Purpose of the middle pickup?

[Nez]

You've probably noticed I've been posting a few threads (which I apologize), I'm just trying to find a definitive answer to my questions which I have millions  :shock:

The last couple weeks I've been researching pickups mad and decided to just go for a straight Holy Diver/Coldsweat for one of my guitars, but decided on Dimarzios for my other guitar (yes I know, not BKP).

Well for my Ibanez S I'm sticking in an AT-1 in the bridge and Paf 36th Anniversary in the neck, but I'm going to go for a BKP for the middle SC as Dimarzio don't really have many good traditional Strat options. What would be a good pairing between these 2 pickups? Here's the specs of both:

AT-1
Magnet: Alnico 5
Output mV: 320
DC Resistance: 16.50 Kohm

Paf 36th Anniversary
Magnet: Alnico 5
Output mV: 250
DC Resistance: 7.31 Kohm

But my main question is, what is the purpose of the middle single coil? Is their anything that it really shines with? Especially with my pickup choice? I've never played a top branded middle single coil so I can't really say I've had a single shred of experience.

Cheers,

Nez

[tekbow]

i think jazz guys like the middle single coil, but i always thought they were for making position 2 of a 5 way selector on a strat sound awesome  :D

[Nez]

It'd be nice for me to get something that compliments the pickups I'm getting, but as well be unique on it's own. Something that will split nice with the two Dimarzios tbh. Just looking for a great versatile instrument which the 2 Dimarzios provide them on their own, but no harm in looking for that extra bit more I guess? :) I'm in the mood for being surprised!

[Telerocker]

The middle-IT in my guitars sounds very nice by itself, but combines great with my splitted Crawler too. Of course you get the Fenderish vintagequack. If that's what you want, the IT would more or less on par with the splitted AT1.

[Nez]

How do you think it would pair with the Paf as well? I'd prefer it to balance to a certain extent, but also sound like a unique pickup on it's own. I'm just really not familiar in what I could do with that position.

[Telerocker]

How do you think it would pair with the Paf as well? I'd prefer it to balance to a certain extent, but also sound like a unique pickup on it's own. I'm just really not familiar in what I could do with that position.

You could wire it with the full PAF and IT, which would provide and interesting full tone with sparkle. Or split the PAF, but it might then be a bit weak for the IT.

[Ian Price]

This guy seems to get on well with just a middle pickup:

[Telerocker]

This guy seems to get on well with just a middle pickup:

I like how Paul keeps things simple.  :)

[JonnyScaramanga]

That picture looks like a single coil-sized humbucker though – possibly a Seymour Duncan JB Jr.

Back on topic, I think the middle pickup alone is an underrated position (including by me, as I rarely use it). On a Strat, as you would expect, it's a pleasing halfway house between the neck and bridge sounds.

But like tekbow said, I like them best in combination with the neck and bridge pickups on a Strat.

Ibanez wiring usually splits the humbuckers in positions 2 and 4 of the switch so you can get somewhat Strat-like tones (an approximation of the Hendrix Little Wing tone, for example). If you were going for BK humbuckers, I bet the VHII would work well here. But I can't tell you for sure, because mine has 2-conductor wiring.

[Nez]

Well I've actually ended up choosing the PAF Pro over the Paf 36th Anniversary now so it has a tad more output and is more 80s voiced that vintage voiced, so would you say a very nice clean single coil would be a great balance to be a very versatile guitar?

[JonnyScaramanga]

A split humbucker is not equal in output to a full single coil, so yes, a nice low-ouput single coil is likely to balance better than a hot one.

[add4]

isn't it often used for a out of phase sound?

[add4]

i also loved the middle pickup on my hsh strat, so i had one position with a single coil :)