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Trouble mounting Seymour-Duncan mini-bucker on Hofner bass.


hauser555

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I have a Hofner Contemporary Series violin bass.

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HCT5001BLK

 

I want to put SD mini-bucker pickups on it, as per this blog.

 

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/sd-mini-humbuckers-and-the-hofner-beatle-bass

 

However, I've run into two problems. (Shown in linked pics)

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/GzI04

 

1) The stock pups are mounted in plastic casing. However, the original mounting holes are closer together than the holes on the brackets of my new SD pups. Even if I drilled new holes (which I'd rather not), I would still have a gap beneath the pickup because the brackets almost act as risers as well. 2) I can't just put the new pickup into the original plastic casing due to the new pickups metal brackets getting in the way. If those brackets weren't there, I could just drop the new pickup into the old plastic casing and call it a day.

 

Any ideas? I'm open to literally anything, so any help is appreciated!

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That Seymour looks like its designed for a guitar not bass.

 

Hofner uses odd sized pickups and have screws that mount into rings from the bottom of the pickup.

This page has a list of Hofner parts for their different Basses. http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/hofner/hofner_parts/hofner_pu.html

 

As a note they say the parts are specific to the different basses and if you buy something its at your own risk. Its up to you to properly measure theing and make sure they fit before buying them.

 

As far as I know, you wont find any pickups to replace the Staple type pickups besides maybe some Artec Pickups out of China. (they are likely the ones who make those same Staple pickups. You see them on EBay all the time.

 

I will also say, Mini Humbuckers made for guitars aren't going to sound any good in a bass. Been there and done that. They have way too much midrange and are designed for guitars strings an octave up and any pole pieces under the covers wont align with the bass strings so I suggest you either buy something that fits or try something else like an on board Preamp EQ for the bass.

 

I use a Vox Stomplab B1 on my Hofner and its sounds fantastic with the stock pickups. I may wind up putting a 3 way EQ in there eventually. I've done that one several basses and in my electric sitar and it does amazing things for the tone.

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AFAIK, the only Seymour Duncan humbucking bass pickup that looks remotely like that is for Rickenbackers: https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickups/bass/rickenbacker. So it's probable the OP's mini humbucker was made for a Firebird: https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickups/guitars/other-guitars/mini-humbucker. Personally I'd be less concerned about frequency response than the fact that the pole pieces won't line up with the strings on a bass. Either way it's not an experiment I'd want to perform. A rail pickup would be a different matter but that's not what the OP is working with.

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If he wants to mount it he'd have to use a different pickup ring. I compared these mini HB's to the Staple pickups on my Icon Hofner Club bass and they look like a pretty close fit. Even the screw holes look like they might align.

 

s-l500.jpg

 

The Icon basses are Hofner's budget line of basses and their parts are all unique to the Chinese made which use Artec Pickups. The German made bases have different pickups and mounting rings and are a different size. They have several types like this one. Its what makes the basses sound so uniquely Hofner.

 

 

[img2=JSON]{"alt":"Image result for Hofner bass pickup","data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"487","width":"500","src":"http:\/\/www.vintagehofner.co.uk\/hofnerfs\/pickups\/cava.jpeg"}[/img2]

 

 

Heres another version with adjustable pole screws.

[img2=JSON]{"alt":"Image result for Hofner bass pickup","data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"300","width":"400","src":"http:\/\/curtisnovak.com\/pickups\/repairs\/Hofner-Bass\/2.jpg"}[/img2]

 

These are essentially single coils with extra slugs for each string

 

[img2=JSON]{"alt":"Related image","data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"412","width":"550","src":"http:\/\/www.vintagehofner.co.uk\/hofnerfs\/pickups\/513ia.jpeg"}[/img2]

 

These are what the newer Artec stapler pickups look like. Its similar to the design above except its also got pole screws.

They aren't even humbuckers, just single coils with a horse shoe magnet type configuration that straddles one side of the coil.

 

 

[img2=JSON]{"alt":"Image result for Hofner bass pickup","data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"559","width":"745","src":"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7VFaYsG-lsLHn7i13aFhIz6R9ZNKLHejC5vnc3hJouhnEU8W_"}[/img2]

 

 

 

 

 

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You may be able to get an SG bass Mini Humbucker to fit in an Icon Bass. I played an SG bass for 10 years and the bridge pickup sounded awful compared to the neck however. You can find these newer ones made for Epiphone basses on EBay but they are hot wound to 10K and use ceramic magnets. They would make a Hofner with flat wounds sound muddy as hell.

 

 

[img2=JSON]{"alt":"Image result for SG bass mini humbucker pickup","data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"193","width":"225","src":"http:\/\/thumbs1.ebaystatic.com\/d\/l225\/m\/mn_P7t_C5im9i07RuqDktig.jpg"}[/img2]

The Seymour has an even hotter wind of nearly 12 ohms. Much too hot for bass strings and will too easily overdrive the signal with that much gain. You may be able to get an overdriven Jack Bruce sound if that's what you're looking for but because its over wound it would destroy the acoustic wood tones of a Hofner with all that mid drive over wound humbuckers produce. You'd need a mini Humbucker below 7K to sound clean and have a wide enough frequency response to sound good on a hollowbody. The Seymour SM-1 comes closest but seeing the OP has a German Made bass its not going to fit anyway so its a moot recommendation.

 

I suggest he stick with the stock Pickups. You aren't going to find anything out there then the OEM pickups for those basses. Focus on the strings themselves for getting different tones. They string gauge and brand are what make the biggest differences for tone. I've tried out about 7 different brands and gauges before settling with what McCartney uses which are the La Bella 760FHB2 strings made specifically for Hofner Basses. They are a light gauge string with an ideal tension balance for Hofner's oddball string length, which needs to be longer then normal short scale basses due to its tail piece. Regular short scale are too short and medium scale strings are too long.

 

They make tape wound too but you have to widen the nut to fit them because the tape makes them wider.

 

You can also buy Hofner Round wound strings off this site. They sound cool but you have to raise the bridge to prevent string buzz. http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/hofner/hofner_strings/index.html

 

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