I had a purple telecaster that had a big chunk chipped out of the back. It was my "beater" jazz band guitar. I had to leave it at school and who knows what the marching band dorks did with it when I wasn't there. Probably played some shitty bar chord Blink 182 songs to impress the other marching band girls. Since it was my beater geetar, it was the only one I stickered, but only on the pick guard, I would never ruin a finish. (I know you can just sand the original finish, and paint it whatever suits your fancy. I was secretly hoping the hello kitty stickers and the purple finish would ward the boys away.) But the lipstick pickup gave out on me and I don't know shit about soldering or the electronics in guitars. So I sold it to a friend. By then, I had a parking pass, and a lockable case, and my Dean Del Sol, so a better guitar for jazz anyway. (It's a hollow body so I am really screwed when if anything happens to that pickups... or in my solid body....)
I kept the pick guard as a memento.