Blowing main fuse

I have a 1980 XS650G that is damn near a finished product but is being held up by an electrical issue! I traced down a short to the connection between the reg/rec and the alternator. I can plug every connector on the bike into the harness and have 0 issues until I make that connection so I tested the positive brush brown wire on the alternator with the key on with a test light and got nothing. Any ideas? I think the alternator is grounded by the reg rec and I’m thinking the reg/rec is bad but I’d like to know for sure before spending 100$ on one. The brushes both look great and have lots of material left before the wear line.

Maybe some help in this link..........??
http://www.xs650.com/threads/blowing-main-fuse.57260/

Not exactly the same thing, but my main fuse connection ripped out while on a ride the other day, lost all power and died on the side of the road. Lucky there was a sidewalk to pull off to right away and get out of the main street traffic.

Obviously not a long term fix, but thoughts on just connecting the main power wire back to itself for basic riding until I can get a new fuse soldered in? I know its not ideal, but does anyone see any major safety factors or damage risk by running without the fuse for a bit? What would be my biggest threat if I left the main power (red) wire without the fuse for a while?

As long as it is not a short that caused the fuse to blow. If a wire came loose or got pulled out physically then there is no risk to a melt down or fire. Just fix it at the first opportunity after getting home cause riding it without a fuse may not be problematic in the short term, but as we all know things can happen, from the bike running well yesterday to it wont start today, or its running rough............

....or it catches fire! I'd say to limp it home yes, past that fix it.

I had a similar issue with an older XS so separate regulator and rectifier. When the rectifier was connected, the loom started smoking (fuse was bypassed). Basically the diodes in the rectifier failed, so when the rectifier was connected, the battery unloaded into the loom. You can check your diodes in a combined rec/rec with most multimeters, there's plenty of video tutorials on youtube.