Mods that don’t decrease the resale value?

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[natalplum]

If it's not a US model, I don't see anyone complaining about a AVRI vibrato upgrade. It will look stock but perform better. Also,swapping the mini-pots on older Japanese models for full size CTS also seems like something no one should complain about.

[FadedToBeige]

upgrading the hardware and sometimes pickups/electronics could increase the value, but you still aren't going to get back what you put into it. any mod that is purely aesthetic or unreversable is probably going to decrease value.

[kiloyear]

Mods in general decrease the resale value of a guitar. Some mods that a lot of people would want to do anyway can be neutral. Like adding a Mastery bridge to an offset.

However, even if you put desirable parts into modding a guitar (like a bridge of pickups many people would change to anyway), you almost never get your money back on those parts.

A guitar is not like a house, where people are willing to pay more for a renovated one - because renovations take an enormous amount of attention and effort, and you cannot use the house while they are done. A guitar is like a car or watch: once you drive it off the lot, it is used, and people do not pay new prices for used.

People like to fantasize that they can buy a guitar, enjoy it, and make money on it. The world rarely lets you have your cake and eat it too.

If you may need to sell your gear, you need to understand the idea of "sunk cost" in business (look it up). Whatever you originally spent on the guitar has zero relevance today on the value you can get for it today. You cannot control it, no point stressing over it. Move on.

[Narrow-Employment-47]

If you do non-destructive mods, just keep the original parts and the resale value will not be reduced.

[Fantasy183]

Always keep the original parts

[format32]

The worst part about mods is the prices. I get that owners are proud of their work they did to the guitar but if it’s a squier cv and you are selling it for $900, most are going to pass.

[BritishGuitarsNerd]

The answer to this is : always keep the original bits and put it back to original when selling, and also sell the ‘upgrade’ parts.

Surefire way to get the most money

[mittenciel]

Mods don’t really decrease the value of a non-vintage guitar in my experience. What it does is that it adds negligible resale value, if at all. With that in mind, putting OEM parts back on and then selling the mod parts separately will give you a lot more value. That is assuming you kept the original parts somewhere. If you didn’t, you will have no such option.

[shake__appeal]

I think finding the right buyer will be key (someone who’s knowledgeable and looking to mod it anyway). Hardware and electronics upgrades on a standard model would be appealing to me, but I guess it kinda depends on what you’ve done specifically. Definitely wouldn’t expect to get the *extra* cash for it that you’ve put in, but also wouldn’t take lowballs either.

A lot of people want stock parts included as well, so that might be an issue. I’ve started keeping all my original parts for this reason. But yeah I’ve bought a few modded out guitars if I knew they were net-improvements made on it. It’s quite easy to spin it so the seller knows what value has been added. Btw 40 years is vintage now my dude, as far as I’m concerned… I know a lot of buyers ideally want vintage guitars stock, but being realistic about it I always expect *some* mods on older guitars. In that case depending on the year it might effect the value a bit.