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

[hauser555]

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!

[ikay]

The pic in the blog shows the cheaper Icon/Ignition bass which has a different pickup mount than the HCT. This is the one that the SD mini humbucker fits (according to the blog anyway, I've not tried it myself). The only way to make the SD humbucker fit the HCT is to cut off the metal brackets or get hold of some Icon pickup mounts (not sure where from). If you go the 'Icon' route, you will also need to cut a hole in the body for the pickup. The HCT pickups just sit on the surface of the body but the Icon has a hole to allow for the bracket with the height adjustment screws. Personally I think the stock HCT pickups are excellent, really strong and beefy. Why the need to change?