Do it on your own - first soldering I ever did was that exact maneuver. Look up How To’s online - some guitar website or a youtube video…just remember: don’t lay the pickguard down on the body and solder on top of it, okay? If you have to set it down on the body due to the length of your wires, but a thick towel underneath it…
Thanks alot man, I’m somewhat new here, but I can tell you know what you’re talking about. Might just have to make an order from Musician’s Friend today. 
I’ve had this thought in the back of my mind to try and build a tube amp. Well, yesterday I had an epiphany, I have an old RCA stereo console in my basement that my parents bought when they were newly married in '62. Self I thought, that old stereo probably has all the tubes and transformers you need in it, and all the speakers you could want at no cost. So, I rush home after work and pull off the back to find…transistors…DAMN!
As physicist Niels Bohr said “a genius is someone who has made every possible mistake in a very narrow field.”
I am no genius, but I have broken my share of pickups and ruined my share of guitar finishes. 
But I learned along the way, and pickup swaps are a great option to have in your back pocket if you find a guitar that you think has good bones, but you want a bit more something out of - if you know you can swap, you might pull the trigger…
That’s awful!
You actually have two options:
-
DIY kits - actual amp kits with very clear instructions so you can build a Fender Tweed Deluxe clone or a 60’s Marshall Bluesbreaker, or a Vox - they’re all out there. You can go to - what is it? 18watt.com? here- a message board for homebrew amp builders
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get an easy-to-mod existing amp, like an Epi Valve Junior or a Fender Blues Jr. - both have several sites and message boards devoted to how they can be hot rodded…by the way, if you aren’t an electronics enthusiast and kinda just starting out, I would recommend this approach. Let them get the basic platform up and running - you play with mods and learn that way…that’s how I approached my first homebrew guitar I built.
What Wordman said - plus go here for wiring diagrams:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/
It’s a wealth of easy to read wiring diagrams on all types of guitars and configs. Plus, read up a little on “cheesecutter” switches like the five position one’s on Strats. They can be a little confusing at first…
Listen to the man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l__8SqmZWZ4
Seymour Duncan - how to swap Strat pickups. The first swap I refer to above was to put in a Duncan Quarter Pounder. The second was when I was putting in a humbucker that Seymour personally gave me. ::geek moment::
'nuff said. And notice his towel! 
Unfortunately, I don’t have any of those gathering dust in my basement.
I did do a portable 9v Solid state Ruby amp build this past winter to get my feet wet. I’m planning on upgrading the speaker and building a nicer case for it soon.
I picked up a Blues Jr. with the idea of doing all the mods from the billmaudio.com site. Now, I’ve done a fair amount of soldering in my life, but I wouldn’t have said that I was particularly skilled at it. I followed Bill M’s reccomendations and bought a decent soldering station (The Hakko he suggests) and holy crap, it’s so much easier than wrestling with the $20 pencil iron I’ve always tried to use.
In fact, I ended up a little disappointed that there wasn’t more soldering to do because I was really enjoying it!
http://store.guitarfetish.com/index.html
Guitarfetish is also good for random guitar parts. And cheap. Musician’s Friend is larger, but I’m happy with what I’ve got from them.
Something wrong there – the contents of the board is disabled except for registered users, and new user registration is disabled.
Well - that stinks.
Here’s a link to The Gear Page’s amps and cabs forum. I am sure it is search-worthy for threads on building your own amps.
Here’s a kit maker - Mission Amp’s website.
A thread on building your own Marshal Plexi…
Hope this helps.
Cool, thanks!
By the way, I finally updated my build thread, for anybody whose interested:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12513115#post12513115
Awesome! (clicks, reads)
Thought you folks might be interested in this - Sergei de Jonge guitar making course. I haven’t the time to go to any of the sessions that are coming up, but man, would this be fun. My friend Ed built his 8-string classical with Sergei about 5-6 years ago…
After building that guitar… why not build a FX pedal?
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/fxkitindex.html
This seems to have a good selection, and apparently a good reputation.
Bought this book yesterday:
Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970
Very cool. It’s got a lot of interesting facts I didn’t know about the start of Fender. I didn’t know Leo Fender had a glass eye. And he never learned how to play guitar either…
I have a ton of books like that - they appeal to my geek side (actually, my parents were collectors and antique dealers and built up a library on anything they collected, so it just comes naturally…).
E-Sabs - yeah, I have circled Build Your Own Clone a bit; I seem to remember that the prices weren’t a whole lot cheaper vs. buying a built pedal…but since I am not a huge pedal guy and it feels like getting into them would open a whole 'nother area I couldn’t spend enough time doing, I haven’t done it…
Please forgive a dumb question - I know the cube root of f*c< all about MIDI…
Quick version of the question - say I were to get an instrument that had MIDI capabilities - like this Godin, for instance. Would I be able to set up the software to transpose, eg I play a G Major chord and the software interprets that and plays an F# Major chord? A tweak or two of the software and it could then interpret that same G Major chord as an Ab Major chord?
Long term basis for my curiosity - I’m playing lots of classical song repertoire by accompanying myself on the guitar. I’ve been using my old Yamaha beater as a Baritone guitar - it’s fine for practice, but it sounds like sh!t. I’m using it tuned down a minor third; I’ve strung it with Normal tension strings, but using what would normally be a ‘B’ for a 1st string, what would normally be a ‘G’ for a second, and using a .052, .054 or .056 for the sixth string. End result - it sounds okay (I haven’t done this to a really good guitar yet!), but there is more tension on the instrument than it was built to take.
So, for public performance, I may be looking for a second classical that I can string extra heavy. Meantime, for practice, etc., this MIDI solution just occurred to me.