Well, assembly really. I built a Partscaster, with the aid of my teenage son. I already had the pickups and tuners left over after upgrading my US Standard Strat several years ago so I bought the rest of the bits from Northwest Guitars.
A little bit more setup work trequired but already playing nicely (and sounding very 'Stratty').
Definitely not. This build was fun, and I've learned a fair bit (this was the first time that I've needed to cut nut slots), but the reason I made this guitar was that I already had about 40% of the parts by value.
I may take more care over the assembly, because it's my guitar, but I don't think that makes me any better than somebody working in the Fender factory who does this for 7 or 8 hours every day with access to the correct tools and jigs.
What counts is the setup so it doesn't matter whether I assemble the guitar myself from bits (which I can't source for less than Fender can) or whether I buy a budget ready made Fender and do a decent setup. In the case of the latter at least it has a resale value.
Definitely not. This build was fun, and I've learned a fair bit (this was the first time that I've needed to cut nut slots), but the reason I made this guitar was that I already had about 40% of the parts by value.
I may take more care over the assembly, because it's my guitar, but I don't think that makes me any better than somebody working in the Fender factory who does this for 7 or 8 hours every day with access to the correct tools and jigs.
What counts is the setup so it doesn't matter whether I assemble the guitar myself from bits (which I can't source for less than Fender can) or whether I buy a budget ready made Fender and do a decent setup. In the case of the latter at least it has a resale value.
I totally understand that. For me it's partly about the challenge of building but mainly the opportunity (in the case of my present one) of getting a (bass) guitar shape that I wanted but I couldn't actually obtain because it doesn't exist.
And of course, it's fun!
But you're right, budget gear is so good these days.