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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:42 pm
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I thought Little Wing and Lenny were played on the 2 and 4 respectively. I don't know this, it is what I've heard anyone that has ever given a lesson on it say.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:53 pm
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If you really watch guys like Hendricks, Clapton, Beck, et al.. they will use every position durring a performance. I'm not talking about a single song I'm saying during a show. Why sell your tone short?


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:17 pm
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SNick wrote:
If you really watch guys like Hendricks, Clapton, Beck, et al.. they will use every position durring a performance. I'm not talking about a single song I'm saying during a show. Why sell your tone short?


I have the DVD of Cream's reunion concert at the RAH. I watched carefully during a couple of songs to see what p/u he was using. During some songs, he changed the setting several times.

BTW - I bet I use the neck p/u about 75% of the time.


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 6:21 pm
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Deluxe Matt wrote:
I thought Little Wing and Lenny were played on the 2 and 4 respectively. I don't know this, it is what I've heard anyone that has ever given a lesson on it say.


Hmmm.... It sounds dead-on to me like a really nice middle pickup, all alone. Really listen to the intro, before the vibe kicks in. There's nothing but really nice, fat middle pickup honk. I don't hear quack... just honk.

I mean, it's the sound I think comes closest when I try to seek out that tone. But I can't provide any documentation about it.


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 6:24 pm
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The middle pickup is very usable, I for one use it quite a bit especially for blues playing.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:23 pm
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When playing my new Strat w/ Fat 50's, I'm on the middle pup about 65% of the time. Maybe even 66%, but whose counting? It's just right for me, not too hot, not too cold!

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:24 pm
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Brian May uses the middle pickup quite a bit, but often out-of-phase. Here's a good example:



I'm very tempted to get a Burns pickup or Teisco gold leaf pickup for some of that 'boxy' sound.


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 9:01 am
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If you are looking at an HSS configuration, check out the Megaswitch E-Model, I rarely use the middle pu except in conjunction with the bridge or neck, this gives you an easy way to have one of the hb coils along with the neck, very tele-like and much more useful than the middle pu alone.


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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:33 am
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SNick wrote:
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.


I totally agree! My strat has CS Texas Specials and the middle pickup is reverse wound so that when it's combined with the either the Neck or Bridge pickups it has a humbucker like effect. I really notice the difference at high volumes. There's an extra layer of high end hiss/hum on the pickups individually but in positions 2 or 4 the hiss/hum goes away instantly.
Kinda like having the best of both worlds. Single coil sound or a humbucker sound at the flick of a switch! I really dig these Texas Specials...great pickups in my opinion.
:-)

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:10 am
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Deluxe Matt wrote:
I thought Little Wing and Lenny were played on the 2 and 4 respectively. I don't know this, it is what I've heard anyone that has ever given a lesson on it say.


I relies this is an old post but the 5 way switch on strats started in 1977 Jimi rest his soul was no longer with us. Back than you could find a spot between pick ups and some times you could get it just right and other times not so easy, I cant say for certain that it was hit or miss with jimi as he did things no one else could back then, but his guitar only had a 3 way switch
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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:28 am
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I use the middle pup... mostly for clean rhythm work... I also like positions 2 & 4 for rhythm work... Leads.. mostly neck or bridge pup.

I have a "Reverse Wound" middle pup... and honestly... I wouldn't want an SSS equipped Strat without one.

If I'm on a very gain laden amp setting using my SSS Strat... I get a mean lead tone in position 4 with the tone rolled down (Clapton's Woman Tone type thing)... It's Bad-Ass... and has no hum. For Rhythm on the SSS Strat I'll go position 2 with the tone about 3/4 opened up... again... no hum and has decent articulation with a lot of gain on the amp.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:27 pm
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GilgaFrank wrote:
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.

That's about as blasphemous as it gets! Absolutely nothing sounds like a neck pickup on a strat!

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:22 am
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I find it odd that people would "never" use a particular pickup, unless said pickup was malfunctioning or truly sounded bad*

On my Stratocaster, I use the neck and middle pickups more often than the bridge pickup...that's not to say I don't use the bridge pickup at all, just less often. I use the 2-and-4 positions very rarely, and usually only when it's a cover song that needs that particular sound to get closer to the original recording.

However, I also "play the room" or "play the mix"...even if I normally use a specific pickup when recording or performing a particular song, that doesn't preclude me from changing the setting on my guitar, effects or amp (even on the fly) to make it fit the mix of the song or the effect the room has on the band's sound more pleasingly. Sometimes I might need the brightness of the bridge pickup to cut through a muddy or dead-sounding room, and sometimes I might need the warmth and thickness of the neck pickup to fatten up a weak-sounding mix, etc.

The only time I "set it and forget it" is when playing my drummer's single-pickup Epiphone Junior---and even then, I'll fiddle with the tone knob as I see (or rather, hear) fit.

*I own a Telecaster, which originally had a factory-installed coil-tapped Special Design Humbucking Pickup (Fender's name for it) in the neck position. That pickup just never sounded right--when in full humbucking mode, it was muddy and indistinct-sounding; in coil-tap mode, it was weak and thin. I don't know if it was an issue related to my picking/playing style, or something inherent to the design of the device, but I got to where I never used that pickup on the guitar. I eventually replaced it with a cheap Mighty Mite P-90, which is used very frequently, both alone and/or in series or parallel with the bridge pickup on that Tele. If a particular pickup doesn't sound good, no matter what the cause, it can and should be replaced.

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:17 am
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I might want to consider how a new install of a middle pickup would not only affect the playing of it on a singular basis, but also how the mix with the neck or bridge PUPs would be affected. Losing that feature would cause future considerations to be lost IMHO. So to find a great overall mix in one's choice would be difficult at best, but whether stock or custom it certainly is not impossible to reach one's personal taste. IMHO. Knowing that it may be a preference to have that one particular pickup sound . . . YMMV.

Where I find using all the PUPs useful either together or individually is when modelling, especially to simulate/match another's tone, comes into play. Using a middle pickup can only give you more tones to experiment with.

FSB
Aw, heck. Put a dozen PUPs on the dang thing. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Middle Pickup?
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:51 pm
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I recently put the Fat 50's back into one of my Strats, and added a Pearly Gates at the bridge. I really like the PG, but I still use the center pup the most. Now position 2 and 4, I'm not really understanding the fascination with them. I think I could live with a 3 way switch.

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