Anyone moved or removed the middle pup on a strat?

lovestrat74

I am intrigued to know if anyone has either moved the middle pup up alongside the neck pickup or in front of the bridge in order to create more picking space in the centre?  Or maybe even removed the middle pup altogether?

If so, how did it sound? And did it make much difference in the playability department? Oh and pics would be good too

Funkfingers

Blackmore removes them.

Robbie Robertson sometimes has the middle pickup positioned next to the bridge pickup to form what looks like a slanted humbucker.

On some HSS Stratocasters, Fender repositions the middle pickup slightly towards the neck pickup. In my opinion, this alters sound of the neck + centre combination for the worse.

Maynehead

Not a strat but this guy has the right idea...

https://i.imgur.com/pi4H0pz.jpg

prowla

You could just lower the pickup to sit flush with the fingerboard.

lovestrat74

prowla said:

You could just lower the pickup to sit flush with the fingerboard.

Yeah thought of that but then all pups would need to be flush otherwise middle would sound too weak. I think patlanski - or one of the new breed - sets up with all pups flush so could give that I go..

lovestrat74

Funkfingers said:

Blackmore removes them.

Robbie Robertson sometimes has the middle pickup positioned next to the bridge pickup to form what looks like a slanted humbucker.

On some HSS Stratocasters, Fender repositions the middle pickup slightly towards the neck pickup. In my opinion, this alters sound of the neck + centre combination for the worse.

Well I wouldn't want to alter the sound of the neck so it would have to go back to the bridge ala robbie Robertson 

prowla

lovestrat74 said:

prowla said:

You could just lower the pickup to sit flush with the fingerboard.

Yeah thought of that but then all pups would need to be flush otherwise middle would sound too weak. I think patlanski - or one of the new breed - sets up with all pups flush so could give that I go..

Well, if you were just using it to shape the tone of the bridge pickup to get the out of phase tone, then it might work. It could be handy for playing quiet parts too...

lovestrat74

@markv hi there, just found your thread on a similar subject. Did you ever do the middle pup mod?

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/63429/middle-pickup-position

lovestrat74

I think this is the way to go... 

markv

lovestrat74 said:

@markv hi there, just found your thread on a similar subject. Did you ever do the middle pup mod?

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/63429/middle-pickup-position

No, I didn't go ahead with it in the end. I tried lowering the middle pickup and that was OK-ish but not very satisfactory. I couldn't find any evidence that you'd keep the same sounds if you moved it - and it's those in-between sounds that are my favourite thing on a Strat. In fact, soon after I decided it was about the only thing I like about Strats anyway and these days I'm mostly a twin-humbucker kinda guy  

Sorry not very helpful I know!

lovestrat74

Drastic but definitely helps with the picking 

octatonic

Ry Cooder does this:

lovestrat74

There is a company called Waterslide in US that makes variations on this - very cool indeed!

paulnb57

Like this?

http://i.imgur.com/7fr6tQM.jpg

lovestrat74

Yup, looks a bit weird, but can really dig in with my fingers now..

bbill335

The middle p90 on my firebird is not much use to me. I'm thinking of pulling it so I can use the pot that currently blends in the mid p90 and have proper 2x vol 2x tone for neck and bridge.

lovestrat74

bbill335 said:

The middle p90 on my firebird is not much use to me. I'm thinking of pulling it so I can use the pot that currently blends in the mid p90 and have proper 2x vol 2x tone for neck and bridge.

Yes for me the first tone pot is master and the second blends the neck and bridge for that Tele (ish) sound. More than enough tonal options for me