MXL 990 Headbasket Mod
The Headbasket Mod, basically, involves removing the inner mesh linings of the headbasket, leaving just the outer mesh. This is fairly easy, once you get over being nervous that you are going to damage the outer mesh. This mod opens up the headbasket considerably, and seems to be commonally recognised as a worthwhile mod. One disadvantage to this mod is that it removes some protection for the capsule, but if you are willing to treat your mics carefully, and protect them with a pop guard when using them for vocals, the improvement is worth it, in our opinion.
The first step is to remove the body in order to get at the screws that hold the headbasket to the top plate which is located just above the circuit board. Unscrew the base, and slide off the body. There are two screws that attach the headbasket to the plate. They pass through the circuit board, through a spacer, then through a metal plate and into the headbasket. Remove these screws, and the headbasket will separate from the body.
Once the headbasket has been removed, we have found that an ice pick or awl works nicely to peel the inner two meshes away from the outer mesh at the rim so you can then grab them with a pair of healthy needle nose pliers. Just pick at a spot until you can work the awl in under the two inner meshes, and pry firmly, but carefully. Following are pictures of this process as performed on a v67 headbasket - the process is the same.
Once you have a hole in the inner meshes, you can then get your needle nose pliers in the hole, grab the mesh, and pull. After doing a few of these, you will find what works best for you. We found that we often twirl the pliers to get the mesh wrapped around the nose, which then allows us to pry and pull with a good grip.
Work your way around the rim first, then down the two side supports.
When the cross bar at the top of the headbasket is the last spot holding the mesh, we again found that grabbing the mesh and twirling the pliers will pull the mesh off of the cross bar until it is just being held at the very center, at which point you should be able to give a good yank to pull it the rest of the way off. Be sure to clean out any stray single strands that may still be attached to the frame, as these could potentially puncture the capsule!
At this point, the headbasket should be set. Once the mic is reassembled, you will be able to see how much more open the headbasket is.
Ok, on to the capacitor mods...