You have to remember Clapton also has his strat custom wired, that said he does use the middle pup quite a lot. I use my middle pup a lot because I like the tone.
Middle pickup is so underated. However, Clapton and even John Mayer use it all the time. It's really good with overdrives especially when you stack overdrives. Very balanced between neck tones and bridge tones.
Highly recommend any strat owner getting a "Gilmour" switch installed that activates the neck pickup on demand. All three activated as well as the bridge and neck together are the tones you hear all the time on records yet never can quite get. Essentially, it is a 7 position switch. Trust me. Do it.
@@youropionmattersnot I have one and while I play with the bridge + neck a lot, I really haven’t played all 3 pickups and I really think I should. Can you think of any examples of songs that use all 3? Or any sort of reference songs that have a similar sound?
One of my fave comments i read years ago (Lowell George?) was I can make a Strat sound like a Les Paul but i can't make a Les Paul sound like a Strat. Leo and crew got it right the first time.
@@glenkepic3208 omg yes! strats and similar guitars rule! Love the HSS config with a stacked tone pot to get the quack in the 2nd position. or coil tap/splitter? not an expert in the area of electronics but Strats are so freaking versatile.
I was messing with my strat recently and realized the middle position (which I’d barely ever used), sounds great with big open chords and arpeggios. It’s like the Strat’s take on an acoustic guitar and I’m here for it.
Jerry Garcia is well known for using the strat middle pickup, listen to anything from the Europe 72 tour, his modded strat middle pickup is all over those albums
His best tones were Alligator on the middle pickup. I play a hard tail strat with a flat pole 50's pickup in the middle position and it gets that sound. Also after years of hating strat bridge pickups I found a simple solution, hook up the bridge pickup to one of the tone pots. In a stock strat they're wide open, one wire swap and the ice pick is gone. Like Rhett says most strat player never use the middle, which also means they aren't using the middle's tone control either!
Finally, someone realizes what I've been enjoying for the past few years. The sound is clear and crisp and can be punchy with volume up when wanted. Thank you Rhett for mentioning this very usable and complimenting option.
Doug Martsch of Built to Spill is one of the first players that comes to mind when mentioning middle pickup on a Strat, “Carry The Zero” is the perfect example.
He's the first person that comes to my mind as well. Doug has said in interviews that his strat's are wired so only the middle pickup is functional. this in combination with his fender bassman is literally orgasmic 🤣 "Living Zoo" is prob. my favorite example of his "sound"
If anyone wants to get the brittle and the shrill out of the bridge pickup sound, experiment with the tone knob. Some more modern strats have the 2nd tone knob control the bridge pickup as well. Mine does. If I roll it off to about 5-7, I dial out some of the harsh shrill, dial in a bit of warmth, but still keep the bright and crunchy. Sounds nice.
I totally agree. It took me way too long to figure it out but rolling off the tone knob has made all the difference in getting rid of the bridge harshness. But, like you say, you still keep the brightness. Amen to using the tone knob!
if you want to solve the problem for good without messing with the knobs every time you want to play a solo. get a stra bro 90 for the bridge .it's a single coil sized p 90 made by seymour duncan for the strat with tons of low mids. nothing sharp, harsh or thin. a single coil at the bridge was always a bad idea, only jeff beck got away with it and john suhr commented that he used "dark sounding pickups". single coils are not good for drive there are other options out there.
I rarely use the bridge pickup on my Strat. But when I do I want to have that bite. I almost never use my tone knobs anyway. If I need a darker sound I use different pickup, picking position, mute the strings... Or use a different guitar.
Been playing over 50 years and just got my first one, a G&L Tribute. Love it, so much fun! Fun having with all the possibilities. I found working on pickup height very important. Your right about neck tending to be muddy. Have to agree on the middle. Love the way a strat fits my body. Good episode!
Playing 42 years and bought a used 2011 G&L Tribute a couple years ago. Natural swamp ash body with a hot rail at the bridge and Fender noiseless pickup at the neck along with Fender locking tuners the previous owner installed. I've owned MIA and MIM Strats but never loved them like this import with the mods for a fraction of the price.
I do a similar thing, but my tone knob controls my bridge pickup, so the bright middle pickup & the dull bridge pickup cancel eachother out & do a really cool thing
Robin Trower has stated in many interviews how he uses the middle pickup quite a bit. Hendrix used it a lot also, listen to Band of Gypsys live. It’s no secret it’s a great tone.
Always loved the middle pickup on my Strat, was almost shamed out of using it by Scott Grove saying it was stupid and no one serious was using it. Crazy. It’s a great balance between the too-dark neck and the too-brittle bridge.
I don't think Scott Grove is the best source for advice, he's kinda hardwired that his way is THE way . He has a lot of knowledge but he filters his knowledge through his opinions.
@@garycoates4987 I like those quacky tones in the hands of the greats, but in my hands they just don’t sound right. I like two single coil pickups better in series, which a standard Strat won’t do.
I’m a long time Strat player and I never understood why people didn’t like the middle. I’ve been playing that pickup for years and it always gives me what I need. Enjoyed the video as always!
@@yaniv-nos-tubes i would have to agree. After building my design I didn’t realize how much I would love it. I constantly come back to it. It just has everything I want and need, and with it being a single pickup guitar it is truly the place where simplicity meets versatility!
I'm so glad somebody finally talked about position 3. I've been thinking about getting a Strat for a long time but I never really enjoyed listening to the 1 2 and 3 positions, and a Tele always did the neck position better in my opinion. But I've been listening to one guitar player on UA-cam quite a lot lately who tends to use position 3 a lot and it sounded exactly how I wanted it to sound. absolutely love it.
I had Lindy Fralin build my pick up set for my custom Strat, and he used a vintage Strat pick up in the neck, a pure PAF humbucker for the bridge, and a Texas Special pickup for the middle. So I use my middle pick up a lot. It sounds fantastic.
