Got it all back together last night and it feels like a weight off my shoulders both figuratively and literally.
Couple of warnings for those who would like to attempt this:
1. the hemp is essentially a fiberboard and is very fragile. I used a new set of bits and increased the hole diameter by minor increments but still had some of the Hemp material fray/pull out of the cup housing. I even taped around the housing...but its light and fragile stuff
1a. I filled in the areas with wood shavings and a good quality clear wood glue - actually turned out really nice and is hard to notice (the unique coloration is also helpful in hiding defects!)
1b. If I were to do it again, I would place the cups in a vise to keep pressure on the housing while drilling.
2. I chose HD800 sockets due to their small size and limited amount of drilliing needed but boy are those suckers tough to solder too. The barrel solder pins are probably meant for 30guage wire...but since I wanted to use the stock Grado wire (which is around 24/26 guage I had to do some work to slim it down to fit. I should have taken some pictures of the soldering, but I did not think of it until I had already applied the shrink tube and I was not going back.
2a I probably should have just used the 3.5mm sockets I had on hand for this mod, and would do so in the future.
2b I have some Grado Whites coming and wonder if I should do the same?!?!
I am more than happy with the way this mod turned out and hope that Grado will at some point consider doing this across the line. Probably want to use 3.5 mm plugs instead of HD800, but I really wanted to use the Campfire and Wywires cables that I already have.
Note: I was surprised how easy it was to remove the drivers after hearing others concerns over melting drivers or ruining the headphones. I simply removed as much glue as I could see with a razor/scalpel, then gently warmed with a hair dryer driver side down and they pulled right out. The hemp wood composite transfers heat energy pretty easily and warmed up enough with only a few minutes of heat.
Question now is whether I should replace the stock gimbals and stop blocks with black alum. or satin alum to go with the coffee leather headstrap that is on its way...What do you all think?