I've made a few, and keep one that's stand mountable for the cover band. My current one has a simple slab maple body (easy to pack and takes up little room on stage, rosewood "fretboard", maple "frets" (just the slots filled with veneer), Schaller machine heads, an old Gibson humbucking pickup wired direct to the jack (I like the controls at my feet, ie a multi-fx unit with volume pedal), corian tailpiece, nut, and bridge. It's a little primitive, but it works great. This one is solid where some of my previous ones were hollowed out.

Generally I use open G (DGDGBD, low to high) but sometimes I'll flatten the second string to Bb for minor keys, or I avoid major thirds. D'Addario Chromes flatwound strings which stay in tune, last forever and a day, are easy to find and sound great. For a capo I have a piece or corian that I wedge under the strings, though usually I don't bother.

I also have a Gold Tone Weissenborn copy. Very lightly constructed, I suspect it will need a Bridge Doctor before long, even though I observe the string light and low manufacturer's caution.

Much fun.

Peace, Mooh.