michaelhanson
I agree with Jim; mods do absolutely nothing for resale value or trading.  

True enough. But if you want to talk investments and RIO you're probably in the wrong forum.
 
I've got a buddy who does guitars as investments. He's got a collection of heavily insured attic find and yard sale bargain 50's and 60's instruments that he keeps locked in cases and never plays them, touches them or even looks at them. His RIO on those instruments is extremely good.
 
IMO if you want to consider guitars as investments, that is the only way to do it. Anything less is just telling yourself stories in order to feel less guilty about how much you spent on your instrument.
 
My guitars are tools, not investments. I buy them and use them and I will never recoup the price I paid for any of them just as I will never recoup the price I paid for any tool I own. Not my guitars, not my table saw, not my John Deere. All of which have been heavily modified with after market parts since I bought them. 

I've never considered the resale value when I've bought an instrument. I'm a player, not a collector.

My guitars are tools as well. I never brought up the topic of investments. Buying quality instruments and taking reasonable care of them will give you more trading power than buying cheap. My Rick bass was purchased for $950 new back in 2002 and will fetch that plus some today, used.

Used MIM Strats go for $250-$350 all day long on CL.


Edit: I'm a player as well.

I sold my vintage 50watt Plexi Lead head a couple of years ago. I bought it in I think 1979 from a guy who sold it to put the money towards a new HH solid-state amp. Back then it wasn't vintage, just old, second hand, battered and cheap.

I've not used it in years and can't imagine ever using it again, so thought it might as well go to a new home where it's wanted.

And got a remarkably good return on my 37 years long "investment". Certainly a better return than had I been responsible and put the money I spent on it in the bank like my parents thought I should.

tlw
And got a remarkably good return on my 37 years long "investment". Certainly a better return than had I been responsible and put the money I spent on it in the bank like my parents thought I should.

Very few people that I know consider putting money into a bank savings account to be anything resembling a 'good investment'. That being said, here is the very blunt way to describe the point I was trying make above. If you're buying instruments that you intend to use as an investment, you suck at investing. 
 
Is it possible to buy an instrument or some piece of musical equipment, hold it for 30 years and sell it for more than you originally bought it for? Sure. Let's look at the classic 80's dream synth, the Roland Jupiter 8. I absolutely LUSTED after that beast when I was 16. But at $5000 a copy, it was way beyond my means at the time. 
 
These days the Jupiter 8 is still an in-demand synth and good condition well-used copies routinely sell for $8000-$10000 today. So if I had been smart, I would have bought one way back when for $5000, held it for 30 years and then I could sell it today for double the price. Great investment right?


Sure is. Until you realize that $5000 in 1983 ends up being about $12,000 in 2016 adjusted dollars. So while you thought you made money on your 1983 instrument 'investment', you didn't. You lost money. Just not as much as you would have lost on a bunch of other instruments of the day, Korg Poly 800 I'm lookin' at you.

And for perspective, that bad investment of putting your money into a corner bank savings account (and it is a bad investment) we were talking about? While interest rates are in the toilet these days, the average over the last 30 years has been about 5.6%. So $5000 deposited in 1983 and left to compound annually for 30 years would yield about $25k today. So yeah like I said, if you're buying an instrument you intend to use and thinking of it as any kind of investment, you suck at investing.

BobF
Another option is used American Strats.  You'll end up somewhere between the 1/3 cost of new MIM and 1/2 the cost of a new MIA.
 
Not for a few years, but I've owned both.  The MIM was nice for the price.  The MIA was nice.
('99 MIM I bought new, then a '98 Am Dlx I bought used in '00)
 
So maybe all of the hardware won't have to be changed in a used MIA.  Might get away with just a pup swap if he has a specific set in mind.  And somebody else will have taken the initial depreciation hit.

agree... GC usually has great deals on used guitars...and pickups might have already been upgraded, along with other things... and you can dicker pretty good... 25% off of what they list is normal in my experience with used or new... work with a manager, not a regular human...
 
If you have several GCs in your region like we do in the bay area, go on-line and often times they'll list what a store has.  

Just a comment on Sweetwater.  I don't usually buy guitars on line.  I worked in a music store (in Nashville) in the early 70's and each guitar in stock tended to have its own identity.  I had a Gretsch PX6120 (bought new in 61) and always wished I hadn't sold it.   In a "soft moment" I bought a Gretsch from Sweetwater.  When it arrived it was in perfect condition and the intonation was also perfect. 
 
But, the case was another story and it had to be replaced as the lining inside was coming apart.  They apparently went over the guitar but didn't check the case.
 
I don't have a Strat but I have a MIM "Nashville" Tele.  Our lead guitar player, who plays a US Strat (has Blue Lace Sensors and ball bearing nut), likes my Tele and usually plays it when I have him on a recording session.

 
I think I'd keep my mouth shut and let him get what he wanted UNLESS you knew he was getting piece of junk, a bad deal or being ripped off.
 
Why? Because he'll get what he feels is right. If he doesn't recognize the quality of a high-end guitar he doesn't need it anyway.
If he isn't happy with it down the road you won't be part of the reason but then could be part of making it better-maybe a guitar he does like.
 
If he doesn't know the basic differences between electric guitars; short-scale vs. long, HB vs Singles, hard-tail vs trem, solid body vs semi-solid, tilt/angle neck vs straight, fret size (sm vs lrg) -neck contours - maybe wood choices, etc......point them out to him.
 
Of course...I'd ask him about all those specifics along with aesthetics and build it.
 
 
 

bought a MIM HSS - humbucker in bridge position - ebay - $300. sounds good, plays really nice. could probably update pickups and bridge but overall very happy with it. because it is a "sea foam" (greenish) body it probably wasn't as popular so hence the good price.

spacey
 
I think I'd keep my mouth shut and let him get what he wanted UNLESS you knew he was getting piece of junk, a bad deal or being ripped off.

The fun is doing it together and talking about it, but the point is taken, he works at UCLA and is a director of photography in the film industry as well, I'm sure he'll do what he wants. But I've been playing since the 60s and he only recently, so it's nice of him to ask around the old crew :)