All 5 positions....

Hootsmon

tell us about your favourite Strat switch positions and the ones you don't use

and who ( famous dudes) uses what position for great legendary Strat tones on record and live?

position 1 = switch closest to bridge

guitars4you

looking at the OP heading I was hoping to learn something new and try it tonight

guitars4you

Seriously I'm neck only most of the time, then 2 or 4 at times

Never use 3 and only the bridge on rare occassions

Sporky

When I had a strat (well, a G&L Legacy) I liked 3 best.

Then I put humbuckers in it and liked it more.

richardhomer

All except Middle/Neck generally. On a ‘good’ Strat they all sound good - including the bridge.

Hootsmon

Do peeps struggle with the bridge PUP and are most Strats shy of a tone control for the bridge?

munckee

Use them all neck/middle for cleaner than clean type sound middle for 60s pop sounds, bridge/middle for lots, bridge for surf and neck for anything.

strat84

 I only used to use neck, neck/middle and middle/bridge.. I used to hate the middle and thought it was really unforgiving but I find it one of the best now. Great for funk or a bluesy ryhthm or lead, clean or overdriven.

 Live, I think SRV used the neck pickup for Pride & Joy but the album version to my ears is mostly middle then switching to the neck right at the end. 

 

Lestratcaster

Second position (neck/middle together) sounds nicest on mine for cleans. Not overawed by the bridge dirty sound atm though.

Brize

richardhomer said:

All except Middle/Neck generally. On a ‘good’ Strat they all sound good - including the bridge.

I find that some Strats sound better than others in different positions. For example, I've got one Strat that sounds great on the bridge but a bit meh on the neck, while another sounds great in position 2 but the bridge pickup on its own is way too harsh.

poopot

I’m going to throw a spanner in the works and say that I use all “9” positions on mine

jpfamps

I have a 3 way, and mainly use the middle position (which for me is 2).

jpfamps

strat84 said:

 I only used to use neck, neck/middle and middle/bridge.. I used to hate the middle and thought it was really unforgiving but I find it one of the best now. Great for funk or a bluesy ryhthm or lead, clean or overdriven.

 Live, I think SRV used the neck pickup for Pride & Joy but the album version to my ears is mostly middle then switching to the neck right at the end. 

 

SRV would often change pickups mid lick (!).

richardhomer

Brize said:

richardhomer said:

All except Middle/Neck generally. On a ‘good’ Strat they all sound good - including the bridge.

I find that some Strats sound better than others in different positions. For example, I've got one Strat that sounds great on the bridge but a bit meh on the neck, while another sounds great in position 2 but the bridge pickup on its own is way too harsh.

I’ve found the same but the one I have now - and a vintage one I no longer own - sound/sounded genuinely brilliant in every position. 

guitars4you

hootsmon said:

Do peeps struggle with the bridge PUP and are most Strats shy of a tone control for the bridge?

easy mod to wire the bridge pick-up to work on the tone pot with the middle p/up - Or move middle to work with neck tone control and the bridge has its own tone pot - Or Eric Johnson style with tone neck + tone bridge and no tone middle - various options

it is useful to have some tone pot on the bridge to soften any spikey highs

But on a good Strat, with good pots the vol pot provides so much expression - small tweaks on the vol pot dial subtle tonal variations ,especially on gain settings - So much so that it should be called an expression pot and not a volume pot

Hootsmon

thanks Guys 

Alnico

My Strat switch has been wired differently.

1 - Bridge

2 - Bridge and Neck in parallel

3 - Neck

4 - Neck and Middle in parallel

5 - Middle

This puts my most used positions right next to each other and also gives me a new one which sounds excellent.

jimmyguitar

Even though I love the inbetween sounds..at gigs it tends to be middle pickup for funky, rhythm stuff, neck for bluesy breakdowns and bridge for powerchord/lead work.  

flying_pie

jpfamps said:

SRV would often change pickups mid lick (!).

Yngwie Malmsteen will often start a bend on the neck pickup and instantaneously switch to the bridge to really open it up

ICBM

I use all of them, although the single-pickup positions work better for me than the in-between ones.

Some of my favourite player's sounds on the five positions are...

1 Ritchie Blackmore
2 Mark Knopfler
3 Lenny Kaye
4 John Frusciante
5 David Gilmour

Hootsmon

^ RB on pos 1 yet he gets that warm Strat tone?