Thank sounds like exactly what I want. The Fralin Texas special pickup sounds like a Tele bridge pickup to me. So putting that in the middle of a Strat with a humbucker in the bridge would give me my three favorite pickup sounds in one guitar. Epic
Strats are great and pretty much mandatory equipment for the serious electric guitarist, and all positions have their sonic strong suit and "best used for" application. Jeff Beck puts on a clinic of strat switch flippery conjuring a wide array of vibes and tones every time he picked up a strat. One last little note - a really great fix for the bridge position excessive treble issue is to switch the tone control pot from the middle to the bridge pickup and it's super easy to do, as it only requires moving one wire from the 5 way switch from the middle pickup terminal to the bridge pickup terminal. By doing this now you can take some of the treble away with the tone control, and even achieve a rather meaty humbucker type tone which would be impossible with the previous tone control arrangement, and as well there is a sort of unexpected bonus by the fact that removing the tone control from the middle pickup it adds just a little bit of high-end brightness to the middle pickup that makes the in-between positions sound a bit more chimey spanky clucky and funkier to my ear, and the best part is that you dont have to buy anything, just move one wire that's all. People have asked me numerous times "How are you getting that humbucker sound out of a single coil bridge pickup ?" ... that's how. I've done this mod for a few friends and the repeat comment is "I don't know why Fender doesn't wire them like that, as moving that one wire just makes it sound better, more diverse without losing any traditional sounds..." Check this easy mod out, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised, and if you didn't care for that, move the one wire back. Enjoy !
Rhett,, u have THE most interesting vids! I’m 69 and have learned so much that I skipped over. My one man band has benefited greatly with yur informative vids! Keep em’ coming! I’m a fan!
I have all my Strats (5 of them) wired to a configuration that gives me two more than standard settings; bridge and neck as well as all three plus master tone. The Neck/Bridge setting is close to but slightly different than Middle. All three is just something else entirely. This is what I like about the Stratocaster; it's utter versatility.
I was in fact sleeping on this position until this video, and for the past few months I've been using it a TON. Directly changed my playing for the better, thank you Rhett!
Couple of my strats do not have the tone control connected to the bridge - rewired and took it away from the middle position put it to the bridge and definitely made a huge difference for a lead tone... Very smooth, round and great sustain when complimented with a great overdrive
I agree. I've been gigging with a Squire Affinity for 2 yrs ( $100 pawn shop find ) I use the middle pu for rhythm 90%, neck for solo. Underrated guitars.
2 and 4 positions are NOT out of phase - they are in phase, in parallel. Wire them in series and you won't worry about them sounding weak. Other than that, I fully agree - third position is a banger on a good strat.
I don't understand any of that...but my strat sounds pretty quacky and out of phase in position 2. But *not in position 4, that is actually my fav position by a mile, it's sound sort of like the neck but with more clarity and presence. I'm not sure why the 2 post sounds out of phase while the 4 doesn't.
I agree 100% ...I have been a strat player for over 50 plus years...... majority of time using the first position or third position on my strat ... lately I have been migrating toward the middle position and enjoying it .... Recently in the last year or so I have stepped out of my comfort zone and bought a Gibson Les Paul standard and a les Paul jr. . I kept them for about a month or so and just couldn't bond with humbucker pickups or a P90 that was in the junior... so I sold them both .... about two months ago I got a wild hair to get a PRS S2 ... I saw a video you did on PRS guitars and you seem to lean towards the S2 , so I decided to get one ..... that now is for sale . All three of those instruments played very well ..... I have my strat that I bought in 1970 when I was 14 and that will be 53 this year....I bought a 2007 mim strat several years ago .... I put noiseless pickups in and swapped out the rosewood neck for a maple neck .... I have just come to the conclusion that my mind is so bent on strat tones for myself I will stop buying other guitars and just enjoy the two strats I have . Dont know if my narrow mind set is good or bad ... it is what it is ... kepp up the good work you do ....I find all your videos entertaining and mostly very informative... Thank You
I haven't owned a Stray for over 40 years. When I bought one last year, a Donner DST-400, I gravitated immediately to using the middle pick-up primarily.
YES!! finally someone talks about the middle pickup of the strat 💚 I use it because it has a middle tone (literally) between the bass and treble, and I use the tone knob of the middle pickup around 8 or 9
I recently rewired mine to a 3 position switch as I always found 2 and 4 useless for my style. Unbelievable how hard it was to find a reference for this or a diagram. I did find one with a vid using tone 2 as a blend control for the middle to N/B. After messing with different caps and PU heights I am very pleased with the results. Kinda have the best of 3 and 5 position switches with no volume loss, bonus having all three at once too! Thanks Rhett, always look forward to your knowledge.
I'm currently rebuilding and upgrading my first Squier Strat that hasn't been playable in 20 years. Can't wait to hear those Lace Sensors. Thanks for the tips, hoping to finally do the Strat thing!
My strat has a bunch of mods, but the one relevant here is removing the tone pot from the middle pickup and putting it on the bridge. I usually use neck and bridge, or position 2 and 4 in series (which is the main thing that my strat does that's special) for leads, and then go to that middle pickup and roll my volume back to get a rhythm sound. It has some thump, it has some sparkle, and with the volume knob rolled off a bit it thickens nicely and just works for a rhythm sound. I feel like on a lot of older budget strats, such as my first guitar, the middle pickup lacked that magic due to the poor quality of the pickups. I have some seymour duncans in my current strat and I have to agree with Rhett that it's one of the best strat sounds out there
Cool video Rhett! I've been using the middle pickup on my Strat a lot over the past several years. I find it really versatile, whether with clean or overdriven tones. You also mentioned about the bridge pickup being harsh and tough to use for some things; I agree, so I had a mod done to my Strat where I now have only one tone and the volume is where the other (closest to the strings) tone used to be. The remaining tone control controls all 3 pickups, which has given my bridge pickup a whole new lease on life. Far more usable! The whole thing started because I was so used to my Music Man EVH having the volume control farther away from my right hand (which I prefer). The discussion with the tech went from there to the tone controls and pickups. Now my Strat is amazing!
The same goes for the mid position on guitars whether it's with P90s or humbuckers on Gibson Les Paul's, ES 335's SG's and others. I found that much of the guitar parts on the records from the 60's and 70's used the mid position. They really have a different kind of expression as far as tones go.
Of course Strat players like the 2 & 4 positions because you still get the twang but with fuller sound and the benefits of using those pickup combinations as, in effect, a selectable bridge or neck humbucker because the single-coil middle pickup is wound and wired out-of-phase. I agree that the middle pickup by itself is a sweet sound usually overlooked. Glad to see you featuring Squier! I'm a longtime Epiphone fan who has acquired a few Squiers in the last couple years and like Epiphones they are great guitars in their own right and killer bang-for-buck for folks like me that can't afford or justify spending a helluva lot more on a Gibson or Fender these days. I know you can pretty much buy or get the hookup on whatever you want to play but I appreciate you giving attention and support to brands and models that many of us more budget-constrained players are interested in and can better afford. I do have a couple 'nicer' guitars in my modest collection but I'd be proud to have a Strat just like the one you played in this video.
