Hi Geoff. There is no optimum position for a guitar pickup because the position of the harmonic nodes (crests) is not the same for each open string, and the node positions keep shifting depending on where you fret the string. Pickups also sample a fairly wide section of the strings, not just a couple of mm directly above the pole pieces, so they will always see a complex mixture of harmonic nodes and nulls.
This page does a good job of explaining it.
I found the article interesting for another reason - the capacitance of your lead can have a significant impact on the sound of the pickups. I read somewhere that Hendrix insisted on using those long, curly, high capacitance cables because they were the only type that gave him the sound he wanted. Now I understand why his cable might have done that.