There's a reason why Eddie Van Halen was so obsessed with getting a humbucker on a strat - it's stronger than the single coil, but sounds more mellow than on a Gibson. It's the eternal Hard Rock sound, and I truly prefer it over the SSS configuration. On another note, the middle pickup seems to me it's the closest to a regular acoustic guitar, but on a solid body. Final note: you sounded like Jerry Cantrell with the wah :)

The Middle Pickup is for me!!

They sound great, would love to buy one **sees price tag** This squier is more my style

The middle is the “quack”, the neck is the “hoot”, the bridge is the “tang”, the 2nd and forth are just blending the duck with either the orange drink or the owl

The middle pickup is honestly my favorite part of a strat. Has the dirtiness of the neck position and the gnarlyness of the bridge. Absolutely beautiful.

tyler is living his childhood through the pickups, him stealing candy bars and someone putting his bike in a crash compactor.

That must be the first relic guitar I've ever liked. That's supremely pretty.

damn, tyler has been proving himself of even a better guitar player than he already was

Feck those are great sounding pickups! (and guitar)

I honestly believe a strat with the hss combination is the most versatile of the of the guitars! You can just do everything from blues to jazz to metal to country

Used to be neck pickup only for me. Lately it's been fairly even between all of them. I think part of it comes down to learning to use dynamics and subtlety better. As we become better players, we learn to use other sounds in ways that are pleasing to our ears.

The "boring" middle pickup was intended to be the "normal sound" in 50's music, as far as Leo and George intended. The bridge even had no tone knob. It was so loud and fuzzy and popular - because it was loud, that amp designers started to make amps sound darker to rectify that. Microphones were also pretty bad at picking high frequency content, and tape and analog recording path didn't exactly contribute. It's why so many vintage amps sound so bright. That's how we got to treble boosters in late 70's for humbucker equipped guitars - the recording and PA technology just got better, and guitar players started to prefer darker amps and guitars.

I used to be a punk rock kid who only used a Strat with a hot rails bridge pickup with volume on 10 but recently upgraded the middle and neck pickup and added a coil tap to the bridge...my options are endless 🤘

Curiously enough, I find the middle pickup pretty userful when using a loop pedal. It's a nice background sound if you are just relying on layers and layers of guitar sound. Nothing too bulky or screamy.

I've played in a wedding 6 piece band, so there was not a lot of room to experiment but (for me and in this context) neck is usual position for rhythm parts and little solos, middle is for slow jazzy songs and bridge is for more "aggressive" rock songs. In-between positions are great for layering yourself behind band-mate with sick solo. Also, for my specific context, I wasn't using volume knob and had to do all dynamics with hands. It was interesting but being able to crank amp volume and fully control performance with volume knob or pedal is liberating

I found myself paying more attention to the split positions after getting into popular math rock bands like polyphia or chon, and I’m sure many can relate. Bought a charvel hss guitar after watching Rick Graham as well, and since then it’s been my favorite guitar tone-wise.

What's your favorite position of an S-type guitar? wHeN iT's iN mY hAnDs

That’s super funny! I just assumed everyone agreed that the single coil bridge pickup was *THE STRAT SOUND* Replacing that with a humbucker seems an awful shame. For me that’d be like removing the best tonal crayon from the Strat crayon box. The humbucker is too much like the middle pickup I just never have occasion for that voice. It lacks the spine tingling, icy nails of death a single bridge pu has. I guess it all depends on context and which heroes you have. I’m not a electric blues guy. I like it fine and respect it, but have zero interest in playing it. Surf, Spaghetti Western, 60s instrumental is way more my bag.

Nobody looks at Tyler's editing skills or camera angles , I appreciate those

I like to think of pickups as different vowel sounds. Neck is "O", middle is "A" and bridge is "E". Am I wrong?

I'm not into "Relic" guitars, but the finish on that one is totally awesome. Loved the tones you were getting.

Paoletti guitars never cease to amaze 🤤

I use the middle pickup for really 80s sounding chorus + reverb/delay clean sections.

Man lately I’ve been in a rut playing trying to learn solos but more precisely instead of kinda noodling through them, and watching you play this video just really made me realize how polished you are in technique and also how experienced at sorta improvising things. Very awesome.

The best sounding strat is Blackmores tone and technique

I know this comment won't reach a lot of people, but for the ones who read it I want to let you know: where you place your picking hand adds way more than you'd expect.

That "U2" piece was so freakin good. I wish you would do a video just on that. Like a more detailed breakdown on that technique, setup, everything really. I just want to loop that part & keep it playing.

Dude your playing has DEFINITELY improved over the last year or so. Keep it up!

That solo at the beginning was 🔥🔥🔥

Wow man what really stands out in your playing are those unbelievable good sounding expressive parts like 0:19... Man that is so insane, also the bends, the whammys, the screaming. This seperates truly expressive and great guitar playing from mindless shredding. Dude seriously you are one of the most skilld guitarplayers that i ever saw. Thanks for that awesome content.