Another great video Rhett! I love using the 2 and 4 positions where the middle blends with the bridge or neck more than the middle by itself. All depends on amp/cab and overall tone you're going for!
The frontwoman and guitarist for the alt rock band Screaming Females, Marissa Paternoster, is known for playing G&L Strats on nothing but the middle pickup with loads of fuzz and that yields some really filthy tones!
I respect and understand your view and perception of the different sounds you can get from a strat. And if you like the middle pickup sound, thats wonderful. Still, I think you’re missing out the versatility and dynamics of the sounds that you really can get out of it. Personally, I love the ability to choose the sound that serves the actual song I’m playing the best. Like you I, love the middle pickup by it self, but in some songs it’s just too anonymous and generic. And it’s hard to determine what guitar that´s being used. I love it when you can hear the characteristics of a certain guitar. As opposed to something that just sounds - guitar. Anyway, love your work and your willing to share your knowledge and thoughts about this wonderful instrument.
Me Too !!! I love the strat middle position. You said very well it still retains some nice attack and it has a good balance of bridge brightness and neck warmth. No other guitar sounds alike. Thank you Rhett 👍
In my early years playing guitar and learning on a Strat I felt like positions 2 and 4 were so cool because it was instantly in the ball park of Stevie and Jimi and John but the better I got the more I prefer the neck and middle because I was able to play more dynamically and get my tone that way rather than relying on the instant pretty effect of 2 and 4. Just my two cents. Every position is great on a strat
I'm starting to see some serious mojo from Rhett. Rythm, tone, timing, feel all coming together. I think you may need a cool rim hat and a music tattoo on a fore arm to complete the look. Rhett got rythm!
I love the middle position, especially for clean settings and I play it even more than 2 or 4 at times. Agree with your criticism of bridge tones sounding too brittle and harsh for some purposes. l modded my Strat to have a global tone knob instead of separate ones for the bridge and neck -- that way I can get some mellow tones out of the middle position too by rolling back the tone, the simplified circuit leads to a clearer tone and overall it just makes more sense to me.
Definitely sit in the middle position most of the time. Love it! I could be wrong, but I feel like often when Paul Simon played electric it was a strat with only the middle pickup.
Strats have been my main (electric) guitars for many many years and I just learned about 1,2 years ago that so many people won't use the middle pickup at all or even hate it. Since I didn't know we were supposed to dislike it (I honestly believe that this is a good part of this narrative...), I used the middle pickup a lot. 🙃
The strat tone is why I started to play guitar. I love everything about that punchy bell like tone. I just bought one of the 40th aniv Squier Jazzmasters and I shit you not it's one of the best guitars I've ever owned. Squier has for sure upped their game.
The other night, I was banging away on the middle pickup of my Suhr HHH strat. I didn't realize but I hit the coil splitter in the heat of battle. I do play on the middle humbucker a lot of the time. After about of playing on the middle split pickup, I was amazed how much fun I'd had with it.
Love your channel, love your guitar "gun for hire" work with others... but lord almighty, I do love it when you just groove out on a jam like this intro. Killin' it, bruh... absolutely killing it.
So I was using my middle pickup primarily on my Strat for about 15 years because of the tonal balance. Pickup brand definitely makes a difference- I replaced my Kinman HX noiseless with Lollar Dirty Blackface and I switched to mainly neck now. Yes, the middle pickup is an unsung hero of tone, but it also depends on the pickup - some sound amazing, while others sound just ok.
Agree, why I'm very fussy over the pups in a Strat, pickup height and adjustment makes a big difference, once you get right, each position should be good, not have a mediocre middle.
For the past few years I've strictly been playing Les Pauls, and mostly on the bridge pickup. I recently went back to playing my Strat and playing it on the middle pickup. It's all i play now.
Couldn’t agree more. Had a Mexican strat from the 90’s. Had hot rails in the bridge and neck when I bought it. Always went to the middle pickup only position when I played it. Sounded best in that position for me.
I recently bought another Strat, removed the bridge and neck pickups, put a Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the mid position. It now has master volume and tone and a 2-way-switch for series/parallel. It's my main slide guitar, but it's also a great choice for any session with another guitarist because either they don't have a middle pickup or they don't use it...
I love that strats are so versatile, and durable too. They can take a beating, so you get more use out of it, whereas a Gibson you gotta be all delicate-like
I have an HSH Suhr that when I want something that’s clear, airy, straight ahead, and just the right sound, I use the middle pickup. Just the right amount of output with the right amount of clarity, super versatile.
If any of y'all are into CCM or modern P&W, or if you want your guitar to simply "sit" in a cluttered mix, position 3 of the Strat is a valuable option. Thanks for this video Rhett!
It's my main spot on a Strat. I added a pretty high output DiMarzio Super Distortion S. A little Strat size output machine, but I rarely use it, just for when I wanna make the amp squeal in horror. Usually I keep it fairly clean, and the middle gives enough shine for solos but without that tinny, icepick tone of a bridge SC. Love it.
Hi, try this sound: use the middle pickup together with a tubescreamer pushing into a Vox-amp, and roll down the tone-pot about 50%-60% now play the open A string together with a C# (=11.fret) on the D-string.
I've always hated every Strat I've picked up... So I just bought a Squier 40th anniversary Strat to try to learn to love it. And you know what? I'm getting there. Gonna try the middle pickup out more now. Thanks, Rhett!
after 47 years playing,i have bought myself my first strat 2009 deluxe,,for that clean bell like sound,,,no guitar neck ever touched an old shergold masquerader had one since 1981
I have a Fat Strat, HSS, and play mostly in the bridge. I have a Seymour Duncan Humbucker there which I love. I will also play many times in the middle position and find that it gives me that deep tone that I was looking for from the neck position but has clarity as well.
I built a Strat Pickguard with 3 way switch and the following pickups: Neck SD Cool Rail for those sweet mellow neck sounds, Bridge SD SH5 Ceramic Magnet humbucker for screaming rock and in the middle a Fender Hot Alnico 3 Singlecoil for the classic Strat tone. This guitar does it all!
I like the bridge pickup in my Player Strat as well as all the other positions you mentioned. Also I ended up with two Player HSS versions and they are my favorite Strats. Bridge HB sounds great and powerful and in pos 4 it splits the coils so you still get the fantastic blend of the others. And the second tone knob only controls the bridge pickup, genius!!
