Best middle pup between 2 Pearly Gates?

[Wabash Slim]

I recently got a Carvin AE185 that a previous owner had cut out a Strat-size middle pickup hole between the humbuckers. The unidentified pickup in there now is some kind of stacked bucker with large flush poles. Sounds OK on its own but just won't quack at all when combined with the others (presently SD Jazz & Custom but soon to be replaced with PGs). I just gotta get my quack up & I've never had a H-S-H before - any suggestions?

[ItsaBass]

What is the tone setup like on your guitar? Master tone, or V/T/T? If your middle pickup has it's own tone control, try turning that all the way down (or close to it), while leaving the tone controls for the other pickups all the way up (or close to it). On a Strat, the middle pickup with the tone control set all the way down combined with the bridge pickup (which doesn't have a tone control) is a recipe for a great quackey tone IME. Unfortunately, this is not possible on master tone guitars (part of why I don't like master tone setups).

[Wabash Slim]

Interesting. This one just has a master tone but it's a pain. Thing about the Strats is, every one I've had was a partscaster and I always wired the pots according to my own various recipes and I don't think I've ever actually wired one in the standard fashion to do what you're talking about. Instead I wired the bottom pot just to the bridge pup and used a smaller cap, like a .002 - .005 to just remove the high scritch and leave the mids as-is - almost a cocked-wah sound. Great for distortion, not so pretty clean.

I'm thinking maybe a Cool Rails or neck Hot Rails for the middle, since I have those and they're humbucking, might make a better match, and more importantly they're white like the guitar and won't look so obtrusive.

[gripweed]

If you want quack, I wouldn't go with the HRs or CRs. I would go with one of Duncan's noiseless Strat options like Duckbuckers or the Stack Plus series pickups.

[orpheo]

does it have a coiltap? I'd try using it first as it is but with the humbuckers split. if that does work, voila; a pushpull pot will do the trick. if it has to quack more, you can always look for other pickups.

just my 2 cents.