Background...
We just had our first son... Looking at buying a strat and passing it down to him one day.

A) American FSR Strat (blue metallic/Rosewood Neck) ($1500)
--- I really like the chrome pickguard and the blue is a cool contemporary blue but wish it had a maple neck.

B) Mexican Deluxe Strat (Crimson Red Transparent/Maple Neck) ($600) + $150 for HSC ($750)
--- I love the transparent red... love the maple neck... cant stand gold tuners and tortoise pickguard so I would change that...

OK 1... would it hurt the value if I changed the options I don't like to the ones I do? 2... Any thoughts on these two guitars considering cost vs american vs mexican etc. Thanks I am new to the forum. any and all assistance is appreciated.

Every parts change more or less reduces the value. Depends on the changes.
Normally value decreases less if the guitar was left all original.

As far as value goes:

Get a used strat from the 70s, they incredibly raise in prices right now (not that I would understand why but they actually do!)
Got a '76 US strat 4 years ago for 500, now they go for 1500 or more!

If your guitar is supposed to stay in your family and keep the value, then try to find one which is as you want it, without changing anything.
Keep all hangtags and other papers which come with it.

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Attempting to predict increasing value for a guitar is a crapshoot at best. If you had told me 30 years ago that Danelectro's and Silvertones would be valuable today I would have laughed.
( they are still junk compared to nice Strats but that is another debate )

As far as your pic of Strats, could be that blue metallic color is shunned 20-30 years from now or that this particular instrument has a very low demand.
Same for the Crimson MIM Strat, however I am partial to this as i have one. Was a power deluxe but was changed to 3 SCN pups and no push/push switch.

Go ahead and buy a nice Strat but buying it as an investment vehicle is really not a wise expenditure.... As a gift 30 years from now, great I would have loved a late 50's Strat from my dad when I turned 20 but that was a very different time and I think it is a mistake to bank on perceived value based on the past...
Bear in mind that Valuable Strats are valuable because there were only a few hundred of those particular models made and thus today's demand far exceeds current supply.
I would suggest looking into a Custom Shop limited run, a preowned one, they are out there and fairly easy to find...Those will very likely increase in value in the future, but normal production run Strats are not going to increase by much due to the fact that there are thousands being made not a small handful...

When it comes to investments, taking some funds and opening an index fund for the future will be much better returns than any production guitar on the future ( no pun ) market.

BTW when you figure out increased value say 20 years from now, the purchase figure must also be calculated and substracted from that future value....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Welcome!

I've seen this issue dealt with by two major schools of thought:

1. Keep it totally stock (except for the strings, of course) and in pristine condition in the hopes that 'down the road', the instrument appreciates in value. The drawback here is that the guitar would always have to be handled with 'kid gloves'.

On the other hand,

2. Seeing that it is predetermined to be a family heirloom, meaning, it will not be resold, the current and future custodians are at liberty to modify it with good sense in good taste to where the guitar is the best it can possibly be. Of course, the guitar will be played and it cannot be reasonably expected for it to remain in pristine condition.

A happy medium would be if reasoning #2 is selected, all the OEM stuff is kept where any modifications can be undone, thus restoring the instrument to reasoning #1 along with extreme care taken by all who handle it.

IMO however, these particular models will never be a potential 'gold mine' and so, I tend to opt for reasoning #2 alone. As always, YMMV.

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You dig?

Buy the one you like best. After all, you will be passing it down and it will have more of your mojo infused in it if it's the one you always liked!

Your style or what tone you like may change and you may want to change pups or bridge or ...so I wouldn't worry about resale of a stock one unless you plan to just keep it in its case and stick it under the bed for the next 40-50 years!

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield