so since my last post I've checked several more things

-the wire splice has not been done, so the bike is 100% stock sans the Tyga aluminum canisters
-I checked the voltage and it was rock steady at 12.5 idle and 14.2 rev'd up- it even held steady while bumping the 7k mark which it won't go past
-checked pickups on flywheel for loose solder joints.
-checked the pick up wires all the way back to the PGM
-cleaned many connectors
-unplugged the PV and manually put them on hi/low with no results
-swapped rectifier and no change

I guess I'll track down a PGM and see if it will do the trick