I finally pulled the trigger and just had the Sank mod done on my cm300's and on my Tascam PE120's (Basically a Nak300 clone)
The mod is done to the full body (No "chopping")
I think the sound is better, and it definitely is way more convenient than sourcing and taping together two 6 volt batteries. I don't care that they are still full bodied because the 300's really aren't suited for
That all being said, I did also happen to aquire a set of chopped 700's that walstib did at some point in the past and I am very happy with those as well!
Here is an excerpt from an email where Stephen explained the mods to me (at this time I was considering modding both my cm700's and cm300's.) I don't think it's my place to list his pricing so I x'd those out, but everything else from the email remains intact, so I hope this will be helpful and informative.
Stephen Sank <varacoustic@yahoo.com>
7/15/15
to me
Know right away that I will NOT do "chops" on the Nak/Primo/Teac/Tascam mics. I consider it a terrible thing to do to them, plus I don't have time for that sort of custom metalwork.
No problem doing phantom power mods, though.
Normally, phantom mod for the CM100/300 is $xx each. However, if you want to keep using the CP4 shotgun capsule, that adds a major wrinkle. The normal mod involves a reconfiguration of the fet head amp, which then gets hardwire-connected down to the output section in the main body. The CP4 has it's own FET head amp built-in, so maintaining useability of CP4 means not only mod'ing the additional head amp inside the CP4, but also coming up with an inline 2-pin connector, so that the normal preamp head can be unplugged to then plug in the CP4. So, a "with CP4" phantom mod would be $xxx per mic set.
The CM700 mod costs are the same, with the one additional wrinkle: If you have/want to use the CM700 with both it's normal AND it's -15dB attenuator heads, it brings up the same issue as with the shotgun capsule, as the -15dB head is a whole alternate head amp. So, $xx normal, $xxx if you want to maintain swap-ability of straight + -15db heads. And if you get CP703 shotgun capsules with them, it will add the same amount.
Whatever iteration of the above, my phantom mod will actually improve the sound a bit & will drop the noise floor some, as I allow the fet head amp to run at 20VDC, and I upgrade the output line dc blocking cap that feeds the signal to the output transformer.
Stephen Sank, Owner
Talking Dog Transducer Co.
2112 N. Dragoon St. #13
Tucson, Arizona [85745]
520-409-4189