SHH - what single coil sized 'bucker for the middle position?

[appar111]

I'm putting together a SHH tele that will have a regular tele bridge pickup (either a Broadcaster or an STL-2 Hot Tele) and a FRED in the neck position.

My goal is to have a rippin' tele bridge sound, a fat yet articulate neck 'bucker sound and the middle position as a medium output PAF type sound that, when combined w/ the bridge pickup, will fatten the tele sound up a bit-- essentially a mix of tele+PAF sound, but without the PAF sound being as bassy as it would be if it were in the neck position.

What would be a good single coil sized humbucker for this? I'm thinking that a Dimarzio Pro Track or a Duncan Li'l 59 would be good choices.

Thoughts?

[GuitarDoc]

The big question is...WHY?

If you want to fatten up the Tele sound, combine the bridge with the neck pup. If you are going to have a middle pup, you can get much more total variety in your sound with a good Strat single, and get some quack in a combined position, since you've already got a hummer in the neck.

[appar111]

Good point. I could always wire a 5-way strat switch for the neck hummer + tele bridge, even if I go for a strat single coil in the middle.

So what would be a stellar strat pickup that would excel in the middle position? I remember playing a custom shop strat wired with just a 3 way switch and remember the middle pickup sounding really good on it's own into a clean amp for funk.

[GuitarDoc]

I would think that the SSL-1 would be a good choice. If you want a little more warmth and softer highs, then the APS-1 would be good. You'll probably get a better "quack" from the SSL-1, but I'm not an expert when it comes to Strat pups so these are just my impressions.

[bluesbend]

+1 on the SSL-1.