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I guess back then, wages weren't as high relative to the gear so many had no choice but to build, often from kits, or modify their own gear. It's a different world now with much cheaper and mostly much better performing audio gear.

These days I only make custom mods when there's a real need for it and there's nothing else available, or buying that feature would be ridiculously expensive. I'm reluctant to buy a whole machine just for one inbuilt feature like a front panel azimuth adjuster.