Love the middle pick-up! Great work showing it some love. As guitar players, I love when we talk about sounds -in and of themselves- vs. associating them with a certain type of genre or style of playing. If we approached pickup configurations without any assumptions about how they're "supposed to be used", we'll end up creating great new music and learning much more from one another. Nothing against the tried and true- especially when you're learning/teaching. I just love respecting those who try something unusual. Also, I think it's common to describe positions 2 and 4 as "out of phase", but I don't think that's technically accurate. It's possible for them to be wired such that they're out of phase, but I don't think modern strats are built that way. Maybe it's one of those things where people are misusing the term because everyone "knows what they really mean", but sometimes it's hard to find good technically accurate guitar wiring information out there, so I figured I would chime in. If I'm wrong, let me know.
The middle pickup is generally reverse-wound (compared to bridge and neck), which would make the two pickups in the 2 and 4 positions out of phase if that were the end of the story (and it makes them out of phase nicely for electrical interference like 50/60 Hz hum). But then the middle pickup also has the polarity of the magnetic pole pieces reversed as well (again compared to the bridge and neck pickups). In total then, for the music output signal from the vibrating strings, this makes the two pickups in the 2 and 4 positions twice out of phase, which net brings them back into phase. The two ways the pickups in the 2 and 4 positions are out of phase bring them back (more or less) into phase for the musical output (but not for any induced hum, which doesn't care about the magnets and is only a function of the pickup coils). These middle pickups are sometimes called reverse-wound/reverse-polarity to describe the two ways they are out of phase with the bridge and neck pickups.
Yeah you're right I never use it, in fact I lower it to be flush with pick guard so it doesn't get in my way when I'm picking. But, I may have to explore that pup again... Great video as always!
The only S type I own, has the middle switch position wired for neck and bridge. This to me is a much more useable tone that emulates a tele. The minimal differences between the middle pickup alone and the neck or bridge, can almost always be EQ'd out. I'm contemplating adding a phase switch, but hate the look of cluttered controls. Don't wanna have to take it all apart to swap in another push/pull on the volume pot. It's got more than enough options already.
I did the Jimmy Vaughn mod on my strat. Tone controls control the bridge and neck p/u's. The middle is wide open joy to my ears and my favorite position. I agree that if you watch the videosclosely, you will find may guitarists use the 'nobody uses' middle p/u alone.
you make a very good point, definitely onto something, reminds me of when i was in manhattan in 2002, cant remember the name of the place but there was a brilliant house band there which included Billy Joel's sax player although i didnt know that at the time, on guitar was a real road worn guy with a very road worn strat, i did not own a strat at the time but watching him play i noticed he was never out of the middle position, all night that pickup selector hardly moved, i never forgot that because he sounded great
People complain about the strat bridge pickup being not hot enough, but if you listen to a lot of Hendrix you’ll notice that Hendrix used his bridge pickup almost like the neck pickup, it’s a very delicate tone. But when you want to go nuts the middle pickup is what you’re looking for
I have 3 strats now a standard SSS strat a former HSH, now a HSP90(HSS) and a HSS all of them have the middle pickup because some pedals listen more better on the middle pickup (e.g. env filter) + in between positions is the bonus
One of my favorite guitar players, Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, pretty much plays a strat exclusively in the middle position, and is able to get great sounds and a lot of variety.
Clapton has played nearly whole concerts without changing from the mid pup position. It is one of my fav sounds from a strat.
Albert hammond from the strokes literally had his strat wired where its the middle pickup whatever switch position it is.
You have to remember Clapton also has his strat custom wired, that said he does use the middle pup quite a lot. I use my middle pup a lot because I like the tone.
Exactly, this is what I came here to say!
i actually falled in love with the middle position when i was learning how to play key to the highway from the derek & the dominos album, layla
@@zillmer448great song brother
Middle pickup is so underated. However, Clapton and even John Mayer use it all the time. It's really good with overdrives especially when you stack overdrives. Very balanced between neck tones and bridge tones.
Highly recommend any strat owner getting a "Gilmour" switch installed that activates the neck pickup on demand. All three activated as well as the bridge and neck together are the tones you hear all the time on records yet never can quite get. Essentially, it is a 7 position switch. Trust me. Do it.
@@youropionmattersnot I have one and while I play with the bridge + neck a lot, I really haven’t played all 3 pickups and I really think I should. Can you think of any examples of songs that use all 3? Or any sort of reference songs that have a similar sound?
That tone... 🔥💞🏆🤯
@@justraaay you won't find any. i have that option and i never use it. it sounds like a very bad acoustic electric, like plastic.
Couldn’t have said it better! This is the exact concept in my Matador model. A single pickup in the middle position. Simplicity meets versatility! 👍
Strats are so smooth and versatile. They've stood the test of time for so long, and there's still so much to do with it. Cheers Rhett.
Give me a Tele any day.
@@narvul - I prefer Telecasters too. Or at least songs played on Teles.
One of my fave comments i read years ago (Lowell George?) was I can make a Strat sound like a Les Paul but i can't make a Les Paul sound like a Strat. Leo and crew got it right the first time.
@@jimferris9447 rather have a strat if you want a guitar that won't dig into your ribs though.
@@glenkepic3208 omg yes! strats and similar guitars rule! Love the HSS config with a stacked tone pot to get the quack in the 2nd position. or coil tap/splitter? not an expert in the area of electronics but Strats are so freaking versatile.
I was messing with my strat recently and realized the middle position (which I’d barely ever used), sounds great with big open chords and arpeggios. It’s like the Strat’s take on an acoustic guitar and I’m here for it.
Jerry Garcia is well known for using the strat middle pickup, listen to anything from the Europe 72 tour, his modded strat middle pickup is all over those albums
His best tones were Alligator on the middle pickup. I play a hard tail strat with a flat pole 50's pickup in the middle position and it gets that sound. Also after years of hating strat bridge pickups I found a simple solution, hook up the bridge pickup to one of the tone pots. In a stock strat they're wide open, one wire swap and the ice pick is gone. Like Rhett says most strat player never use the middle, which also means they aren't using the middle's tone control either!
My fav Jerry sound too and the easiest path to cope those plucky tones. There really are few middle position pickup guitars out there.
That is the tone that got me playing strats. I'm a strat guy through and through, and a middle pickup guy at that.
Came here to say this!!
