[quote=@Fat Boy Kyle]
Can someone quickly remind me: Do Jedi construct their lightsabers before or after becoming padawans? 

(I thought it was after, but I've ready a couple of things that contradict that)
[/quote]

Before, quite often it's part of their initiate trials. Though quite often they make a second one when they become a Padawan and personalize it a bit more. Some even just made a Lightsaber just to get past the initiate trials, and then went on to make something fancy.