I have had some luthier friends (2 who did it all, plus one who did mostly refinishes), and they taught me the basics of what they do.

If I were you, I would first put together one from parts:

http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/J-Bass/LamDinkyJbass.aspx

Then, you can get into doing your own bodies, necks, fretting, etc. if you decide to go to the next level.

The reason I say this: getting the proper tools is not cheap. You may satisfy most of your custom hunger by putting together one.

Were you wanting to build an electric solidbody or an acoustic guitar?
Solidbodies are relatively easier to build, and there are kits from the afore-mentioned Warmoth (and many others) to get you started.
Companies like Grizzly Industries and Stewart-MacDonald offer the tools and supplies to do this, and both of these companies offer acoustic kits as well as electrics.
Carvin offers an easy-to-build Strat-type kit, with plenty of customizable options. I've built a couple of those with great results. Just be prepared to put in more time than they claim it takes to apply the finish (this is very dependent upon the relative humidity of your area).

I thought you were broke? You think entry level recording is expensive hold onto your wallet building good guitars!!! Not that they won't be a relative bargain, a lot more guitar for the money using your labor, but just w8 and see what kinda money you can get involved with buying nice pieces of tonewood, hardware and electronics.

I know it's expensive, but the way I'm looking at it, the instruments take presidence. And, I'm not looking to do it in the next month. I'm talking in the next year or two. I had thought about buying a kit, and I'm still weighing options. If I decide I want an acoustic more, I'll buy the kit. If I want an electric, I think I'll probably build it from ground up.
Oh, yeah it's pretty humid here during the summer. I'm from 'bama, and it's pretty rough during the summer.

I've made several bolt-neck guitars and basses using pre-made bodies and necks. While I have not done it, building a body is not that hard and can be done with simple tools. The neck is another story. My guess is that you would have to build two or three necks to make it cheaper to buy the tools.

My suggested starting point. (1) Learn to do really good setups on guitars: fret dressing and leveling, setting the action, cutting and filing nuts and saddles. You'll have to buy some tools, but it's not that bad. (2) Learn to refinish guitars. You can do this with spray cans, sandpaper, and polishing compounds. Check out the info at [[url=http://[/URL]="http://reranch.com/"]Guitar ReRanch.[/]="http://reranch.com/"]Guitar ReRanch.[/]. (3) Get into playing with electronics and swapping parts on electric guitars. All of this can be done pretty cheaply and there is real satisfaction in turning a cheap POS guitar into something sweet. You will need all of these skills to build you own guitar, and you may even want to just stop at making the guitars built by others actually play great.

One thing I had thought about was taking an old neck (like an old Gibson or Fender neck- found cheaply on ebay) and reshaping the head a bit, and refinish it, and build the body myself. That way, I have the sweet classic neck, and a custom body and electronic layout, and it cost less than a "decent" guitar.

I built some tape recorders & some consoles way back when. I never had to send them back to the factory to have them tuned, like so many guitarists do. I only play my instruments in the studio. It's just really difficult to play a tape recorder in front of an audience. And you only need one finger.

One finger engineer
Ms. Remy Ann David