Finally, someone realizes what I've been enjoying for the past few years. The sound is clear and crisp and can be punchy with volume up when wanted. Thank you Rhett for mentioning this very usable and complimenting option.
Doug Martsch of Built to Spill is one of the first players that comes to mind when mentioning middle pickup on a Strat, “Carry The Zero” is the perfect example.
You beat me to it!
I think he only plays on that middle pu.
He's the first person that comes to my mind as well. Doug has said in interviews that his strat's are wired so only the middle pickup is functional. this in combination with his fender bassman is literally orgasmic 🤣 "Living Zoo" is prob. my favorite example of his "sound"
It's just great sound for fuzzed-out indie rock. Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females is another example of that.
‘Perfect from now on’ one of the most epic albums ever !
If anyone wants to get the brittle and the shrill out of the bridge pickup sound, experiment with the tone knob. Some more modern strats have the 2nd tone knob control the bridge pickup as well. Mine does. If I roll it off to about 5-7, I dial out some of the harsh shrill, dial in a bit of warmth, but still keep the bright and crunchy. Sounds nice.
Just wired the tone pot to the bridge there recently, makes a big difference!
I totally agree. It took me way too long to figure it out but rolling off the tone knob has made all the difference in getting rid of the bridge harshness. But, like you say, you still keep the brightness. Amen to using the tone knob!
if you want to solve the problem for good without messing with the knobs every time you want to play a solo. get a stra bro 90 for the bridge .it's a single coil sized p 90 made by seymour duncan for the strat with tons of low mids. nothing sharp, harsh or thin. a single coil at the bridge was always a bad idea, only jeff beck got away with it and john suhr commented that he used "dark sounding pickups". single coils are not good for drive there are other options out there.
I rarely use the bridge pickup on my Strat. But when I do I want to have that bite. I almost never use my tone knobs anyway. If I need a darker sound I use different pickup, picking position, mute the strings... Or use a different guitar.
Pretty much all modern strats have the second tone pot for the bridge and the other one for both middle and neck.
I use the middle pickup probably 80% of the time strats, and I've never understood why people didn't do the same. They are great for R&B and pop
Very true ! Specially in a live context moreover.
Been playing over 50 years and just got my first one, a G&L Tribute. Love it, so much fun! Fun having with all the possibilities. I found working on pickup height very important. Your right about neck tending to be muddy. Have to agree on the middle. Love the way a strat fits my body. Good episode!
You’ve got some great tone controls on your G&L. Quite different than Fender tone control.
Playing 42 years and bought a used 2011 G&L Tribute a couple years ago. Natural swamp ash body with a hot rail at the bridge and Fender noiseless pickup at the neck along with Fender locking tuners the previous owner installed. I've owned MIA and MIM Strats but never loved them like this import with the mods for a fraction of the price.
The middle pickup has become my favorite for the reasons you mentioned. It's a good balance and still very Straty.
Yes, middle pickup for the win 🥇 check out my Matador model. I go all in on the middle pickup!
One of my favourite sounds is position 2, tone at about 3, and tons of gain, it sounds like a cocked wah and I love it
I do a similar thing, but my tone knob controls my bridge pickup, so the bright middle pickup & the dull bridge pickup cancel eachother out & do a really cool thing
Robin Trower has stated in many interviews how he uses the middle pickup quite a bit. Hendrix used it a lot also, listen to Band of Gypsys live. It’s no secret it’s a great tone.
My wife bought me an Affinity Strat for Christmas. It’s now my number one guitar. I LOVE it!
Always loved the middle pickup on my Strat, was almost shamed out of using it by Scott Grove saying it was stupid and no one serious was using it. Crazy. It’s a great balance between the too-dark neck and the too-brittle bridge.
I almost never use the 2 and 4 positions
I don't think Scott Grove is the best source for advice, he's kinda hardwired that his way is THE way . He has a lot of knowledge but he filters his knowledge through his opinions.
@@marpsr me neither,, I really don't like the "quacky" tones
Who?
@@garycoates4987 I like those quacky tones in the hands of the greats, but in my hands they just don’t sound right. I like two single coil pickups better in series, which a standard Strat won’t do.
I’m a long time Strat player and I never understood why people didn’t like the middle. I’ve been playing that pickup for years and it always gives me what I need. Enjoyed the video as always!
My main guitar has one p90 in the middle and it is all I need. I love it. It is crazy versatile!
it is the best tone that no one knows of, you see so many superstrats with 2 humbuckers and nothing in the middle such a waste.
@@yaniv-nos-tubes i would have to agree. After building my design I didn’t realize how much I would love it. I constantly come back to it. It just has everything I want and need, and with it being a single pickup guitar it is truly the place where simplicity meets versatility!
I'm so glad somebody finally talked about position 3. I've been thinking about getting a Strat for a long time but I never really enjoyed listening to the 1 2 and 3 positions, and a Tele always did the neck position better in my opinion. But I've been listening to one guitar player on UA-cam quite a lot lately who tends to use position 3 a lot and it sounded exactly how I wanted it to sound. absolutely love it.
I had Lindy Fralin build my pick up set for my custom Strat, and he used a vintage Strat pick up in the neck, a pure PAF humbucker for the bridge, and a Texas Special pickup for the middle. So I use my middle pick up a lot. It sounds fantastic.
Thank sounds like exactly what I want. The Fralin Texas special pickup sounds like a Tele bridge pickup to me. So putting that in the middle of a Strat with a humbucker in the bridge would give me my three favorite pickup sounds in one guitar. Epic
@@joateon Exactly. The Fralin Texas special, when put in the middle or bridge position, gives a slightly Tele vibe that is just awesome.
Strats are great and pretty much mandatory equipment for the serious electric guitarist, and all positions have their sonic strong suit and "best used for" application. Jeff Beck puts on a clinic of strat switch flippery conjuring a wide array of vibes and tones every time he picked up a strat. One last little note - a really great fix for the bridge position excessive treble issue is to switch the tone control pot from the middle to the bridge pickup and it's super easy to do, as it only requires moving one wire from the 5 way switch from the middle pickup terminal to the bridge pickup terminal. By doing this now you can take some of the treble away with the tone control, and even achieve a rather meaty humbucker type tone which would be impossible with the previous tone control arrangement, and as well there is a sort of unexpected bonus by the fact that removing the tone control from the middle pickup it adds just a little bit of high-end brightness to the middle pickup that makes the in-between positions sound a bit more chimey spanky clucky and funkier to my ear, and the best part is that you dont have to buy anything, just move one wire that's all. People have asked me numerous times "How are you getting that humbucker sound out of a single coil bridge pickup ?" ... that's how. I've done this mod for a few friends and the repeat comment is "I don't know why Fender doesn't wire them like that, as moving that one wire just makes it sound better, more diverse without losing any traditional sounds..." Check this easy mod out, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised, and if you didn't care for that, move the one wire back. Enjoy !
