Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

['59]

Everyone who's played a Strat knows that they have a pretty neat 2 and 4 position, but am I the only one who finds they don't have sufficient high end content? I find I have to dial my amp for my tone controls to be around 7, and then cut them all to 10 for the notched positions. This makes the bridge position too bright and thin, as it doesn't have a tone control.

Is their any way to rectify this issue? Here are my ideas:

• 5-way super switch with a single 250k tone control governing 1, 3, and 5, and another 500k tone control governing 2 and 4. An alternative is to have no tone at all for 2 and 4.
• A fancy ass RC network to add the treble from the unused pickup to 2 and 4. For example, in position 2 there would also be a bit of treble from the neck blended in.
• Tapping the pickups in 2 and 4.
• I here a relatively cool middle position, raises notched treble.
• 500k pots and put a resistor of some sort on the 1, 3, and 5 positon.

Any ideas or guidance on this issue? This is on my stock MIM Standard Stratocaster.

[Chistopher]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

A lot of it depends on the pickups. Any time you have two pickups running together at the same time, the tone relys more upon how nice the pickups play together than how nice they are individually. I've heard phenomenal pickups that sound bland in the 2 and the 4 (I solved this with a 3 way switch) and I've heard pickups that sound decent on there own but sound phenomenal together.

The thing you said about a cooler middle is true IMO. I always keep a hotter neck than my middle pickup for this same reason. It's also nice for leads on the neck.

[AlexR]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

The whole beauty of those positions is the slightly softer tone......funk is a big user for chord stabs that don't blow your head off. So you need to use those positions for precisely that sort of thing. The other aspect critical here is pickup heights. You need to really work on adjustments - which makes a surprisingly big difference. Many will drop the middle pickup down. This not only reduces its influence in the notch posi's, but tends to reduce some of the screech that middle positions can have.

As to your switching - any pickup pair/triplet in parallel will have the same cancellations.....adding in part of another pickup is not going to mean you get all the eq......it just means more cancellations.

Additionally, if you haven't yet modded the tone controls, then moving 1 tone to the bridge and the mid/neck to the other is well worth it - practically everyone does that now and I think even most stock Fender guitars have it too. As an additional tweaking mechanism you can separate out the cap values by adding in another one so each pot has its own. This might well add in some tonal aspects in notch positions as the two tone pots are not hardwired/connected in the same way

[PFDarkside]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

Try moving your tone #2 to the bridge, that way both notch positions are only loaded with one tone control. Otherwise your crazier methods may be needed if you aren’t getting what you want.

[Clint 55]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

I use a 500k volume and a 250k no load master tone. Notch positions really need that no load. Sometimes I'm in the mood for bright 1,3,5 or if not just drop the tone down to 8 or 9.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

I wire my strats with the Eric Johnson/Jimmy Vaughan schematic. If I recall correctly the first tone is neck and tone two is bridge. No tone on middle.

That way the bridge can be rolled back, while the neck is on 10. No load on the middle makes up for it being lowered a little.

[Mincer]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

You could also use a Pickup Booster to hit the amp a little harder.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

Cheap option:
wire your 5 way so your bridge is also governed by the mid tone control. It is just one little wire.
Then you can set your amp so it sound good for all 5 spots. Simply wiring the bridge pup to the tone circuit will smooth off its high end and sort out your treble imbalance. You can compensate by cranking the treble and/or presence on your amp.
It costs next to nothing and is completely reversible.
Set your amp clean and set the bridge pickup by winding it up until you hear some nasty distortion in the high notes on the neck then back it down until they are gone and you get nothing but pure sweet sustain. Set the other two pickups lower so that they balance output wise (also making sure they don't have any nasty overtones).

Slightly more expensive option: a complete rewire with nice quality pots, cap, jack and wire (including the cheap option too).

Expensive option: New pickups and a complete rewire (including the cheap option).

Also to answer your question: No they aren't overrated. All 5 spots on a strat can shine like the sun.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

Notched for me is the opposite. It's all thin treble and hardly usable. It's interesting, but I've never found a song in the setlist that required it. Having vintage underwound pickups with a little twang to them is sufficient to not need the notch positions for me.

[mojosman]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

I wire my strats with the Eric Johnson/Jimmy Vaughan schematic. If I recall correctly the first tone is neck and tone two is bridge. No tone on middle.

That way the bridge can be rolled back, while the neck is on 10. No load on the middle makes up for it being lowered a little.

I have two of my Strats wired this way, and I love it. Another thing both of those Strats have D. Allen pickups (*Tru-62 and Flat 50's) that do NOT have RW/RP middle pickups. Your MIM Strat if stock most likely does. The original Strats were non-RW/RP middle pickup, and I think this also helps to make the 2 and 4 positions a little more fuller sounding; of course it could be the D. Allen mojo.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

No. Next question.

BTW, moving the bottom tone to the bridge only and leaving the middle tone-less may work for you. Hell, it's free to try.

[Discharged]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

am I the only one who finds they don't have sufficient high end content?

Your p'ups are the main culprit, being ceramic, and most probably not setup right.

A SSL-1 set would be the answer to your question.

No, positions #2 and #4 are the exact opposite of overrated.

/Peter

[Nagisa]

Re: Are the notched Strat positions overrated?

I love these poorly thought out questions.

Yngwie didn't use the notches or even the middle pickup. But ask plenty of other players and they sure do. Here's a cool thread with users listing some including Dire Straits. https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...ition.1153662/ I's one unique and interesting tone to use. I like the neck/middle notch for clean tones. With a bit of chorus it sounds really neato