Emax

Although Windrum is banned, the answer is that, yes, you could "just" mod a drive. But EVERY drive (even within the exact same product line or model range!!) is different and needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis, and some modern drives are simply not capable of being modded at all.

So you need to not only know what drives can be modded, but have one of those drives available, know what those specific mods are, AND be capable of carrying off the mods yourself. That's why no one is giving explicit answers, because it's all highly variable. If you don't already know the answers to these questions then it's simply (in my humble opinion) not worth the effort when you've got Jammie, et al supplying very reasonable alternatives.

How much is your time and frustration worth? If you want to try to save yourself $40 on a new drive and you don't already know exactly what to do and have the skills to pull it off, then be prepared to invest a lot of legwork into sourcing adaptable drives, learning what electrical signals need to be changed to be compatible to the emax / Shugart standard, and also how to (typically) solder surface mount (or through-hole if you're lucky) parts on a floppy drive PCB.

DiY is all well and good, and no one is preventing anyone from pursuing that option. It's simply unfair to expect anyone to hand hold / spoonfeed step-by-step on each and every scenario out there. It's asking a lot, especially from those that HAVE invested the countless hours needed to becoming experts in this particular field and could be getting paid. (And no, I'm no expert, just for the record.)

Just my opinion, and I don't mean to speak for Ted, Jammie, or anyone else.