Yes I decided against the Teak because it is apparently brighter with less bass, which is not something I would want from these type of Fostex closed headphones, also the Teaks or the Ebs, would be very close to double the cost of the Mahogs, I really don't think that is worth it, I would like a slightly more refined sound and removable cables yes, but not for double, I also think the Mahogs with the mods I have done, are now very good indeed, I would not be at all surprised if they sound better than stock ebonies, although if I got some ebonies AND modded them, they would likely sound better and the black cups and removable cables would be nice.
I think with the Lawton mods the brightness you were hearing was probably the pads? The treble just simply sounds better if you only do the driver mod and not the other parts, I have not tried the other parts but my experience is that the driver mod only improves the sound. Does not make it brighter or peakier, it sounds smoother.
Although to be honest, if you add cup damping, such as the EZ mod with the tape on the cups, I would think that probably all models would sound approx the same at that point, as the only difference is the cups, the drivers and pads are the same, so the wood is affecting the sound, but I plan to try the tape damping on the Mahogs, if the tape damping is an improvement over stock, then I assume that the Ebonies and Mahogs would sound approx the same if they both had cup damping. eg. drivers = same, pads = same, cups = damped so effectively same.... Although it might be that the Ebonies do not need any cup damping, TBH the mahogs do not massively need cup damping after the other mods, but I will try it as I am interested to see if I can get the treble any smoother.
Overall though these mods are no joke! In about 1-2 hours I transformed the X00 from something I was moderately happy with, but considering selling, to something I am much happier with and have no plans of selling, unless I saw a cheap pair of TR X00 Ebony, which is not likely. I got the tape in the post today so I will try the cup damping and report back!!
Also how much difference do you really notice from the Mahogs to the Ebonies? I do like the look of them and sort of would like to get some, but then it comes back to the fact they are close to double the price of the Mahogs, and also I already did the Lawton mod, so I don't think I could take that off and put it onto the Ebonies (?)