First time out here--need advice--saw Jimmie Vaughan last night..great show--bought a JV signature series strat his crew was selling for my husband--Jimmie signed it with a sharpie...need to know how to preserve it..any advice welcome.

Write on top of it with a clearcoat marker.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

You could put a clear sticker over it or clear coat it easy enough.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Your best bet would be to replace the pickguard all together.Some brands and mixtures of clearcoat contain solvents that would make the ink run and tape gets brittle and falls off over the years as changes in temp and humidity have their action on it.Plus tape can get peeled off either purposely or accidently taking the signature with it.The only surefire way then is to replace the pickguard that way if your husband ever sells the guitar he still has Jimmie's autograph.BTW I have a Jimmie Vaughn Strat that he played but regretably he never signed it.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

+1

Don't mess with it..

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I didn't think about it being the pickguard, for some reason I envisioned the headstock or something. Yea, the pickguard would be difficult to preserve.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Pickguard or not.. I still would leave it alone.

Usually guitars have been cleaned and polished leaving behind a waxy-type coating to it. If you try to spray over that, you could find yourself in a worse situation. My understanding is you need to scuff-sand a clear coat with a fine grit to be able to spray over an existing one.

Safest bet is to leave it alone.

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