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Middle position on pickup selector


Silenced Fred

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I never use it. And I mean never.

 

Are there any mods to make something cool happen when in the middle position? I alternate between the pickups, having one for on about 4 for cleans, and the other cranked all the way up. I like the versatility this adds.

 

Just curious

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I never use it. And I mean never.

 

Are there any mods to make something cool happen when in the middle position? I alternate between the pickups' date=' having one for on about 4 for cleans, and the other cranked all the way up. I like the versatility this adds.

 

Just curious[/quote']

 

This is the reason im having my pups installed out of phase... ala Peter Green.

Im not keen on the middle position. I only use it as a kill switch. So I decided why not get

one more tone I can use.

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I assume you are talking about a Les Paul.

 

I use the middle position sometimes, all knobs on 10 then I turn the neck volume to 5 especially when playing clean tones, it give the brightness of the bridge pickup and adds some warmth from the neck pickup. I also like that setting for clean-ish slide sounds.

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Peter Greens neck pup had (by accident) the magnet turned 180 degrees. Therefore when the pup selector was set to the

middle position it put the pups magnetically "out of phase".....So you get a nasal, kind of hollow tone. Its really a sweet sound in the right

hands.

 

The bridge & neck pups will stay the same...but as soon as you select the middle position

it goes out of phase....check out Peter Green on YouTube.

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I assume you are talking about a Les Paul.

 

I use the middle position sometimes, all knobs on 10 then I turn the neck volume to 5 especially when playing clean tones, it give the brightness of the bridge pickup and adds some warmth from the neck pickup. I also like that setting for clean-ish slide sounds.

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Peter Greens neck pup had (by accident) the magnet turned 180 degrees. Therefore when the pup selector was set to the

middle position it put the pups magnetically "out of phase".....So you get a nasal' date=' kind of hollow tone. Its really a sweet sound in the right

hands.

 

The bridge & neck pups will stay the same...but as soon as you select the middle position

it goes out of phase....check out Peter Green on YouTube.[/quote']

 

Will do. That seems really cool

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I use the middle position a lot. To me it acts like a beefier bridge pickup (which sounds a little too thin for me) and like a brighter neck pickup (which is a great pickup, but with very specific applications.) I've tried bringing the bridge pickup closer to the strings, but the difference is minimal to my ears--and again, the bridge position is fine, but for very specific applications.

 

For me, the middle is the go-to position. But hey, I don't know what sort of tones you're interested, so I'm only writing from experience (and, unfortunately, not really being very helpful.) But the middle position tends to get me closer to the Jerry Garcia on Workingman's Dead tone that I go after so often.

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I only use the middle position on my teles' date=' and even then not that mutch.

 

On my lesters? Never.[/quote']

 

On most guitars, I only use one pickup. When I play Strats, I don't like the sound of the 2 and 4 positions. I played some Teles yesterday, didn't really care for the middle position.

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I too have been a 1 pickup user from time to time. Sometimes it's the neck pickup' date=' sometimes the bridge pickup, I don't care for guitars with a middle pickup.

 

Right now I love all my teles' neck pickups sounds for clean and mild OD tones. [biggrin

 

That's what I noticed when I played on em. I like the neck for cleans and a little bit of crunch, but it sounded weird when I turned up the gain. The bridge pickup shone on for that. I really liked it

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I use all three positions. Bridge for cranking rythym and leads. Middle for mellow leads and smooth cleans. Neck for mellow / bluesy leads. Almost always leave the knobs cranked except occasionally I roll down the volume on the neck with middle position to add a little bite.

 

You've gotta have variety.

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lpguitarman' date=' i see you have a dod grunge pedal...i had one about 12 years ago and damm what a good pedal that is!!!! [thumbup']

 

Yep, It's really good for heavy distortion which is what I use it for. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, UFO etc... I also roll down the volume on my bridge PU when using it. Gives me heavy distortion without feedback then I crank the volume back up for leads.

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You've gotta have variety.

 

 

No I don't! [thumbup]

 

Really, I go nuts everytime I pick up a guitar with too many options... I'm a simple guy, give me 2 pickups and 1 vol 1 tone controls and I'll be in heaven, give me 2 pickups with 2 vol - 2 tone knobs, and I'll be close to loosing it.

 

5 way switches are out of question for me, and don't even mention those crazy PRS 513s or those guitars with 5 way switch+series/parallel micro switches+coil tapping+coil splitting :- I wouldn't know what to do with all of them.

 

 

 

That said, the one multi-tone guitar I'd like to own and think I would play a lot is the one built by Brian May.

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I use all three but use the middle mainly when playing clean(ish). Adjusting the height of either your neck or bridge pickup can help you get a better middle tone; it's usually a compromise between the middle position and whichever pickup you decide to adjust but I've got my LP set up to where it sounds good to me using any pickup combo.

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No I don't! [thumbup]

 

That said' date=' the one multi-tone guitar I'd like to own and think I would play a lot is the one built by Brian May.[/quote']

 

tg, do you mean the BM signature? because you can pick them up for about £600 over here...:-

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I've just recently found an appreciation for the middle position on my pickup switch. -I was always a bridge pickup for 'dirty', and neck pickup for 'clean' kind of guy. Lately I've been really keen on fuzz pedals, and I get a pretty awesome tone with just a Big Muff, the switch in the middle, and all knobs on 10. [biggrin]

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