Unless you, or someone you know, has a garage full of tools, I can't really recommend starting out the way I did. I assembled a Strat knock-off from a kit, and then made a tube practice amp from scratch (it's like an old tweed Champ, but with a tone knob).
If I could afford another guitar right now, I'd love to build an electric one from scratch, or try making my first acoustic from one of
these kits.