Since I usually play with high gain on the bridge humbucker, I lowered the middle pickup as far down as it would go to get a "cleaner" sound without having to roll off the volume.

I like the sound of the middle pickup on a strat, it combine the thick kinda bluesy sound of the neck pickup with the sharp tone of the bridge pickup.

I personally prefer the out-of-phase sounds of 2 and 4 (when wired that way). The honk and quackiness define the S-type for me.

Me, a month ago: I need a new guitar Tyler, a week later: Strat vs. Tele vs. Les Paul comparison Me: 👀 Me, last week: Ok, settled, bought a Strat Tyler, now: Strat position comparison Me: 👀👀👀

Fun Fact: Not a lot of people know this but Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer was actually recorded using the middle pickup not the middle/neck or neck pickup!

the solo in the end made me feel like i was entering the gates of hell, it was amazing, i loved this video. and the only thing tayler flexes in this channel is his incredible skill. love you man

That strat is gorgeous

You should do more stuff like this! It’s very educating!

You're right, that guitar sounds amazing. And Dude, you're playing is just wonderful.

The opening solo has been your best work i've heard to date

I pretty much use the middle selection whenever I’m playing on a clean setting or when I’m wanting a dirty blues sound.

Interesting point about the neck pickup being associated with rhythm playing. Dave Murray was my major influence in guitar so I've always looked at it as a primarily lead pickup and the bridge as rhythm.

Man, this the best description of pickup sonic differences in a Strat that I have ever seen and heard. You did three things at once, highlighted that guitar, explained the positions, and entertained us. This is how a good video is done.

Years ago, the seldom, if ever used bridge pickup on my strat took a dump. Removed it, and never bothered replacing it. Middle only, middle+neck, and neck only is all I ever need. Happy playing everyone!!

A great ride on our Loft Series!

Bro this was really interesting man, I have always just wound the middle pick up down as low as possible and then occasionally used it for funky rhythms or as a “back burner blender” for my neck pick up. This video has made me consider other options so thanks man :-)

I love the middle pickup. Especially mixed with the neck. Thats my favorite position.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the way strats look but I love this one.

This is interesting. I always go for the middle pickup on every strat that I pick up.

I've played a Strat 80% of the time for 25 years, it's only been in the last 5 that I've REALLY got a lot of use from the middle pickup. What did it, besides finding the RIGHT middle pickup, it was rewiring it into basically a "Nashville Tele." The 5-way does nothing in the middle position, and the other 4 is like the 4-way Tele; Neck, neck/bridge, bridge, neck/bridge in series. The neck tone is wired to do the tone for the neck and bridge. The second tone is replaced with a blender pot, that I wire the middle pickup to, then directly out. It doesn't go through the volume of tone control, just the blender out. I use a push pull so I can just cut the pickup out. This way, you can adjust the volume of either the neck/bridge, AND the middle pickup. Usually they're all on the same volume, it REALLY expands the usefulness. As for a singlecoil in the bridge, I cannot disagree more. True, the stock strat with the bridge pickup is limited, but I never keep them stock. At the very least I usually will change the tone controls. I find they usually 1- use WAY too high a capacitor value, so it rolls off too many high frequencies. This usually results in 3 settings: fully open and Bright, a bit warmer, total mud. Lowering it to a 0.22 can make it much more useful. And/or 2- they use a pot with a bad taper. This results in hot-spots where it goes from changing at a smooth balance, to just dropping right out. Beyond that, sometimes changing it to a high-pass filter like the "grease bucket," can make it much more useable. Fender market it is "rolling off highs without increasing bass." Well it's a passive electronic circuit, so you're never adding anything. But normally the tone first rolls off highs, but the more you turn it down, the lower the frequency range it starts to remove as well. So once you get below 7, you start to lose upper mids, but the low-end remains, making it sound like it's added bass. The high pass will compensate by rolling off just a little bass too. You can adjust the bass to treble ratio however you want it. You can get a straight humbucker sound out of a singlecoil, albeit with less output so you may need to use a boost. But you can get things from a singlecoil with a high pass that you can't with a humbucker, which can work especially well in conjunction with the other pickups.

This is one of the best videos ever made explaining guitar pick ups for a Fender.

I've had a HSS mexico strat that I bought new in 2009 and I've been needing this video ever since

You need to get Yourself a Gilmour type strat or one with a mini toggle switch. That’ll get u 3 more pickup positions making 8 (really 7 but you’ll get neck and middle in phase which brings juice but cleaner)

I’ve owned a Mexi Strat for 20 years and pretty much only played in middle position. Not sure why, just preferred that sound.