Sounds great, guys! Jimmie Vaughan is one player that uses the middle pup quite a bit.
Rhett,, u have THE most interesting vids! I’m 69 and have learned so much that I skipped over. My one man band has benefited greatly with yur informative vids!
Keep em’ coming! I’m a fan!
I have all my Strats (5 of them) wired to a configuration that gives me two more than standard settings; bridge and neck as well as all three plus master tone. The Neck/Bridge setting is close to but slightly different than Middle. All three is just something else entirely. This is what I like about the Stratocaster; it's utter versatility.
Adding a push-pull (or push-push) pot to activate the neck pickup regardless of the switch position is an easy and super useful mod.
I was in fact sleeping on this position until this video, and for the past few months I've been using it a TON. Directly changed my playing for the better, thank you Rhett!
Hey Rhett that looks like a classic vibe not an affinity. Great guitar that punches above its weight class.
Yep looks like a classic vibe.
it's a classic vibe! =)
yup its a 60s classic vibe
Yes! Totally agree! The middle p'up is where mine rests most of the time. Most players sleep on it, and I rarely ever use the 4th position.
Albert Hammond Jr uses the middle pickup in both the Strokes and his solo work to great effect. It's my favorite strat sound.
He rigged his switch up so the bottom position is just the middle pickup so he can't knock it out of place.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Rhett. The middle pickup on a Strat can be sonic magic.
Couple of my strats do not have the tone control connected to the bridge - rewired and took it away from the middle position put it to the bridge and definitely made a huge difference for a lead tone... Very smooth, round and great sustain when complimented with a great overdrive
I agree. I've been gigging with a Squire Affinity for 2 yrs ( $100 pawn shop find ) I use the middle pu for rhythm 90%, neck for solo. Underrated guitars.
2 and 4 positions are NOT out of phase - they are in phase, in parallel. Wire them in series and you won't worry about them sounding weak. Other than that, I fully agree - third position is a banger on a good strat.
Yep! They are reverse wind reverse polarity which puts the guitar signal in phase, and the hum out of phase for noise cancellation
Strats sound WAAAAY better when the middle pickup is nonrwrp.
The middle pickup is reversed so that they are out of phase, even if wired in parallel.
I don't understand any of that...but my strat sounds pretty quacky and out of phase in position 2. But *not in position 4, that is actually my fav position by a mile, it's sound sort of like the neck but with more clarity and presence. I'm not sure why the 2 post sounds out of phase while the 4 doesn't.
I agree 100% ...I have been a strat player for over 50 plus years...... majority of time using the first position or third position on my strat ... lately I have been migrating toward the middle position and enjoying it .... Recently in the last year or so I have stepped out of my comfort zone and bought a Gibson Les Paul standard and a les Paul jr. . I kept them for about a month or so and just couldn't bond with humbucker pickups or a P90 that was in the junior... so I sold them both .... about two months ago I got a wild hair to get a PRS S2 ... I saw a video you did on PRS guitars and you seem to lean towards the S2 , so I decided to get one ..... that now is for sale . All three of those instruments played very well ..... I have my strat that I bought in 1970 when I was 14 and that will be 53 this year....I bought a 2007 mim strat several years ago .... I put noiseless pickups in and swapped out the rosewood neck for a maple neck .... I have just come to the conclusion that my mind is so bent on strat tones for myself I will stop buying other guitars and just enjoy the two strats I have . Dont know if my narrow mind set is good or bad ... it is what it is ... kepp up the good work you do ....I find all your videos entertaining and mostly very informative... Thank You
That snare drum sound 🔥
Something about a deep snare, man
I haven't owned a Stray for over 40 years. When I bought one last year, a Donner
DST-400, I gravitated immediately to using the middle pick-up primarily.
Interesting that Clapton mainly used the middle pickup on a single strat for most of the show when I saw him in 2021. Sounded great
YES!! finally someone talks about the middle pickup of the strat 💚 I use it because it has a middle tone (literally) between the bass and treble, and I use the tone knob of the middle pickup around 8 or 9
yes!, strat middle pickup at tone 8 is goldilocks.🎸
I recently rewired mine to a 3 position switch as I always found 2 and 4 useless for my style. Unbelievable how hard it was to find a reference for this or a diagram. I did find one with a vid using tone 2 as a blend control for the middle to N/B. After messing with different caps and PU heights I am very pleased with the results. Kinda have the best of 3 and 5 position switches with no volume loss, bonus having all three at once too! Thanks Rhett, always look forward to your knowledge.
I'm currently rebuilding and upgrading my first Squier Strat that hasn't been playable in 20 years. Can't wait to hear those Lace Sensors. Thanks for the tips, hoping to finally do the Strat thing!
My strat has a bunch of mods, but the one relevant here is removing the tone pot from the middle pickup and putting it on the bridge. I usually use neck and bridge, or position 2 and 4 in series (which is the main thing that my strat does that's special) for leads, and then go to that middle pickup and roll my volume back to get a rhythm sound. It has some thump, it has some sparkle, and with the volume knob rolled off a bit it thickens nicely and just works for a rhythm sound. I feel like on a lot of older budget strats, such as my first guitar, the middle pickup lacked that magic due to the poor quality of the pickups. I have some seymour duncans in my current strat and I have to agree with Rhett that it's one of the best strat sounds out there
Cool video Rhett! I've been using the middle pickup on my Strat a lot over the past several years. I find it really versatile, whether with clean or overdriven tones. You also mentioned about the bridge pickup being harsh and tough to use for some things; I agree, so I had a mod done to my Strat where I now have only one tone and the volume is where the other (closest to the strings) tone used to be. The remaining tone control controls all 3 pickups, which has given my bridge pickup a whole new lease on life. Far more usable! The whole thing started because I was so used to my Music Man EVH having the volume control farther away from my right hand (which I prefer). The discussion with the tech went from there to the tone controls and pickups. Now my Strat is amazing!
