Category Archives: Stratocaster Pickup Positions

The Fender Stratocaster pickup selector is a five-position, blade-type switch mounted diagonally on the lower half of the pick guard on the treble-strings side, just forward of the control knobs.

Fender 3-Way Pickup Selector Switch

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Fender 3-Way Pickup Selector Switch
The Fender 3-Way pickup selector switch positions.

This is the Fender Stratocaster vintage-style 3-way switch configuration. These selector switches will significantly contribute to distinguishing all of these wirings from one another. The core of this vintage-style configuration is that it features one selector position for each pickup. This wiring arrangement is among the most streamlined offered by the Fender Custom Shop, as each switch position and dial corresponds to a single control, with the bridge pickup providing no tone control whatsoever. Consider trying this style if you seek something refreshingly simple in your Custom Shop creation.

Vintage Style 3-Way Selector Switch

  • Position 1: Bridge Pickup (No Tone Control)
  • Position 2: Middle Pickup
  • Position 3: Neck Pickup
  • Master Volume
  • Tone Control 1 (Neck Pickup)
  • Tone Control 2 (Middle Pickup)

John E. Davis is a Texas Rock Guitarist offering FREE guitar lessons videos and covers guitar equipment, concert and music news. Visit the website for information on Guitar Lessons, Guitar Repair and Live Music Performance videos.

Fender S-S-H Pickup Selector Switch

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Fender S-S-H Pickup Selector Switch
The Fender Stratocaster S-S-H Pickup Selector Switch.

How to use the Fender Stratocaster Pickup Selector Switch. The basic set-up is as follows:

  • 1st – (all the way down): – Bridge only
  • 2nd – Bridge + Middle
  • 3rd – Middle only
  • 4th – Middle + Neck
  • 5th – (all the way up) Neck only

There are variations, if you have a Fender Humbucker (See Above) in the bridge, it could involve splitting the HB. You can always tap your pick-up poles to see which are active in each position (the active one will give an audible click through your amp). As for tones, your ear should be your best guide. For the most part, bridge is on the treble, high end, side and neck on the lower, “bass” side. Personally, I like the 2 and 4 spots best.

John E. Davis is a Texas Rock Guitarist offering FREE guitar lessons videos and covers guitar equipment, concert and music news. Visit the website for information on Guitar Lessons, Guitar Repair and Live Music Performance videos.

Fender Stratocaster Pickup Positions

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Fender Stratocaster Pickup Positions
Fender Stratocaster Pickup Positions on the 5-Way switch showing positions 2 and 4 combining pickups

If we label the Fender Stratocaster switch positions from 1 to 5, with position 1 being nearest to the middle tone knob and positions 2, 3, 4, and 5 moving in sequence towards the middle pickup, we can clearly identify the pickup-selection functions of the switch.

  • Position 1: Bridge pickup only
  • Position 2: Bridge pickup and middle pickup together
  • Position 3: Middle pickup only
  • Position 4: Middle pickup and neck pickup together
  • Position 5: Neck pickup only

Also, it’s worth mentioning that there’s a fascinating history behind the Strat’s pickup switch. For the first 23 years after the Stratocaster was introduced in 1954 until 1977, the pickup selector was a three-position switch. You could activate the bridge pickup, the middle pickup, or the neck pickup, but no combinations were allowed. “Leo (Fender) preferred the pure sound of individual pickups,” noted Richard Smith in Fender: The Sound Heard ’Round the World, referring to the guitar’s creator. You could only use one pickup at a time, and that was the rule. But that wasn’t the whole story. Guitarists quickly picked up on an unintentional quirk of the Stratocaster’s control switch and made great use of it.

They discovered that by carefully positioning the switch in one of the two “in-between” settings—between the bridge and middle pickup positions or between the middle and neck pickup positions—they could achieve two different dual-pickup combinations. They found that activating both the bridge and middle pickups together created a rich and unique sound; the same goes for the middle and neck pickups together.

John E. Davis is a Texas Rock Guitarist offering FREE guitar lessons videos and covers guitar equipment, concert and music news. Visit the website for information on Guitar Lessons, Guitar Repair and Live Music Performance videos.

The Stratocaster Pickup Selector Switch

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The Stratocaster Pickup Selector Switch

Fig. 1: The Stratocaster pickup selector switch near the top of the image is set to the bridge pickup-only position (position 1).

The pickup switch is the key to the Stratocaster’s time-honored tonal versatility, because it controls which pickups or which combinations of pickups are on at any given time. Since the Stratocaster is Fender’s sole three-pickup guitar, its pickup switch has an important job to do.

It’s a five-position blade-type switch mounted diagonally on the lower half of the pickguard on the treble-strings side, just forward of the control knobs (see Fig. 1). Its placement there is, like that of all Stratocaster parts, entirely deliberate—close enough to the strumming/picking hand to be within easy reach while playing, but far enough out of the way that it’s unlikely to be accidentally knocked out of position.

If we number the switch positions 1 through 5, with position 1 being closest to the middle tone knob and positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 proceeding in order toward the middle pickup, we can easily label the switch’s pickup-selection functions (see Fig. 2):

  • Position 1: Bridge pickup only.
  • Position 2: Bridge pickup and middle pickup together.
  • Position 3: Middle pickup only.
  • Position 4. Middle pickup and neck pickup together.
  • Position 5: Neck pickup only.

Note that there is no means of having all three pickups on at once. Also note that there’s some quite interesting history behind the Strat’s pickup switch.

John E. Davis is a Texas Rock Guitarist offering FREE guitar lessons videos. Visit TexasRockGuitarist.com for information on Guitar Lessons, Guitar Repair and Live Music Performance.