There's an enormous difference, in my mind anyway, between deliberately removing the varnish on the back of the neck -- to create a speed neck -- and haphazardly tearing up the top wood near the fingerboard through pickstrokes or finger-posting -- to create a worn, bald spot (or even a hole all the way through). The first is done purposefully, in a carefully controlled way, and looks fine (besides, violins also have the varnish removed in this area). The second is done by accident, and it's neither tidy nor well controlled. To my mind, it also looks terrible. Holes worn clean through the top may even require repair when things go too far (like on Jody Stecher's mandolin), and large areas of exposed, rough wood generally detract from the resale price of the more valuable instruments.
Willie Nelson's beat-up guitar would be pretty much worthless if it had belonged to some obscure player, instead of Willie. WSM's beat-up Loar would have been at the low end of the spectrum of Gibson F5s had it, too, belonged to an obscure player -- but then again, maybe no one would be clamoring for Loars!
Many of us don't like to lend our instruments to certain folks who don't play them very respectfully, and manage to leave serious dents and scratches, or buckle rashes, after only a short time playing. There are stories about folks (I seem to recall that Charlie Derrington was one, but the experts will correct me) who lent their Loar to WSM, in fact, only to regret it after the mandolin was returned with some serious abuse showing.
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