On a Strat, I would use the neck (position 5) for most everything that was Dick Dale like..for Ventures, Astronauts etc position 4 and for Shadows position 1 (bridge with the tone rolled back some..thats just me..I'm sure you'll get a lot of different opinions on this..let your ears tell you what sounds right..

www.northofmalibu.com

I use all of the non in-between pickup settings and often switch pickups within a song. Certain songs call for different pickup selections and there is no hard an fast rule. Just go with what sounds good to you.

Although when playing through a blackface amp, I do find myself having to dial back the treble on the amp when using the bridge pickup. Not necessary with my Vibroverb reissue though.

Ryan
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I use the bridge pick up most of the time. My strat is set up so that I can use the neck and bridge pick up as well. I rarely use my neck or mid p-up alone.

I use a Fender Vibrasonic (1960) with a 15" speaker, so it isn't a very bright amp.

Rev

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Count me in as another fan of the middle pickup - it's the one I've used the most for the past five years, though I'll still use the bridge and neck pickups on occasion, too. Sometimes I'll switch between them in the same song.

I personally dislike the sound of combined pickups (the 'in-between' positions, 2-and-4), so I never use them. In fact, three of my four Strats have 3-way pickup switches.

In the Space Cossacks I never used the middle pickup - for the aggressive passages, I'd use the bridge pickup, and for the mellower passages, I'd switch to neck. Or I'd switch to the neck pickup on aggressive songs when playing on treble strings, cause otherwise it would get really trebly and piercing, something I've definitely become much more sensitive to over the years.

There's a very clear photo of DD playing live back in the white-Strat days, and you can see the pickup switch in the middle position. As far as someone like Hank Marvin, he used all three pickups extensively.

Hope that helps!

Ivan
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morphball
I guess this is somewhat on-topic... when choosing a pickup(s), does anyone ever adjust the tone too (either live or recording), or just always leave it full-throttle?

Occaionally I'll roll the tone control back ever so slightly but that's only if the sound is very harsh. The only other times I turn down the tone is for some Jazz playing or if I'm going for a Clapton sound, something I rarely do.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

morphball
Hmm, I guess at least a master tone control could be useful then. I ask because I was thinking of a future strat project with no tone knobs since I've personally never used them, just a 3- or 5-way switch and a push/pull volume pot (to activate the neck).

Fender has no-load tone pots available as parts. When it's all the way up it's just like having no tone pot in the circuit.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

morphball
I'm just not a wiring expert at all, and have concerns that removing a couple 250K pots would brighten the signal too much.

It worked for DD.

Ivan
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Last edited: Jan 02, 2010 22:05:48

Good point, Danny... and I actually didn't know the Beast had that particular mod, Ivan; maybe that bypass plays a (very) small role in his overall great sound. I'm thinking that with a neck-on switch, a 3-way is the only switch necessary; I don't anticipate a bridge/middle or bridge/middle/neck would be too useful for me. Oh well, this is just a mental exercise anyway, I'm a ways off before I could actually do this, thanks for the great input though.

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

ColtsSurf
On the G&L S-type guitars (Legacy, Comanche, etc.), the tone knobs are actually very useful.

They are set up in a PTB system, which stands for Passive Treble and Bass tone controls. The first knob is the normal Volume control. The second or middle knob is a Treble Cut control. The third knob is a Bass Cut control.

These controls go across all of the pickups, so you can really customize the tone for each selector switch position. Unlike the normal Strat arrangement, treble and bass frequencies can be cut separately.

For example, if you use the bridge position but would like to dial back the brightness, you can roll off the treble and max the bass. On the other hand, if you like the neck position but want better note definition, you can roll back the bass while maintaining the treble.

I don't know whether this system could be adapted for an actual Strat, but it might be interesting.

Paul

It should be doable, easy even. I don't know to what extent I'd like it but the idea is interesting.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Ruhar
if I had a tone knob wired to my bridge pickup, I most certainly would!

Interesting... I'm surprised you haven't Jimmie Vaughan'ed your wiring then! My last strat had a master tone, but I never touched the bugger, even for the bridge. I really suspected that my ears were just not developed enough to appreciate a strat's tonal nuances, but I guess tone=10 is just my personal taste.

Mike
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