Is this a death cap?

[Triocd]

1959 Gibson GA5 Skylark. Is the black beauty cap coming off the fuse a death cap?




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Thanks!

[g1]

Yes. It's not shown on that schematic, but this one has it:

[Triocd]

Thanks. So I can just clip a lead or completely remove it and it's safer?

[Mick Bailey]

Clip it out, right at where its soldered at each end. It's safer gone.

[52 Bill]

Clip it out, right at where its soldered at each end. It's safer gone.

Carefully remove it and sell it to somebody restoring a 1960's Gibson guitar.

Have you replaced the original 2-wire ac cord with a 3-wire one?

[Triocd]

Yea, I just replaced the cord, some capacitors and a resistor based on feedback in another recent thread.

I have 4 bumble bee .022 caps now from a few vintage amps I've restored recently. All of them test .029-.044 which are still somewhat desirable in a gibson guitar but are a little on the high side. I might try them in my 2 gibson guitars first but I'll probably just sell them.

Any idea what price to put them at on the market?

[R.G.]

You don't mention - when you put in that 3-wire cord, did you also connect the green or green/yellow safety ground wire to the chassis in a manner that won't let it come loose and will guarantee that the connection stays absolutely electrically connected for many years?

If you didn't, you just made the amp noisier and no safer.

[Steve A.]

You don't mention - when you put in that 3-wire cord, did you also connect the green or green/yellow safety ground wire to the chassis in a manner that won't let it come loose and will guarantee that the connection stays absolutely electrically connected for many years?

If you didn't, you just made the amp noisier and no safer.

Good point! I used to always keep the ground wire short in amps and other equipment so as to eliminate the possibility of the hot wire getting yanked loose sometime in the future until Bruce Collins pointed out the error in my ways. D'oh!

Steve A.

[Triocd]

I soldered the ground wire to what looks like a washer and bolted it down on one of the transformer wires. It’s very secure and like steve a says below, the ground wire is extra long so if anything gets yanked out the ground is last to go.

[soundmasterg]

I soldered the ground wire to what looks like a washer and bolted it down on one of the transformer wires. It’s very secure and like steve a says below, the ground wire is extra long so if anything gets yanked out the ground is last to go.

It is better from a safety perspective to have a separate bolt to secure the ground wire instead of a transformer bolt. If someone replaces the transformer and neglects to reconnect the safety ground then you could have a major safety issue. If the safety ground is on its own bolt then the chance of it getting disconnected is much lower. It should also be bolted down with a nylock or keps nut and some nail polish on the top of loctite on the threads also helps to keep it secure.

Greg

[DrGonz78]

If someone replaces the transformer and neglects to reconnect the safety ground then you could have a major safety issue.

Agree with your comments. But if someone can't even remember to reconnect a ground wire I wouldn't trust them replacing the transformer in the first place.

[g1]

I think of greater concern is the heat cycling of the transformer (coupled with vibration) may lead to the nut loosening.

[Tom Phillips]

I think of greater concern is the heat cycling of the transformer (coupled with vibration) may lead to the nut loosening.

I agree. Of all the various fastening hardware in an amp chassis I find that the nuts on the transformer bolts are most frequently found to be loose. This is so even if they have proper lock washers between the nut and the chassis.

[Enzo]

And loose power transformer nuts can even cause crackles and hum.