i wanna buy a vintage hot rod stratocaster but the price is a bit pricey (not necessarily out of my range). i have this old affinity squier just sitting there. should i buy completely new guitar or should i buy all new parts for my old strat, the only thing that would be left would be the original body. i would put a good amount of money into it. would it be worth it and do you guys think i could pull it off?

just an update in case i wasn't clear. if i were to do it i would strip the guitar down to the body and get rid of the neck tremolo/bridge and all the electronics. i would buy mostly custom parts from a third party and add a paint job myself. I'm really on the edge and i am not sure what to do after talking to people who say i should do it my self and those who say i should buy one. your comments help guys, thanks.

For me, no. If I had to sink several times the guitars' value into it to make it what I want, I would rather buy a new guitar. My reasoning : The Squire already has little monetary value, and anything you do to it, believe it or not, really won't help increase that value much, if at all. If you want to beat the heck out of it to relic it, that would be fine LOL. Buy the NICE guitar, and let your Squier have it's second life in the hands of another new player (sell it). The money will be much better spent on the new guitar

Yup!

Definitely get the new Guitar.

_________________
2012 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
2013 Fender Pure Vintage 65 Stratocaster
2003 Gibson ES-355
2015 Gibson Les Paul Traditional
2002 Gretsch Duo Jet
1980 Rickenbacker 360/12 Fireglo
2014 Martin 000X1AE
2014 Fender Blues Junior III

Getting the new guitar makes sense for some very good reasons (as mentioned above).
I agree with all of them.
One thing, however, is something you can only determine for yourself.
And that is,...why?
To increase its value, or to get it to play and sound as good as the Vintage, ... ummm... might bring some disappointing returns.
If it's an either-or situation, yeah, get the Vintage.
But if you can keep the Squier and upgrade it as a sort of side-project, give it some consideration.

I recently picked up a 2002 Squier for $25 at a thrift store.
For me, this became my "project" guitar.
I suppose I've spent $150 in pickups, knobs, tuners, etc, already exceeding it's worth,
but it's been a fun hobby, I have learned a lot, and it sounds and plays infinitely better.
And there are a million reasons to have a spare lying around.

Keep it and have fun with it but just don't spend too much money on it.

Spend that money on the Vintage you've been looking at.

I agree with dfrain. By all means buy the Vintage but keep the Squier and work away on it. Rather than being something off the shelf it'll be a guitar you built yourself and you'll learn a hell of a lot doing it.

...this is true. I just yanked out a backup; a heavily modified Squier CV 50. I play it once in a while to make sure it's playable in the event the Hwy 1 has an issue! But still, the Squier just don't cut it, no matter wut's been done to it thus far. The only thing left is to strip the heavy plastic off the neck and refinish it properly to see how that will effect the sound (I love the shape of the CV 50 neck, but it's got way too much plastic paint on it, way to much)!

Also, I'd suggest comparing a vintage strat to a Hwy 1 strat, you get a lot of guitar for a little bit of money with the Hwy 1. Used Hwy 1's are anywhere from $300 to $600.00 used, depending upon the year, condition, body wood.