Member-only story
The Sweet Spot
Between the Bridge and Middle Pickup
I recently discovered and fell in love with Cory Wong. Although he has been around for a while, I fell into him by chance while drooling over a selection of signature model Fender Stratocasters. His was one. The beautiful transparent sapphire blue of the finish with a rosewood fretboard was essentially guitar porn to me.
I love a good Stratocaster. There is no other guitar like it. His command of that guitar is absolute. He manages to be a guitar hero who’s status was gained through his funky rhythm stylings and not from shredding scales at the speed of light. When he does play single string lead, he doesn’t vomit notes, he speaks. To me that seems like a dying art at times.
The other thing that struck me, and probably the hardest, was his tone. In a video interview I watched with him, he spoke of the bridge/middle pickup position on his Strat and referred to it as “where I live.”
I was always a neck pickup kind of guy. I like the warmth and the fluid tone. I didn’t play much in the “in-between” positions. I really don’t know why. I had nothing against them. It was something about his tone that hooked me and awakened me to the idea. It was in your face yet subtle at the same time. Clapton used the same position quite a bit when he first transitioned to Stratocasters in his time…
