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Post subject: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:34 pm
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I never really used the middle pickup on my Strats. I always thought of it as a supplementary PU for the 2 & 4 positions complementing the neck and bridge. Now I find myself looking at some PU's and was considering going with a humbucker and one single coil setup. That was until I played a Peavey with some GFS single coils in it. I was not impressed with the neck or bridge but the middle PU sounded really good. So good in fact that I would want it in a HSS setup. I don't think it was RWRP though. Do any of you use or love a particular middle pickup? This was surprising because it is such an inexpensive solution.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:09 pm
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The middle pickup on my 1983 Strat sounds amazing. But then all the pickups on that guitar sound amazing.

Most useless pickup setting for me is the neck pickup. I could live without neck pickups altogether.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:01 am
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I use the middle quite a lot and also the neck, which is nice and fat on my strat. My least used is the bridge, unless I am using my 69 SFSR and then all of my pickups are wonderful, not so much on the bedroom amp Line 6 120 wat The PU I have in my strat are the fat 50s and I do like them
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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:21 am
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I recently bought the blu-ray to "Eric Clapton's Crossroads 2013" which is really good by the way and all profit go to drug rehabilitation programs...worth supporting. Anyway, on it, I noticed when Clapton comes on to play on the last 4 songs he exclusively uses the middle pick up the whole time. I often try to see where players have there switches positioned etc and that was something that then inspired me to experiment more with my middle pickup and I've grown to use it more and more ever since!
8)

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:40 am
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Middle pickup!??!

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 12:15 pm
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I rarely use middle pickup on my Strat. In conjunction with neck or bridge, yes, but alone..I don't like it. I prefer neck pickup most of the time :)

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 1:20 pm
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Tochai wrote:
Middle pickup!??!

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You should take that back, they forgot to put it on there.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:54 pm
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I've just always found the middle PU to be kinda bland, almost flat or sterile sounding. However, the PU in the peavey I played was very alive and full with distortion or clean. I should have snagged it while I was setting it up (Just Kidding!). It was probably one in a million. I have used many middle PU's on many different guitars and this one sounded exceptional. If I ordered myself one, I'm hesitant to think I would get the same result. It being a cheap PU they probably all come out a little different. Just goes to show that a turd can be polished into a diamond, or something.

If I do anything more with it, I will record a direct unprocessed signal. I should have done that anyway for my own comparisons in the future.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:11 pm
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One of my Strats has a real nice sounding RWRP middle pickup that sounds amazing. It was a custom wind and surprised us both.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:14 pm
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Clapton uses the middle pup alone. Maybe not all the time but frequently enough that I noticed it. Example, try the slow lead lines on Wonderful Tonight with just the middle and some 'verb. I've been known to use it for other things. Once you get used to it, it's a very useful sound.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:21 pm
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You said it perfectly. This is exactly how I feel:
Deluxe Matt wrote:
... I always thought of the middle pickup as a supplementary PU for the 2 & 4 positions complementing the neck and bridge ...

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:39 pm
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My pickup selection is based more on the style of song I'm playing at the time. But that being said, I do use the middle pickup a lot since I depend on my Strat mostly for Blues and R&B. For 50's Rock & Roll or Country I'll move toward the bridge pickup, for heaver rock tunes more toward the neck. Generally speaking I don't use the neck that much as I'll go to my Les Paul for the heavier rock stuff.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:34 am
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I use the middle pups in my strats, not a ton, but I do use that position.


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:55 am
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Use every tool in the shed that you can. Raise or lower the middle pickup until it sounds good, then play the H_ll out of it.


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 10:00 am
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The middle pickup is amazing sounding on my Strat. It's totally legitimate in it's own right. I can hear the basic "cluck" sound that's normally heard in the 2 and 4 positions, which makes me think that the biggest contributor to that sound is the middle pickup.

Clapton's not the only notable middle pickup user. Trower did a lot of that too.

Other Famous examples:
Hendrix - Little Wing.
SRV - probably Lenny and any other clean ballad...
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing


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