I have been playing my '09 MIM Strat alot lately. My neck pickup seems "muddy", "faint", and "distant".. Basically it's not as "bright" as the bridge and middle pickup. I had it set up professionally and play through an EPI Valve Senior tube amp. Do you think raising the neck pickup will help? I'm just a basement player that will never play live. I was hoping I would not have to ever swap out the pickups but I cannot deal with the tones I'm getting from the neck... Thanks!

The neck pick will not be as bright as it has less treble and more bass due to the position is sits under the vibrating strings.

Measure how high it is accurately before you start and raise it up.
The by ear way is to raise it while playing at a reasonable volume to hear when the tone breaks up then back it down a little. Note by having it too high it can affect the other pickups (magnetic pull on the string).

By installing a larger resistance tone pot you can have brighter pickups as it allows more highs to get through however with that you get all the unwanted effects along with it of more noise.

Remember that the pickups are designed to have different tones and you may be able to include this in your play style. Perhaps raise the EQ on the amp and roll off the tone on the bridge pickup. I'm sure you will find something that works for you.

Thank you for the info Shockwarrior. I appreciate it

Saljam I was wondering how long you have been playing and have you spent time on another guitar on the neck pup. As there is a major difference and if you play always on the middle and bridge the neck is going to sound really off to you. So I dont know if you are just not used to it or are having a problem with your neck tone.If you give more info I would be able to help you out more though Shockwarrior gave you some great advice.

You could have your tone controls rewired so that one will cover the bridge pickup. You can then set your amp to optimize the neck pickup without the mud, etc. From there, you can dial back your tone pots for the other two pickups so that you will not have 'tin' when using them.

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Great point.. I have been playing a little over a year. I spend alot of time with my EPI LP. When I do play my strat it's usually on the brdige pickup... This was great advice. Thank you