I love the strat's middle pickup. Having been using just the bridge and neck positions for the latest works with the band, I recently rediscovered the middle.
Two days ago I was rehearsing with the boys at the studio and we covered the Stones' Tumbling dice. I tuned the strat to Open G, capoed it at the 4th fret, selected the middle pup and as I played the intro, I smiled as a teenager at a Stones show.
The middle pickup is allegedly Leo's "normal sound", and yet it is just so versatile. I can't understand why it is so often overlooked.
Using the tone control you can make your strat go from a very countriesque Tele-ish twang to a smooth jazzy lead tone.
A pretty nice video about it:
Anyone else?