Hori Hayabusa unboxing + mods!

Ok, shit got real at about 8 pm at the UPS office when I had to pick this package up because someone, somewhere, got my apt # wrong. Anyway, look at this!!

I wonder what's inside!
Oh my, is that a PERSONALLY signed letter of thanks? Damn, Hori you know how to treat a man. If you keep this up, I may love you long time...

Oooh, so pretty! Sanwa never sends me such pretty boxes and Seimitsu? I don't even think they know what boxes are! But look at you Hori, I think you've sent me Pandora's Box! It's so dark and mysterious, I wonder...
What's this at the bottom of the box? *Gasp* The rumors are true! There ARE stickers! Hori, I'm taking a wild guess that you'd love it if I stuck these stickers all over my stick and went out in public, to a place like EVO maybe, right? Well... maybe if you treat me right, you know I might just do it! They aren't THAT bad looking! Yeah, ok, maybe I'm a little convinced, maybe...
Pandora's box in all her glory, just look at it.
Yeah, these are definitely going on my stick. Hori, are we going to go steady soon?

Oh my, look at all that protection you have. You wrapped it up just for me? Well, I don't like it wrapped, so we about to get raw in here.
Well, maybe lets not be too hasty now...
Aye, ye like foreplay, yea? Perhaps I was too eager, Hori. Look at these textured washers, allow me to illustrate their textured glory!
Ah, finally I have unwrapped thee. See the ball top? See the shaft cover? See the dust washers? And see Hayabusa in all her glory to the left? Oh, I can't wait! I'm going to get you so naked and raw in just a minute!
Alas, I hast unscrewed thine gate, and shall probe and prod hither and to! Glorious!
I see thou hast familiar parts... couldst thou be akin to mine past love?
Now I hath pulled mine shaft out. Gaze in awe at the glory of the pivot! See, tis well lubed! Nay, can't be! For ne'er hast I seen the lubing of shafts out of the box afore!
Aha! I thought thine parts familiar! Gaze at those pulled from the Elleste Fitty Sixt! Ye doth share, ye do! Welcome back to thine castle, Matsushita!
From the same mold, yea?
Oh, Hayabusa, as much as I love the obvious quality and care put into thee, alas, ye lack levers.
Doth mine eyes deceive! What trickery is this?!
Stock spring, meet mine friend, Elleste Fitty Fith spring! Thou aren't tense enough, mi'lady.
Ah, such a friendly PCB thou hast, for those nights ye feel alone and old, thou shalt hath new parts!
Tis true what hearest me about thine V...
Alas, thou shalt not do. To the lake, with ye!
And thou shalt meet Excalibur (*cough* Dremel *cough*) and mine grip shalt wield it so!
And thou shalt hath levers forever more!!
Plus a shaft and dustwasher of the purest silver! And a Dragon bat top bathed in the fairest moonlight of the night!
I hope you all enjoyed! Apologies about the delay but the mod had to be done before I posted. Why? Because, Tech Talk! I told you all I wouldn't go 5 minutes without modding it out the box. For what it's worth, this is like the best of both worlds for Sanwa and Seimitsu. As you can clearly see, the inclusion of the metal washer is clearly Sanwa inspired. The actuator as well, is Sanwa inspired. The material for the actuator has to be ABS. It's definitely not nylon or delrin, and definitely not acrylic. The gate is clearly Seimitsu inspired right down to the hole design and the switches and the tension also Seimitsu inspired. Considering they share the same brand switches, this is a no brainer but then the placement of the switches also feels clearly Seimitsu inspired. When I did the mod to the body no plastic melted even at a high speed and no funky odors as well. I definitely like the stick a lot so far. It has a ton of mod potential, a LS-55 spring has more tension and fits right in with no modding necessary. The shaft looks to be JLF inspired to a degree. The pivot has a high quality design but the material is not delrin or nylon, it feels much harder like ABS. I would have preferred delrin but, considering how limited the points of contact are on the pivot, I do not think this is an issue.

So far, I'm rating this a 10/10. Out the box it feels good, nice tension, decent engage though the throw feels large to me (I play on no throw mods) but isn't anywhere near as large as a JLF. The stick has a nice tension out of the box as well, not too loose like a JLF. I'm thinking this is more akin to a LS-40 in feel. The smooth pivot, the engage and throw, all reminds me of the 40. Very different from the LS-56 and JLF. I haven't used a LS-32 yet except briefly and this doesn't feel like that, either. At the moment, I'm going to say if you want to try a LS-40 and are willing to do a minor mod to get levers on the stick, then get a Hayabusa.