My favorite guitar magazine Fretboard Journal also has a pretty interesting podcast featuring a number of the builders and players featured in the magazine. The most recent episode features an interview with Vermont-based luthier Creston Lea of Creston Guitars. Lea makes Fender-style guitars, but with his own unique touches. For example, I believe that most of his guitars feature a top-loading bridge, rather than the typical string-through body approach used by Fender and most clones. He discusses the reasons behind this and his other design ideas in the interview.