Middle position twin humbucker

[Tommy Tequila]

For the OP: If you want excellent example of middle position use on a Les Paul, listen to just about anything Dickey Betts did with the Allman Brothers (Ramblin' Man, etc.)

BB King's defining sound is also middle position.

TT

 

[Rex]

For the OP: If you want excellent example of middle position use on a Les Paul, listen to just about anything Dickey Betts did with the Allman Brothers (Ramblin' Man, etc.)

+1. The middle position is a staple of Southern boogie.

 

[clarky]

I have to say, Clark, I don't know many people who put as much thought into their tone as you do. All that attention to detail shows in your exceptionally well-crafted tones.

More string mass means more metal passing through the pickup's magnetic field. That means hotter output, with all the attendant tone changes that entails. More mass also means more sustain, much like a truck is harder to stop than a bicycle.

in truth it wasn't just my thought alone.. I was in good company..
the three of us [Morgan, Bulldog and I] put our heads together and worked all the guitar's details out..

Bulldog made me a set of pups and gave me different magnets to try out..
we tried a bunch of things...
the magnets made a huge difference.. I ended up choosing the alnico5..
it seemed to be the best at doing everything..

Morgan's mantra is something like "tone is the sum of all the parts"..
and so you end up looking at all the parts...
and the same goes into the fx-unit config..
so I guess you end up looking at the entire chain of events

working with these guys was an education..
and this was one of the reasons I really wanted to get to the LA AxeFest - to further complete the chain

I personally believe that tone / performance / state of mind are all completely inter-linked
a change in one of those elements will make a change in both of the others in the same direction

 

[Coldsummer]

For the OP: If you want excellent example of middle position use on a Les Paul, listen to just about anything Dickey Betts did with the Allman Brothers (Ramblin' Man, etc.)

BB King's defining sound is also middle position.

TT

Thanks TT, that sheds some more light on the subject. I've always tended to overlook the middle position over the years so I think I'll experiment a bit more with it.

Oh, and I just checked out Clarky's facebook page...........................WOW, blimey.........what a great player, I'm very impressed.

 

[Tone Seeker]

Here's my take, speaking from the perspective of PAF style pickups. . . . I find that although the bridge pickup is "brighter", the middle position cuts in a different way. The mids are scooped relative to the bridge alone, and in the same low to mid gain patch I can use the middle position for rhythm and the bridge (or neck) for lead. Conversely, the middle position brings a different character to the lead tone. Either humbucker by itself is fuller / fatter / rounder in character. Same is true for clean tones.

Warren Haynes uses all three positions. Here's a clip I really enjoy where you can see all three in action, neck and middle for leads, bridge for rhythm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00WWmtWh-Mk

Terry.

 

[clarky]

Oh, and I just checked out Clarky's facebook page...........................WOW, blimey.........what a great player, I'm very impressed.

haaa... thanks dude... that's real cool of you to say so...

I think all the recordings there are older [pre Axe-FX]..
so if I'm heading in the right direction [which I'm convinced I am] there will be some nicer stuff to come in the future..