I'm so confused about mini humbuckers and pots

I have my little heart set on a mini 'bucker in the neck position of my soon to be started Thinline partscaster. I have the body, selected a color, decided on a neck, and have all the little stuff. The last hurdle are the electronics.

What I want to do:

Seymour Duncan Vintage Mini neck Humbucker

SD Vintage '54 bridge

MIM Standard controls (250K pots?) 3 position...I just want to remove the stock MIM pickups and wire in the new bridge and mini 'bucker neck....no fuss, no muss.

The dilemma

SD's website shows the humbucker requiring a 500K pot

The Vintage '54 bridge shows a 250K pot

I want to use the 250K controls I have

The questions:

Is the SD mini 'bucker compatible with the '54 bridge?

Is changing the pot necessary?

If so, can you recommend another mini neck 'bucker that would work well with the SD bridge? (I see that GFS sells mini's at very reasonable prices but they don't show specs)

Anything else I should be losing sleep over?

Thanks

Tom

I wired an SD Antiquity mini humbucker in the neck of a partscaster a while back (using 250k Pots) and it sounded gorgeous. Don't worry - you'll be just fine. A full sized 'bucker I think would be a different story.

I can't find the link anymore, but when I looked up my VHR Tele on Fender's website a year or so ago, they listed 375 KOhm pots for a similar combination. However, I think they wind their bridge pickup a bit hotter than the SD Vintage 54 (but I haven't checked with mine). Also could not find any of the x-V-T teles with either a mini or a full sized humbucker (there are a couple of custom shop models). So, I can't prove what I remember.

In any event, they split the difference on the VHR.

If you use the 250 KOhm pots, the neck will sound pretty dark. On the other hand, maybe that is what you want.

Pots are pretty inexpensive and easy to change out, why don't you just buy one of each and find out which you prefer?

The M/H's (Lollars) I have in the necks of 2 Teles sound fantastic paired with their vintage Tele style bridge pkps, I think you'll very much enjoy them.

If it sounds too dark with the 250K pot then go to a bigger value pot, it'll sound brighter. You may be able to find 300K in some places, but the next increment in standard pots is 500K.

I have a Mini Sd in my Teleneck and it sounds awesome with 250k pots but I couldnt well enough alone.So I ordered 375k pots and installed them and I like the 375k better myself.. Thats what fender is using on there Hot Rod Telecaster. I also used a ..22 cap

Or leave the tone at 250k and change the volume pot to 500K. With both pots wide open it will have the net effect of two 375K pots.

I have a Duncan Antiquity mini in the neck of my main Tele, wired to the stock 250K volume and tone pots. It sounds great (I think the longer scale length of a Tele compared to a Gibson makes for a slightly brighter sound naturally, which compensates for the slight brightness loss caused by the lower value pots).

I did compromise by using a .022uF tone cap, even though I normally prefer a .05 on a Tele.

I used an SM-1 togther with an STL-1 for several years with 250K pots with no problem. Pot values are not "required" by certain pickups, it's just personal taste. Pots, tone caps, no-load pots are all tweaks you can use to fine-tune your tone after you've settled on your pickups.

My current choices for my Nashville are Duncan STK-T3B, STK-S4, SM-1, 250K pots, no-load tone pot, and a .05 uF cap (I think).

The US Fat Tele (http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/telecaster/0108000_02B/SD0108000_02BPg2.pdf) (pdf wiring diagram from Fender) uses 500k pots, with a fixed value resistor from the bridge single coil hot wire to ground. Apparently, this is to sink the value of the pots when the bridge pickup is engaged.

Should be okay with 250k.

Thanks folks....

I just ordered a SD Vintage SM1 for my neck position.....

Tom

The US Fat Tele (http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/telecaster/0108000_02B/SD0108000_02BPg2.pdf) (pdf wiring diagram from Fender) uses 500k pots, with a fixed value resistor from the bridge single coil hot wire to ground. Apparently, this is to sink the value of the pots when the bridge pickup is engaged.

The more I think about this, the more I like it. Another 500K in parallel would make 250K to ground for the single coil. Will make the humbucker a bit darker when combined, but that should be ok. Clever and easy, I really like that.

I would try the 375k. They sounded the best to my ears but that dont mean much...