.
Bob (Sweetness)
Guitars: Jimmie Vaughan Strat, 2001 Affinity Squier Strat with 70's Japanese pickups, Affinity Squier Tele
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For the most part, I like neck and middle. I dodn't really use middle pick up only...
Guitars: '05 MIA Fender Strat HSS, '04 MIA Fender Strat SSS, '03 Burns Steer, '83 Hondo LP copy (project)
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I love the middle pickup position on a Strat. Especially in Jimmy Vaughan wiring mode....disconnected to the tone pot. It gives me a nice alternative to a bridge sound either clean or dirty. Wide open middle pup tone is the schnitz.
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
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All of mine are disconnected inasmuch as I don't have a tone pot The position is kind of hard for me to judge because the single coils in my Floyd are missing that brightness one hopes to have from them. I think the middle position could be interesting. It cuts through better than the neck, but isn't as "twangy" (not the right word, but I can't think of another one other than "bridgey" which isn't a word) as the bridge. I could see it being nice for pseudo-acoustic things.Originally Posted by Tone2TheBone
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
Tell me again what pups you got as singles on the Floyd?Originally Posted by marnold
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
Marnold
What is the value of the volume pot? You might be able to brighten up the singles by changing it.
A cool sound that I like with the middle is with some distortion or gain and the tone rolled all the way off. Kind of flute like.
"No Tele For you." - The Tele Nazi
Ha! Tele-ish now inbound.
Not all that hard to add a tone pot, if you want one, as long as there's enough room already routed out under the pickguard....
BTW, I like the middle pickup tone on a SSS Strat better than the bridge, personally.
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Originally Posted by duhvoodooman
Me too. It was my "Sonny Landreth" sound....then I got the Virtual Vintage Blues bridge pup and that fixed things right up.
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
Tone: the pups are generic Chinese-made jobbies. When I emailed Floyd about them, they couldn't even give me specs on them. I measured them myself for the review I wrote. They're not terrible. I just prefer more shimmer. They're also noisy as all get out, even for single coils. The Dimarzio Area '61s will take care of both issues. Conversely, I like the stock humbucker quite a bit. I'm considering replacing that one too, but more to differentiate its tone from my Fender than any fault with the pup. The singles go first, then I'll worry about the humbucker.
Spud: I believe that it is a 500K already. The pups themselves are just rather middy.
DVM: There probably would be room for a tone pot, I'm not going to bother, however. If I would, I'd probably just go with a concentric pot. I think I'm going to stick with the plan from the other thread and replace the volume pot with a push-pull pot to add the bridge-neck and all-three pickup combos.
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
I do not really like the middle position...
When I saw Robin Trower live two years ago he played the entire show using the middle pu - and guess what - it sounded great.
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Ditto....Originally Posted by Tone2TheBone
All my Strats and clones are wired like this. I find the middle pickup very usable.
I agree with DVM about the bridge pickup too (single coil). Except in very high gain modes, or mixed with the middle pickup, I find the bridge pickup to be my least favorite.
I tend to use 2nd or 4th position, I can't even remember using the 3rd on it's own..I'll be trying it tonight..
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Very good description... I love it in use with the neck and bridge, but alone it is NASTY.
Originally Posted by marnold
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