Stock 68 spec W/2"OT and such...

[vanhalen5150]

When you installed the new Mercury PT, did you remove the plastic bushings from both sides? I had to. The bolts are not long enough to account for the chassis. These where originally stand ups so they must have not accounted for the extra thickness of the chassis.
Not much bolt length on that other side, even with the bushings removed.

[Strat78]

I forgot about that, yes, all the bushings had to go and even one of the brackets to make it work.
wire notes:
In Europe, wire is now specced as:
[Number of strands] / [Strand diameter] , [Insulation voltage] , [Conductur current rating]

And the PVC-covered wire that is 24/0.2mm 1000V 4.5A is spot-on for Marshalls. FWIW, the outer diameter is 2.3mm which is... (reaches for calcumalator)... 0.090" I use this stuff on vintage-correct style builds

[vanhalen5150]

I forgot about that, yes, all the bushings had to go and even one of the brackets to make it work.

Do you mean you one of the laminates? I barely could get the nuts on what was left. Probably ok though.

[Strat78]

I forgot about that, yes, all the bushings had to go and even one of the brackets to make it work.

Do you mean you one of the laminates? I barely could get the nuts on what was left. Probably ok though.

Hmm, never thought of popping off a couple laminates, but along with all the bushings,I just ended up going without the extra bracket that was under the bell cover on top of the PT. It mounted fine after that.

[vanhalen5150]

Ok, I see, yeah that one doesnt really serve a purpose for the laydown.

[vh junkie]

Get new bolts too. All of mine stripped out on the ends as I was trying to tighten then down. 2.5" 10/32 pan heads from HD... then you can use the Nylon Metro style nuts that you probably have lying around.

[vanhalen5150]

Get new bolts too. All of mine stripped out on the ends as I was trying to tighten then down. 2.5" 10/32 pan heads from HD... then you can use the Nylon Metro style nuts that you probably have lying around.

Yeah, Im thinking I'll grab some of those before I go any further. I had a tough job getting those tight as well. That white metal stuff strips easy. Hopefully HD has some stainless stuff. Did the 10/32 bolts fit through the plastic Merc bushings or did have to ditch those?

[vanhalen5150]

I aslo put the wall ground on the side wall by the PT. I have it bolt/chassis/ tooth washer/nut.

Do we need a second bolt on that, or a second tooth washer? Locktight compound?

[Strat78]

Sorry guy's I've just been really out of it and running on fumes these last three weeks. My right knee is almost normal while my left knee continues to need hard work (and drugs) for strength building. Robert lent me his Throback OD and I finally got the computer to not crash long enough where I could get a clip in the can. The mix cap is now a 470pf instead of the 560pf. The solo tone is a little crisper now. I like the OD and will continue to explore what it can do. Also this clip was done with a modified SM-57, see topic in the recording section.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11765584" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[vanhalen5150]

That knee is gotta come around soon. Just have to keep working at it. Keep your head in that mental challenge as well.

Messing around with some of those caps instead of just using the same old specs is a great idea. One thing I can hear with the mic mod is the reduction of background hiss. It's still there but doesn't have a tone of it's own that overlies the amp.

[Tone Slinger]

Sounded great Strat78, your one of the few people I've ever heard, to get those high bends at the 20th fret correct
Not sure if you were using the colorsound clone or if it was the mic mod, but there seemed to be a blanket over your sound that seemed to muffle certain frequincies ? Still, that was pretty awesome. That had to be an Ibanez or Greco Destroyer, but What amp/speakers were you using ?

[Strat78]

Yep, pretty much the same set up as always: 4X12 of black backs, echoplex, 370 plates biased a little hotter than formula. I just wanted to get something down to hear how the throback OD sounds in recordings. I need to dial it in much more subtly because that is exactly what it did to the tone as you described; It kind of made it one dimensional with much of the organic plexi tone filtered out. Yet this is partially where I want to go, so I'm going to build a nice Colorsound clone next month. I was tuned too high to really get that nice elasticity in the solo and I think it is important to keep the guitar tuned a half step down for VH because with standard tuning, you will have arthritis in no time doing those over bends all over the place.

[vanhalen5150]

The location of your ground on the side wall. You have your ground (green) kinda floating over there over top of the OT. I wonder if that could be routed alone the back wall or down along the edge of the PT bracket to get there? Should this wire be keep as far from everything as possible? The old way went straight down to the PI cap lug so it didn't become an issue of question. Anyone have any thoughts?

[Strat78]

For some reason I liked the idea of having the power chord wires kind of independent and un-bundled. When the chassis is in the box I figured that ground wire would hang away from the tranny. I think what I'll do though is have a ground turret on that little tag board strip that I'll run the green wire to and then to the inner wall ground. That way I can also easily have the polarity cap ground on that same turret. Or better yet just have one of the standoffs on the turret strip be the ground to the chassis (like in vintage plexies) and have everything ground there. I think this requires a more robust standoff like you see in the old pics.

Ha ha, finally found one of these!

[vh junkie]

I don't remember all the particulars (sure you can find them online)... I do know that the green wire must go to dedicated chassis point (i.e. that bolt can be used for no other purpose, electrical or mechanical). If you want to do it to code, drill a hole near (how close is online as well) where the power cord enters the chassis.