I have just bought a 'new', 4 year old stock Deluxe Players Strat. It s a very nice looking guitar, but the clear sticker on the scratchplate is totally stuck to the guitar. I am in the process of scratching it off, but there is remaining stickyness on the scratchplate.

What is the best way to remove this without damaging the finish?

Thanks if you can help!!!!!!

Try "Goo-Gone", carefully applied with a Q-tip.

It may be necessary to remove the screws to gain access to the counter-sunk holes and swab the debris out of the "crater".

HTH

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

+1 Arjay is spot on with this. I used it on my Strat and it all came off with no issues.
ABS

+1

Alsp takes bird poop off your car without damaging finish.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

WD-40 works well also.

New Pickguard
I use Simple Green degreaser, the same stuff I use to clean the engine bay of my car ^^

_________________
I traded my car in for a microphone.

Rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip works also. Careful not to get any on the guitar finish.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

+1 for both Goo Gone and WD40

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I have a few methods.

If you have never tried this before you will wonder why you never thought of it yourself.
You can use another sticker (one that has a fairly strong adhesive) to remove old stickers glue from a surface.
Hold the sticker in a U shape and dab a small portion of the surface and then remove it.
If starts getting less effective just use a new patch of the sticker glue surface or apply more pressure. This works unless the glue is hardened.
Also it gets less effective as the glue on the sticker warms in your hands.

The one thing this works the best on is any job that has that shiny plastic film on top of molded plastic. Not talking about the scratch sticker but the very top surface of the plastic. If you use even the softest cloths they can leave a mark. So the dabbing action lifts the sticker residue straight up.

Another method is warm water and if hardened some washing liquid will loosen a lot of different adhesives.
Once the paper or plastic comes off. You then loosen the glue by gently warming it with a moist cloth and keep checking till it can be balled up with your fingers pads (which are very hard to scratch a surface with).

I recently removed some hardened thick sticker residue that had been sitting on some 20 year old screen printing. Took about 3 hours to work it off.
Going to look great condition when I finish the rest of the project.

Mineral turpentine works well also. You can use it to remove wax, polishes and sticky residue itself from hardened painted or metal surfaces (only). You only use a fraction as it has a slightly greasy quality to it. Afterward clean the area with a soapy cloth and then a moist cloth and dry well. Then you can re-polish it yourself. Don't ever use it on any shellac or nitro finished guitars or bare wood. Using it only plastic can be risky.

lighter fluid

thanks, i'll try some wd-40 before buying any products. i was worried this would damage the plastic.

what is a q-tip?

i'm a bit worried i will leave marks from my scratching, what do people generally use to polish the pickguard?

Cotton swab.

_________________
'08 Fender Am. Std. Jazz bass, maple fretboard, charcoal frost metallic finish
'10 Squier VM Jazz bass, maple fretboard, natural finish
Ampeg BA115
'09 MIM standard Strat, maple fretboard, sunburst finish
Fender Super Champ XD

When are the people who leave this plastic film on guitars (and computer and stereo equipment as well) gonna learn this stuff is only to protect the item from scratches during shipping and is meant to be removed as soon as you take it outta the box?

_________________
'08 Fender Am. Std. Jazz bass, maple fretboard, charcoal frost metallic finish
'10 Squier VM Jazz bass, maple fretboard, natural finish
Ampeg BA115
'09 MIM standard Strat, maple fretboard, sunburst finish
Fender Super Champ XD

I'm too frightened to take it off my SatNav its been on there 3 years in the sun.
What I hate is when you get a flat screen TV with stickers plastered all over it or buy a car and then they stick stickers on your rear window.

I told the last car dealer if he did that I will tell all his customers that "paint protection" that they sell is just polish and costs $10 from any hardware store.