To answer James, I've built a Strat-o-monster, that has kind of evolved over the years into a experiment always in progress, probaly one day I"ll paint it yellow and call it Swiss chesse. I have a tele style that is my attempt at doing a tele my way, mahoghany body w/curly maple top, rear rout control cavity, no control plate, no pick guard, I use a LP switch instead the fender type, Fender Original Vintage pu and a strat pu in the neck , a Carvin neck with ebony fretboard, no string trees needed, reshaped the headstock, carvin tuners (great&cheap) used aniline dye and nitrocellulose laquer for the finish,,kind of looks like a Tom Anderson. I agree with you about buying a cheaper used guitar and modding it, thats what got me started, I had a Westone Concorde, of course some rat stole it , next thing on my agenda is a Lap Steel from scratch, my two favorite things combined woodwork and guitars, keeps me off the streets and home at night, well when your broke where you gonna go anyhow