He is still alive.

I'd advise then to ask for a refund and spend their money with Bludo.

+1000

I have a heretical opinion which is that new kit is almost always the best idea.

Almost all guitars are made better nowadays. Whenever I've picked up old expensive guitars, most were expensive, and no easier to play, if not worse  - the technology of construction has moved on a lot. Some old guitars are great, many are poor, and I don't have the money for the nice ones.
When I was a kid £150 got you a beginner's strat copy with a poor neck, 30 years later it's the same price (way lower in real terms) for a much better guitar.

With amps, the prices for vintage gear is less silly than with guitars, for rare amps it's still crazy, but I ask myself "how do I know it's authentic, and why buy 40 year old electronics, or rare amps from a one-man-operation, when someone is building brand new ones to the same spec or better? I know it would be nice to buy a rare old amp, but I sold my 1960s ac10 twin and fender tremolux years ago, since I felt I could get twice as many pieces of reliable modern kit with the money

My main rule is to try to mostly buy kit that I can sell on with little or no loss. With Nik's stuff I make an exception, since how else would I get these rare or overpriced amps? Even then, the OTS amps seem to hold value quite well.

If he die while you're waiting for the amp, you can say bye bye to your deposit 

+ to really want a real D you must be either rich,snob or fetishist   

There have been many people whom sued HAD and got their amp built. Unfortunately he didn't pay close attention to those particular amps and in result they were not as sonically enriching to play as his "Grail era'" amps. Regardless they still had to wait a long time and most people sold the amps as soon as they got them.

Sounds like he's a great amp builder but he has some issues with his personality.
(if it is true ofcourse)