Polymath wrote:

About 40 years ago, I recall as a teenager borrowing
a book from the local library that described how to
make your own transistor radio, including the manufacture
of the transistors themselves by point-contact
techniques. ISTR that it was published in Yankland.

Does anyone here remember this book?

No - but we do remember the one written here in the UK and published by
Ladybird books written by Rev. George 'read the quote' Dobbs G3RJV.

Maybe you should purchase or search for a copy from ebay or amazon - the
wooden baseboard is roughly at your level of engineering (or should that
be fettling) from what we read in other newsgroups!