Members Beckman Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 I have a 3-Time Sunburst. I have been wanting to mod it for quite some time. After all, what else do you do with a Strat? My issue is, I don't only want to mod the pickguard, or pup covers, etc. I want to mod the body. Mostly, sand down the neck and refinish in tung oil. And, sand down the square heel more like the deluxe. I don't plan to resell this, but you never know what the future holds. I have had the guitar for 4 or 5 years. If I do these mods, and say I can sell if for $600 pre-mod, would my selling price drop to $500, $300? Would anyone even think of doing this? Proof that I own it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BoneNut Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 If your major concern is resale, don't mod it.If not, turn it into the Strat you want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beckman Posted February 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 I don't want to resell it. But, how much does it take off? $100, $200, $300? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 I don't want to resell it. But, how much does it take off? $100, $200, $300? Just curious.There's no way of knowing. Don't sand down the square heal. The holes in the neck won't line up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beckman Posted February 26, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 There's no way of knowing. Don't sand down the square heal. The holes in the neck won't line up. I was planning on plugging the hole and drilling a new 4th hole. It is sounding like a bad idea as I typed this. I just guess I am a luthier in my head, and want to do all these things that I have never done. I really like the feel of the Tung oil necks though. That is not really changing shapes or anything. Thanks for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 You say you don't want to ever sell it, yet your primary concerns seem to be around resale. I would be less concerned about sanding off the back of the neck than what you are thinking of doing with the heal. You do that, it's going to mess up the finish. Unless you really know what you're doing (and the questions you ask lead me to believe you don't) it will look like a hack job. You might consider just getting another unfinished neck instead of sanding down and oiling yours. You would then have the original neck to put back on if you decide to sell, or you could sell it now to cover the cost of some of your mods. As for resale, there are no set rules on how modifications will affect it. If you upgrade with new pickups, hardware, etc, it shouldn't hurt the value much, but don't expect to get your money back on your additional investment. Worst case, if you do decide to sell, you could always part it out and recoup part of your investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 Sanding and tung oiling the neck is no harm, no foul. That's easy enough to undo. Reshaping the heel is a whole 'nother thang. Can't undo that and value will be half of the same guitar in unmodded condition. Also, while changing pups and p/g's is reversible, I'd get a whole pickguard and put the electronics in it that you want. Then you still haz the stock, loaded p/g to add with the guitar if/when you sell. That just increases value IMO. If you find a buyer who wants a guitar like this and wants the pup mods you did, instant addition of a hunnert clams in your pocket. You can either sell it separate or include it with the guitar. Still extra GAS money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 Moding I would say you'ld be lukcy to get $300. Go buy a $100 Squier and mod away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 You can buy a Strat body with the contoured heel from Warmoth for less then your guitar will drop if you mod it. If you can use three holes in the neck instead of four with the new body (which may be ok) you can just bolt it back to the original body if you decide to sell it or if you don't like the mod. Worst thing would be doing it and messing up the mod or not liking it or changing the sound) and ending up with a hard to sell, devalued guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BoneNut Posted February 26, 2012 Members Share Posted February 26, 2012 Sanding and tung oiling the neck is no harm, no foul. That's easy enough to undo. Reshaping the heel is a whole 'nother thang. Can't undo that and value will be half of the same guitar in unmodded condition. Also, while changing pups and p/g's is reversible, I'd get a whole pickguard and put the electronics in it that you want. Then you still haz the stock, loaded p/g to add with the guitar if/when you sell. That just increases value IMO. If you find a buyer who wants a guitar like this and wants the pup mods you did, instant addition of a hunnert clams in your pocket. You can either sell it separate or include it with the guitar. Still extra GAS money. Good game plan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beckman Posted February 27, 2012 Author Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 Thanks for all the opinions. I think I just really want to build (no proven skills), or mod something. I just sold a guitar I bought to do this with. I sold it because I can't get another neck easily if I mess up. It's SEC neck from Washburn. Plus, it had a Floyd, although stable for tuning, I don't think I was into it. I like 10s, and when I put them on, it really did not handle it well. Maybe buying a cheap squier or GFS and hacking away would be good to go. I also have an washburn acoustic I would not get much for if I sold it. I need to change that neck finish, it is so sticky with the high gloss finish. I am always scanning the Warmoth site for good deals as well. I did file some fret ends on a Maple neck a while back. I refinished it, and sold it. The guy thought it was original (yes I told him). Thanks again for talking me out of messing up the guitar. Oh, and to clarify, I plan to never sell the guitar, but as we all know, things change. So, you can never say never. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted February 27, 2012 Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 Get a new squier bullet - ~$100 - have at it. When I see a guitar for sale with the mods you're describing, I always think to myself "I hope owner learns to like that guitar, cause no one is going to buy it". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Apple Slim Posted February 27, 2012 Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 Classic Strat. Leave it alone. Do not mod anything that cannot be easily reversed. If you want to play around, order a cheap unfinished body, a decent Might Mite neck, and have at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Edward Posted February 27, 2012 Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 You can buy a Strat body with the contoured heel from Warmoth for less then your guitar will drop if you mod it. If you can use three holes in the neck instead of four with the new body (which may be ok) you can just bolt it back to the original body if you decide to sell it or if you don't like the mod.Worst thing would be doing it and messing up the mod or not liking it or changing the sound) and ending up with a hard to sell, devalued guitar. It seem to me that the thing most likely to cut value from such a modified guitar would be those mods done badly. FWIW, it seems to me (whatever moral qualms you might have about it aside) that the best, most profitable way of selling a Fender on eBay is to part it out.... If you were certain you didn't want to sell it as a whole, you might well find you could sell the body of this one for more than would cover the cost of a replacement body from Warmoth, plus any other mods you'd care to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members straycat113 Posted February 28, 2012 Members Share Posted February 28, 2012 Once any routing or drilling is done you can kiss the resale value goodbye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Baddass Posted February 28, 2012 Members Share Posted February 28, 2012 leave it alone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted February 28, 2012 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2012 You could just try and pick up a used Deluxe body Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NoRomoFan Posted February 28, 2012 Members Share Posted February 28, 2012 Might change out the pickups and electronics but that would be all I would do. It looks good the way it is IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted February 28, 2012 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2012 , you might well find you could sell the body of this one for more than would cover the cost of a replacement body from Warmoth, plus any other mods you'd care to make. Warmoth don't do a Deluxe style heel like the OP wants, however Guitarmill do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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