This is how I learned about electronics and especially about designing analog synthesizers. I started at the age of 12 with a experiments kit from PHILIPS (EE2040) but quickly moved to sound related circuits. For many years I did almost nothing else than designing, prototyping and building (lots of soldering, panel drilling etc.). Later I combined this with getting education to find out that things are more predictable so trial and error is not always needed.
A lot of the designs were build on perfboard (the brown plates with pre-drilled holes) and some were Elektuur-Formant projects (the blue PCB's). The front panels were all homemade, I bought a 2 square meter aluminium plate and had it cut to all the sizes needed. I drilled holes, wiped textstickers and lines on the front and added some varnish to protect it. The first keyboard (the black box) was a cut from a broken harmonium organ, I attached metal springs and magnets to the wooden keys and placed a small reed relais underneath each key.
My very first "modules" were actually based on the little wooden boxes that my dad used to transport birds in.
This whole modular system has never been finished (maybe after I retire?) but it brought me quite some knowledge and skills that I profit from up to now, both in in my hobby and in my job (electronics instrumentation design)
