I understood your suggestion was serious and not rhetorical. I have pursued this avenue in the past, and not a single modder has agreed. IMO, their position is pretty easy to understand. Swapping an unmodded player for a fully modded unit is not an even exchange. More importantly, modded players are ususally made on an order by order basis, and the best modders I know have a hard enough time keeping up with paid orders. It's nearly impossible to have a loaner hanging around when paying customers are in line. That's the POV of the modders, in any case.
05-02-07: Gs5556
My suggestion was serious, not rhetorical, in the hopes that some company, when challenged, might be prodded into some kind of assurance to a perspective customer who's about to fork over good money.
This is precisely why I recommend buying used modded machines. They offer the possibility of "auditioning" at home by buying and re-selling with little monetary loss since the first owner had taken the big depreciation hit. Further, if one likes and keeps a used machine, the owner typically saves 50% or more versus the cost of a newly modded player.