The same goes for the mid position on guitars whether it's with P90s or humbuckers on Gibson Les Paul's, ES 335's SG's and others. I found that much of the guitar parts on the records from the 60's and 70's used the mid position. They really have a different kind of expression as far as tones go.
Of course Strat players like the 2 & 4 positions because you still get the twang but with fuller sound and the benefits of using those pickup combinations as, in effect, a selectable bridge or neck humbucker because the single-coil middle pickup is wound and wired out-of-phase. I agree that the middle pickup by itself is a sweet sound usually overlooked. Glad to see you featuring Squier! I'm a longtime Epiphone fan who has acquired a few Squiers in the last couple years and like Epiphones they are great guitars in their own right and killer bang-for-buck for folks like me that can't afford or justify spending a helluva lot more on a Gibson or Fender these days. I know you can pretty much buy or get the hookup on whatever you want to play but I appreciate you giving attention and support to brands and models that many of us more budget-constrained players are interested in and can better afford. I do have a couple 'nicer' guitars in my modest collection but I'd be proud to have a Strat just like the one you played in this video.
The Strat has MANY great sounds. THAT (…and amazing ergonomics) is what makes it such a great guitar.
I love the middle pick up on my strat. I use Neck and the middle pick up almost always..... I´m with you bro.
Another great video Rhett! I love using the 2 and 4 positions where the middle blends with the bridge or neck more than the middle by itself. All depends on amp/cab and overall tone you're going for!
The frontwoman and guitarist for the alt rock band Screaming Females, Marissa Paternoster, is known for playing G&L Strats on nothing but the middle pickup with loads of fuzz and that yields some really filthy tones!
I respect and understand your view and perception of the different sounds you can get from a strat. And if you like the middle pickup sound, thats wonderful. Still, I think you’re missing out the versatility and dynamics of the sounds that you really can get out of it. Personally, I love the ability to choose the sound that serves the actual song I’m playing the best. Like you I, love the middle pickup by it self, but in some songs it’s just too anonymous and generic. And it’s hard to determine what guitar that´s being used. I love it when you can hear the characteristics of a certain guitar. As opposed to something that just sounds - guitar.
Anyway, love your work and your willing to share your knowledge and thoughts about this wonderful instrument.
Me Too !!!
I love the strat middle position. You said very well it still retains some nice attack and it has a good balance of bridge brightness and neck warmth. No other guitar sounds alike. Thank you Rhett 👍
In my early years playing guitar and learning on a Strat I felt like positions 2 and 4 were so cool because it was instantly in the ball park of Stevie and Jimi and John but the better I got the more I prefer the neck and middle because I was able to play more dynamically and get my tone that way rather than relying on the instant pretty effect of 2 and 4. Just my two cents. Every position is great on a strat
Agreed, I just started using the middle pup a lot.
I'm starting to see some serious mojo from Rhett. Rythm, tone, timing, feel all coming together. I think you may need a cool rim hat and a music tattoo on a fore arm to complete the look.
Rhett got rythm!
I agree, He is getting better.
Everything but the tattoo.
I agree! The middle pick-up is a well rounded sound and packs a punch when used with overdrive or distortion.
I love the middle position, especially for clean settings and I play it even more than 2 or 4 at times. Agree with your criticism of bridge tones sounding too brittle and harsh for some purposes. l modded my Strat to have a global tone knob instead of separate ones for the bridge and neck -- that way I can get some mellow tones out of the middle position too by rolling back the tone, the simplified circuit leads to a clearer tone and overall it just makes more sense to me.
Jerry Garcia loved the middle position in the strat. Built it into his later guitars and played it most often
Always loved the middle pickup-really captures the sound of the wood and is perfectly balanced. Well done, Rhett.
Definitely sit in the middle position most of the time. Love it! I could be wrong, but I feel like often when Paul Simon played electric it was a strat with only the middle pickup.
Agree. The middle pickup on my Modern Eagle V is one of my favorite sounds ever, and I love the middle pickup on my Strat as well.
Oh man, the Modern Eagle V is amazing, and nobody talks about that middle single coil. It’s so good.
I designed a guitar with a P90 in the middle position and it is amazing. So versatile for being a single pickup guitar!
Playing The Meters on the 3 position, outstanding!
I use the middle pickup extremely rarely, on my strat.I will reconsider!
Strats have been my main (electric) guitars for many many years and I just learned about 1,2 years ago that so many people won't use the middle pickup at all or even hate it.
Since I didn't know we were supposed to dislike it (I honestly believe that this is a good part of this narrative...), I used the middle pickup a lot. 🙃
The strat tone is why I started to play guitar. I love everything about that punchy bell like tone. I just bought one of the 40th aniv Squier Jazzmasters and I shit you not it's one of the best guitars I've ever owned. Squier has for sure upped their game.
The other night, I was banging away on the middle pickup of my Suhr HHH strat. I didn't realize but I hit the coil splitter in the heat of battle. I do play on the middle humbucker a lot of the time.
After about of playing on the middle split pickup, I was amazed how much fun I'd had with it.
Love your channel, love your guitar "gun for hire" work with others... but lord almighty, I do love it when you just groove out on a jam like this intro. Killin' it, bruh... absolutely killing it.
So I was using my middle pickup primarily on my Strat for about 15 years because of the tonal balance. Pickup brand definitely makes a difference- I replaced my Kinman HX noiseless with Lollar Dirty Blackface and I switched to mainly neck now. Yes, the middle pickup is an unsung hero of tone, but it also depends on the pickup - some sound amazing, while others sound just ok.
Agree, why I'm very fussy over the pups in a Strat, pickup height and adjustment makes a big difference, once you get right, each position should be good, not have a mediocre middle.
The Meters riff totally sounded proper middle pickup! I learned something as a lifelong Strat player! Thanks
For the past few years I've strictly been playing Les Pauls, and mostly on the bridge pickup. I recently went back to playing my Strat and playing it on the middle pickup. It's all i play now.
Couldn’t agree more. Had a Mexican strat from the 90’s. Had hot rails in the bridge and neck when I bought it. Always went to the middle pickup only position when I played it. Sounded best in that position for me.
I recently bought another Strat, removed the bridge and neck pickups, put a Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the mid position. It now has master volume and tone and a 2-way-switch for series/parallel. It's my main slide guitar, but it's also a great choice for any session with another guitarist because either they don't have a middle pickup or they don't use it...
