Just curious which pickup (neck, middle, or bridge) or combination of pickups you use on your Strat for the following tones:

Lead

Drive

Clean

Rhythm

Thanks!

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2008 American Standard w/ Hot Noiseless
2009 Hwy One Tele
2010 Vox AC15 w/Greenback and Top Boost
Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet
TC Nova Delay
Hardwire RV 7
EB Jr Volume Pedal
BOSS TU3 Tuner
Digidesign Eleven Rack

Lead- Bridge
Drive- Bridge/Middle
Clean- Neck or Middle or Both
Rhythm- Neck or Middle or Both

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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lead=bridge
drive=bridge/middle
clean=neck
rhythm=neck

The beauty of the Strat is that you can play clean on any setting.I never use the middle pup alone and use positions 2&4 for rythym and for lead on songs like Little Wing or Spanish Castle Magic by Jimi.I usually use the neck pup for other leads and occasionally use the bridge pup.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I sink my middle pup and never use it everything is done with the neck and bridge. Surprised to see guys that dont use the neck for lead as it is probably my favorite for a lead tone. For those who dont use it try it on a blues and switch between the bridge and neck I believe you will like the results.

All of 'em for everything. Sounds, not rules.

Cheers - C

I use all three pickups for all different sounds. It depends on what sound I am going for.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Neck is great for gritty leads. I use the neck alone or the bridge alone 90% of the time. Not crazy about the 2 and 4 positions.

I use whatever combination for whatever tonal situation I'm in or tryin to be. I like the in between settings alot.

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"coretta" '71 tele thinline
"domino" '97 lonestar strat
"marie" squire strat
"lexy" jag-stang
"owa" martin 000

tone=fingers; fingers=tone

I agree with a lot that has already been said. However here is what I tend to do:

Lead-depends on if I want a fatter tone or more searing and cutting, but I use the neck and the bridge respectively.

Drive-To me this goes with the lead catagory, because you generally want some level of drive when lead playing, so see above. But for driven chording/rhythm I like the bridge to keep things tighter the higher the gain goes. The less gain you use the more the possibilities open, but I have a tendency to turn up the gain to make it sing and scream. I will say though the more I age the more I enjoy exploring other tones. This is probably the biggest reason I bought a strat to begin with.

Clean- All positions can generate pleasing tones, but I have a tendency for the neck.

Rhythm-See everything above.

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

I find the bridge pickup useful for frightening the dog.

Oh, and jangly 50s rock & roll.

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

I agree with Ceri. All pups for every task.

Lead is especially variable as I will switch from one extreme to the other in the middle of a lead break and then switch back again. Typically if I'm noodling below the 9th or 10th fret I'll use the bridge. Above that I'll frequently use the neck but those are not hard and fast rules for me. There are many other factors (all subjective) which affect pup choice in any given task. Tempo, mood, gain level, type of gain, etc.

For those who say the never, ever use the middle pup alone I encourage you to start experimenting with it. It is a very useful sound. Clapton used the middle alone quite frequently. Just as one example, I've never been able to get the slowly weeping leads of Wonderful Tonight to sound right without using the middle alone. (And a dose of reverb) I also use the middle alone for a couple of Beatles tunes as well. If you try it and hate it, it may just be that you need to try it with different amp and FX settings.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I MOSTLY use Neck or Neck and Middle I also use Bridge and Middle and rarely ever use bridge alone. Blues scales sound best to me through the Neck only

I use them all but I love the tone with the neck only when playing licks/leads.
I tend to hit the switch too much though and knock it out of position when it is on the bridge setting

Lead - I use my bridge pup. And occasionally my neck. Really, it depends on the song I'm playing.

Drive - Depends. I usually just use a TS-808 Tubescreamer, and with that I'm usually pushing my bridge. If I go any heavier (which is very rare any more for me), I use my bridge and my middle.

Clean - I like using my bridge, but I absolutely LOVE using my neck pup. To me, it's a tone that is just priceless.

Rhythm - Depends on the song. Normally, I try to push for leads any more.

Cheers.