Possibly bizarre pickup question...

[Contrition.Josh]

This might be a very odd question concerning pickup height and pickup output.. but i recently purchased a guitar with a HSH configuration. And my general feelings are quite mixed, seeing as i quite like the tones, but i can't help but get annoyed at that middle pickup being right where i usually pick. So now to make my question very short, is it at all possible to get a high-gain single-coil pickup and stick it in the middle position, but simultaneously set the pickup height very low, so it - in theory - would behave as a low/medium output pickup? or would i simply get a weak and unclear middle position instead?.

To summarize: Can a High Output pickup, act as Low/Medium Output pickup if it sits lower in the guitar/ further from the strings?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.. this is always my go-to place for setting my weird pickup-y thoughts straight.

[Andrew W]

Fender did it with the first Custom Shop Telemasters: they had a neck pickup under the pickguard. Sounded OK as I recall from the videos I watched.

[m t soule]

Yeah man, my rg's n jem all have that issue. The ibanez s1 pick ups have high sharp edged pole pieces which are what catch the plec. My rg with the bkp single middle has lower bevelled edge pole pieces and is not an issue. Note steve vai has his middle screwed flat with the pick guard as far as i know.
So if you are looking to upgrade consider pole hight in relation to the bobbin case.

Y

[Alex]

Alternatively it shouldn't be too hard to get a H-H pickguard for an RG and then ditch the single coil completely. There are a lot of RGs that have only two humbuckers but still a lot of sounds due to the clever 5-way switching.