I love that strats are so versatile, and durable too. They can take a beating, so you get more use out of it, whereas a Gibson you gotta be all delicate-like
I have an HSH Suhr that when I want something that’s clear, airy, straight ahead, and just the right sound, I use the middle pickup. Just the right amount of output with the right amount of clarity, super versatile.
If any of y'all are into CCM or modern P&W, or if you want your guitar to simply "sit" in a cluttered mix, position 3 of the Strat is a valuable option. Thanks for this video Rhett!
The neck pickup with a bit of sculpting from and eq pedal is my favourite. Cut a little bass, boost the kids a little and it sits perfectly in the mix
It's my main spot on a Strat. I added a pretty high output DiMarzio Super Distortion S. A little Strat size output machine, but I rarely use it, just for when I wanna make the amp squeal in horror. Usually I keep it fairly clean, and the middle gives enough shine for solos but without that tinny, icepick tone of a bridge SC. Love it.
The middle pick up is where I live ... its part of my sound .. love it !
Hi, try this sound: use the middle pickup together with a tubescreamer pushing into a Vox-amp, and roll down the tone-pot about 50%-60% now play the open A string together with a C# (=11.fret) on the D-string.
I've always hated every Strat I've picked up... So I just bought a Squier 40th anniversary Strat to try to learn to love it. And you know what? I'm getting there. Gonna try the middle pickup out more now. Thanks, Rhett!
after 47 years playing,i have bought myself my first strat 2009 deluxe,,for that clean bell like sound,,,no guitar neck ever touched an old shergold masquerader had one since 1981
Totally agree Rhett. I usually play on the mid Pup and move to a " Strat Sound " on The Neck .... and the Surfy vibe of the Bridge.
I have a Fat Strat, HSS, and play mostly in the bridge. I have a Seymour Duncan Humbucker there which I love. I will also play many times in the middle position and find that it gives me that deep tone that I was looking for from the neck position but has clarity as well.
I built a Strat Pickguard with 3 way switch and the following pickups: Neck SD Cool Rail for those sweet mellow neck sounds, Bridge SD SH5 Ceramic Magnet humbucker for screaming rock and in the middle a Fender Hot Alnico 3 Singlecoil for the classic Strat tone. This guitar does it all!
I'm a middle pickup guy, I use it all time, I love it
Been using it for years - it’s my favorite position on the strat and a big reason why I play them!
I like the bridge pickup in my Player Strat as well as all the other positions you mentioned. Also I ended up with two Player HSS versions and they are my favorite Strats. Bridge HB sounds great and powerful and in pos 4 it splits the coils so you still get the fantastic blend of the others. And the second tone knob only controls the bridge pickup, genius!!
Jerry Garcia was a big middle pick up guy too, love that sound !
I like the middle clean I think it's gives you that pure Fender tone!
The middle pickup on my 2020 mim strat is so badass...smooth
Love the middle pick-up! Great work showing it some love. As guitar players, I love when we talk about sounds -in and of themselves- vs. associating them with a certain type of genre or style of playing. If we approached pickup configurations without any assumptions about how they're "supposed to be used", we'll end up creating great new music and learning much more from one another. Nothing against the tried and true- especially when you're learning/teaching. I just love respecting those who try something unusual.
Also, I think it's common to describe positions 2 and 4 as "out of phase", but I don't think that's technically accurate. It's possible for them to be wired such that they're out of phase, but I don't think modern strats are built that way. Maybe it's one of those things where people are misusing the term because everyone "knows what they really mean", but sometimes it's hard to find good technically accurate guitar wiring information out there, so I figured I would chime in. If I'm wrong, let me know.
The middle pickup is where it is at!
The middle pickup is generally reverse-wound (compared to bridge and neck), which would make the two pickups in the 2 and 4 positions out of phase if that were the end of the story (and it makes them out of phase nicely for electrical interference like 50/60 Hz hum). But then the middle pickup also has the polarity of the magnetic pole pieces reversed as well (again compared to the bridge and neck pickups). In total then, for the music output signal from the vibrating strings, this makes the two pickups in the 2 and 4 positions twice out of phase, which net brings them back into phase. The two ways the pickups in the 2 and 4 positions are out of phase bring them back (more or less) into phase for the musical output (but not for any induced hum, which doesn't care about the magnets and is only a function of the pickup coils). These middle pickups are sometimes called reverse-wound/reverse-polarity to describe the two ways they are out of phase with the bridge and neck pickups.
The middle pickup on a PRS Silversky sounds soooo good
Yeah you're right I never use it, in fact I lower it to be flush with pick guard so it doesn't get in my way when I'm picking. But, I may have to explore that pup again... Great video as always!
The slepton is one of the most overlooked particles.
The only S type I own, has the middle switch position wired for neck and bridge. This to me is a much more useable tone that emulates a tele. The minimal differences between the middle pickup alone and the neck or bridge, can almost always be EQ'd out. I'm contemplating adding a phase switch, but hate the look of cluttered controls. Don't wanna have to take it all apart to swap in another push/pull on the volume pot. It's got more than enough options already.
i only used the neck and neck/middle for decades. but when you get old things change. now i use them all.
Yeah! Any time I play my strat I live on the middle pickup. Love it.
I don't have a strat any longer, but the middle pickup position was always my happy place. Very rarely ever changed it.
I did the Jimmy Vaughn mod on my strat. Tone controls control the bridge and neck p/u's. The middle is wide open joy to my ears and my favorite position. I agree that if you watch the videosclosely, you will find may guitarists use the 'nobody uses' middle p/u alone.
you make a very good point, definitely onto something, reminds me of when i was in manhattan in 2002, cant remember the name of the place but there was a brilliant house band there which included Billy Joel's sax player although i didnt know that at the time, on guitar was a real road worn guy with a very road worn strat, i did not own a strat at the time but watching him play i noticed he was never out of the middle position, all night that pickup selector hardly moved, i never forgot that because he sounded great
People complain about the strat bridge pickup being not hot enough, but if you listen to a lot of Hendrix you’ll notice that Hendrix used his bridge pickup almost like the neck pickup, it’s a very delicate tone. But when you want to go nuts the middle pickup is what you’re looking for
I have 3 strats now
a standard SSS strat
a former HSH, now a HSP90(HSS)
and a HSS
all of them have the middle pickup because some pedals listen more better on the middle pickup (e.g. env filter) + in between positions is the bonus
I love the middle position too and use it very often.
One of my favorite guitar players, Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, pretty much plays a strat exclusively in the middle position, and is able to get great sounds and a lot of variety.