Over here the go-to was Heathkit.

I soldered up the stereo system of my youth from their kit, as well as a GR88 public service band receiver which I still have some fifty years on, still working though could use a bit of a clean in the switches and tuning pot.

My father was a longtime ham going back to his boyhood. During the war, both as a Boy Scout and a ham he was involved in setting up and operating mobile spotter stations tied into the system on the amateur radio bands, and went on to radio and radar in the Navy. His love for that sort of thing never flagged, and it was a rite of passage in his eyes for his son to solder up his own if he wanted a "bangin' stereo".

You learnt attention to detail reading the manual and following along, not to mention soldering, how electricity works, and, yes, even mechanical assembly skills.

I certainly don't regret or resent that hurdle!