I think you are right, Nick. For whatever reason, I must have assumed the bulb/socket assembly was all one piece.
Now I wonder if I can swap high beam bulbs without removing the upper cowl...
After swapping the main beam H4s for a slightly whiter color temp (3700K), I went to swap the high beam H7s and I ran into a problem...the high beam sockets are not a standard H7 connector.
After everything I read about VFR bulbs, I was expecting the H4s to be non-standard, but the H7s would be a direct fit. Not so on my '08.
[edited to redact my disinformation about H7 bulbs ]