Here's some setup hints for those guitars:
1) take the tone knob off the middle pickup and install it on the BRIDGE pickup instead. Should be a matter of moving one wire on the switch
2) drop the middle pickup WAY down low to the pickguard
Doing this accomplishes several things. First, the bridge pickup needs the tone control more than the middle, especially since the middle pickup typically doesn't get used very much. It also gets the middle pickup out of the way. Depending on your playing style, your fingers will forever be hitting the middle pickup and it gets annoying. I have a strange right hand style. I can very quickly switch back and forth between using a pick and using my fingers...don't ask me where the pick goes when I'm playing with my fingers. If I think about it too much, I can't do it and it falls on the floor. Anyhow, the main reason I started playing a Tele more than a Strat is that the middle pickup just always got in my way.
But the magical things that happens if you do all of this is that you will get the trademark Strat "quack" when you have the neck and middle pickups selected. With the tone knob on the middle pickup, you are loading down the pickup too much to really get the best quack, even with the knob on 10. It's best to not have the tone knob on that pickup at all. In addition, lowering the pickup height more than you think is reasonable also makes for the best quack.
This is my standard setup for strats. I usually recommend this to my customers, and I tell them that if they don't like I'll put it back to the factory setup. Everyone likes it.