Denon DL-103R Wood Body Mod

Yes, many of us have done it. Here's an excellent reference site:

http://home.comcast.net/~omaille/audio/DL103/DL-103.html

Yes, and many others as well. I've been using a wood bodied 103R for about 3-4 years now. You won't find many people that don't think it is a major improvement on the stock Denon (I believe Dave Pogue is the one person I know of that does not).

IMO it is a very significant improvement. If you go in stages, you can do the wood body and then do a Soundsmith retip with a line contact stylus and you will have a cartridge that can compete with some very exotic and very pricey cartridges. An aluminum body is another alternative and some have reported great results with those as well; be aware, though, that the aluminum will be a fair bit heavier. With an ebony body, you're looking at a cartridge weighing in around 11-12 grams, with the aluminum you are in the 14-15 gram range so be sure you are capable of balancing out a cartridge that heavy.

I'd suggest the Ebony body and that is Uwe's favorite as well (the man behind the wood bodies and he's had a chance to experiment with them all); I much prefer the ebony to a clavellin body I have and the ebony has a strong synergy with the Soundsmith retip if you go that way as well.

I've just put a Uwe snakewood body on my DL103 (non-R version) and noticed a modest improvement. I'd be interested to hear from people who have replaced the stylus and/or cantilever, as to what benefits each of these have had, and whether there have been any downsides.