Great video, great concept. You listen to Jeff Beck for 45 seconds and realize how tragically underutilized YOUR guitar actually is. This kinda info definitely makes a difference

I love my Paoletti. Probably the most useful sounds out of the several S type guitars I have. The Chestnut wood (the 150+ year old wine barrels the guitar is made from) is super bright and resonant and Paoletti pickups are just gorgeous. The best part is each Paoletti has a slightly different finish, so no one owns one that looks exactly like yours... and THAT ONE is gorgeous. Fabrizio (and the entire Paoletti staff) make some incredible instruments.

Ah yes the middle pickup! To me it’s more of the SRV sound than the other pickup positions. That “Pale Eddy” guitar’s pretty nice as well. 😜

I like how Tyler puts effort and creativity into every solo, some other guitarists sound pretty repetitive & uninspiring.

There are favorites of switch positions for every song and solo to me all positions are your favorite if you truly love that instrument.

Getting ready to start watching, and I already know the answer. The middle pickup is for me !!!

Tyler in every position, "It's xx yelling" Guess who likes aggressive guitar?

The ignorance of the middle pickup has always baffled me, that's where I spend about 80% of my time on a Strat.

the intro solo to this made me put down my guitar and then immediately pick it back up i wish to be like you one day mr larson

I have a strat-type guitar, that is actually H-H-S setup, i think that is pretty rare. And I use that middle humbucker quite often 🙂

I've had plenty of HSS strats and never liked that you get a volume drop off from position 1 to 2 (bridge to bridge middle). I went back to SSS strats and like it much better. My preferred sound is the bridge and middle together. I get plenty of the strat sound I like with some punch with gain.

I love that last little bit he did with the neck/mid

I have an old RG470 with the V7, S1 and V8 pickups. I bought it brand new in 1994 when I was a senior in highschool. I loved the way it sounded but now it makes my skin crawl, clean or distorted. On a quest to bring life back into the guitar.

"Just guitar into amp".......but with a 10 thousand dollar overdrive between them

My strat has a HSH Red Active Humbuckers. I prefer the bridge/middle combo.

back when I had a Strat, the middle pickup was my go-to for clean tone. Even now, I use a Tele, and my go-to for clean tone is both pickups on.

Came for the guitar, but stayed for the shoes. Your shoe/Guitar pairing is totally on point. Pure Boutique.

Chris Farley informed music is win that he would end up living in a van down by the river!

Excuse me , but every strat player knows you have to turn down the tone knob on a strat while playing the single coil brigde pick up and it will sound great , so no need for a humbucker pu there . Humbuckers and P 90 pu's don't belong on strat's and tele's , they are for gibson like guitars , in my humble opinion anyway's , i know there are a lot off guitarplayers who will disagree : )

Dude, you really killed it with the playing in this vid, especially the intro.

Tyler...this is your next level. Bro you really nailed it on expressing your ideas here.

Shotgun shells. Wine barrel's wood. Lmao.

hey Tyler I'm kind of stuck in a rut I'm suck in between playing scales and the same old riffs what do you recommend

That is probably one of the best finishes I have seen on a strat. Would love to have one finished like that.

Wow the tones from that guitar are AMAZING. Classic fender tone ..SRV, ETC...Noooice

yeah, but this is an hss style strat, the “real” strat is sss.

The color scheme on that strat is f'n awesome!!!!

I just bought my first guitar last week and it has a HSS pickup configuration. This video was very helpful! Looking forward to it being delivered this Friday

i love using the middle pickup for solos, typically, and then flip them into positions 2 and 4 when i need the hiss to die out.

Okay best guitar intro so far hands down

Came here for the interesting topic but ultimately the playing prevailed! Superb!

I was amazed and almost slightly hypnotized from those perfect overtones coming out at just the right blend during that U2 part.

holy shit the intro was by far the best playing ive seen on this channel... incredible

13:00 That swampy jam had me sold. Great stuff!! 👍

Thank you for a great demo oh the HSS, one of the very best on KZfaq!

Every single one of this musical demostrations is such a banger!

Love that at 60 you are still teaching me more about guitarchitecture!!

Thanks for the vid. Explains a lot of problems I could never get my head around.

I listened 3 times now to that last solo.. that moment when the wah kicks in.. WTF goosebumps everywhere insane sound, love it!

Your demonstrations of equipment are the best on the web, Thank you

Tyler WAS a guitar in his previous life and now is expressing his guitar feelings to us, not only through music, but with his blasts of helpful knowledge in every video. While it's simplistic... I love my Ibanez RG140. 1988 MODEL

Bridge-Mid and Mid-Neck positions gives you parallel coils (instead of two coils in series as in humbuckers). Depending on how it's wired, parallel coil positions can also be noise-cancelling. Parallel coils will output less and more thin than single or series coils, because they give less impedance, specially in the low end.

All analysis of pick-up positions aside, the playing on this clip was top freaking shelf stuff.

That Edge sounding stuff you did with the delay - awesome!

DUDE!!!😃 What a beautiful touch you have man!🤘🏻🤘🏿🤘🏽

Yo that intro was absolute fire 🔥🤯