Origins of stock 300series 3 pickup wiring?

[akhv]

Recently I bought my first and only Ric, a '98 370/12 with Hi-Gains. Sound of bridge pickup was everything I hoped for, but hard as I tried I just couldn't like mid+neck and all-on sounds. Then after a couple of weeks I gave up and had my guitar modded by a friend, and he put another switch in (mid, neck or mid+neck), so now I could choose any pickup configuration. And I found that I liked 5 of 7 variants, and didn't like only two, those two that the stock wiring had in the first place. Surprise.

I guess most of you have seen this link - https://www.rickenbacker.com/forum_view ... 203%20...? where Mr Hall said that he doesn't like the way mid pickup sounds in stock wiring, but that they keep this wiring because of tradition. It's a very good reason, but then again, how did this wiring appear in the first place?

Maybe somebody long ago actually liked this dull sound? It's possible especially if they thought it sounded jazzy, but still I find it somewhat hard to believe.
Can it be that toasters sound different in the 3-pickup guitars? Or maybe the model this 3-pickup wiring first appeared in (was it a 325? or anything else?) sounded very different? Or can it be that this configuration is better for a 6 string, than a 12?