[jtkung]

Never thought this was a viable option, but the prices are incredibly cheap for what you get, and you can customize it to no end.  It starts to rival the copies from China, but with the option of actually learning how these things are put together, making it cheaper for maintenance on all the guitars you may own.  Win-win!

SOLO ST STYLE DIY GUITAR KIT, ALDER BODY, MAPLE FB

[jtkung]

Or you can go higher end and make that partscaster from Warmoth and get some pretty high quality bodies and necks, already finished.  The number of options are stupendous, making the guitar an almost completely custom guitar other than a completely new guitar shape (which almost nobody buys anyways). 

If my math is correct, you can get a very high quality, made and built in North America guitar for about $1K. 
Good stuff is never that cheap! The body below is $675 USD.  But check out that copperhead quilt!  And it's chambered.  Another cool thing is that it's a bolt-on so you can get more of a Strat vibe, but with a PRS-like style. 

[jtkung]

There's a huge community of DIY guitar people out there, with plenty of instructions on YouTube.  One of the key things a DIY guitar can have is an amazing oil finish.  Luthiers in commercial business have to make money, so they will normally use a process that is repeatable and fast, with a durable finish.  So a hand-rubbed oil finish with many coats is not likely.  A DIY guitar can have such a finish.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_q...ish+guitar

[jtkung]

DIY guitars made me rethink things about what makes a guitar sound the way it does.  Certainly the wood and craftsmanship make a difference, but the pickups, signal chain, and amp seem to make a much larger difference in the tone. The guitar neck determines the playability and feel.  The rest of the guitar -- aesthetics, value, vintage, history -- paint a mental picture of how you approach it, but not necessarily the sound it makes.  Of course, the guitar player has the most effect.