The level requirement thing has come up a few times. Here's a compromise I'll offer:
I will lower the level requirement on the item, but it will "count" against the item's overall strength. Basically it will count as a passive property to have a lowered requirement. Kind of like the Reduced Weight property. If you want reduced level requirement, I will count this against the overall design of your item.
A reduced level requirement would bring it down to about level 50. I could bring it down to half at level 38, but this will count even more against the item's power.