I wanted to know from some strat players how they handled distortion.[Probably using the bridge pickup]. I'm not talking about avenged sevenfold heavy but like classic metal.

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'10 Classic Player Jaguar HH
'07 Squire Fat-Strat
Vox VT30

Humbuckers

I use a distortion pedal or overdrive and for Rhythm parts I use the Neck and Middle. For Leads, I go to Bridge and Middle, On a SSS Strat. I now have a HSS Strat and use the humbucker a lot, going to the neck and middle quite often for Leads too.

This is just my recomendation. There are amny ways to get a great distortion sound.
Get a good compressor and put it in front of your distortion, whether the distortion comes from a pedal or an amp. Also, invest in a quality noise gate.
I play metal which I gather is not your thing but this is my set up...
I play HWY 1 strats with stock single coil pickups. I run my signal though a boss compressor (cs-3) into a Boss metal zone (mt-2) into a Boss noise supressor (ns-2) into my 5150 half stack. I use the clean channel on the amp only, basically I'm using it like a P.A. I control the amount of gain I want with the volume knob on my guitar. I can get everything from slightly broken up to totally overdriven just by turning my volume knob. I use the bridge pickup for rhythm and the neck for lead.
Anyway, my band is a metal band so it goes without saying that we play loud. This set up is noiseless, feedback free (unless I want it to feed) and it sounds awesome. The metal zone might not be your thing but then again Warren Hayes uses one and I've been told Gilmore uses one... At any rate, don't let the word "metal" turn you off to it, you are not required to use it for metal. There are a lot of other distortion pedals out there too..
Anyway, that's how I do it. It is just one of many ways to get a distortion sound, I'm sure others will elaborate. Hope this gives you some insights.

Humbucker-type distortion tones can also be obtained using a mid-boost-equipped Strat fitted with either a Fender Stratocaster Mid-Boost Kit (aka Clapton Circuit) or an EMG DG20 set.

Seymour Duncan SSL-4, ENGL amp.

Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Or an external pickup amplifier like the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster. Not actually distorting the sound, just amplifying it so it distorts the preamp on a valve amplifyer. My old Mk1 Marshal Guv'nor does this well with the gain turned right down fed into my AC30.

Without a problem, thats how I handle it.

In truth, you need to eq your amp properly. Thats all. Keep the mids right up and don't go silly with the bass. Singlecoils handle gain far better than humbuckers. You can pile on a absolute tonne of gain onto almost any singlecoil and still maintain clarity. There are few humbuckers around that can do that.

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No no and no

Cool! I play a Highway One Strat with stock pups and use the bridge for rhythm and neck for leads as well. Sounds amazing with tons of distortion from a Boss Powerstack pedal.

I used to be exclusively humbuckers but now favor single coils for disortion, just a more complex, full sound.

Those guys in the pictures need to get a haircut and shave,...that's totally unacceptable!
Don't they know it makes them look like useless hippies?

Both Eric Clapton and David Gilmour had the long hair and tight beard a long time ago. Eric has cut his hair recently and Dave looks almost completely bald.

The first picture shows Eric performing "Pretending" during the RAH concerts in 1990; it's a shot taken from the "24 Nights" DVD.

On the other image you see Dave playing his Strat during a Pink Floyd concert circa early-to-mid 1970s. A very, very old photo from the group's golden era.

Here is a picture of "Eric" taken a few months ago, like around Dec. 2010. I think he has been growing it out again!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Good! I guess EC figured being a conformist isn't his thing. Be Yourself!

@ TobiJ
Yep,
I was a humbucker guy till a little over a year ago. Then I bought the HWY 1. I have since sold all my other guitars and bought an additional HWY 1. It's as if thay had metal in mind when they designed that guitar... The singles definately have a clarity about them that a humbucker seems to lack. Speaking of which...

Another thing I would add here as advice about distortion is that higher output pickups are more distortion friendly. The pickups in the HWY 1 (the newer ones) are awesome for high gain types of tones. Roll back the volume knob on your guitar and you get classic strat tones. Very versatile pickups. You can pick them up all over ebay if you care to try them.
I think I got turned off to strats at a young age because somewhere along the way I plugged in a strat and made up my mind that they werent very useful for my type of playing. At the time I really didn't understand why but it was because the pickups were just normal low output singles and didn't do well with distortion. Fast forward 20 or so years and I bought my first highway because I wanted a strat around the house to fool around with. I instantly lost interest in all my other guitars after I plugged it into my rig. Funny when you don't know what you are missing till you find it by accident.

I get pretty good warm distortion w/ either a DS1 or my Z. Wylde OD predal. Strat SSS pups in all positions will do, but for warmer tones I use position 2 or 4.

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1975 Sunburst Stratocaster rosewood finger board
1979 Stratocaster with roseowood finder board
2001 Candy Green Clapton Stratocaster
2007 Andy Summers Inspired Telecaster
2007 '51 P-Bass
2012 Taylor 110
2015 Mystic Ice Blue Deluxe Stratocaster Plus