Say like this original '54 GT was missing its guard. Well worth $1,000 to get her back to "original" condition!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srcGpD9vd1U

Not to mention, if you have the kind of cash where you're shelling out $20-50,000 on a guitar, an extra $1k isn't that big of a deal... The market drives the value of these seemingly worthless pieces of plastic, thats for sure!