This might be slightly off subject...but not far. There is a pretty big difference in hand pinstriping and sprayed stripes. Hand striping is less consistent in depth of color and width and not as straight as sprayed stripes, which are extremely straight and consistent, but...as far as I am concerned, hand pinstripes look more original to me on a vintage frame. But, when I show off some of my bikes to friends, they will look at both jobs and think the sprayed on looks better. I just think that the sprayed on stripes look almost too good.
Either way, I believe that either type of stripe needs to be clearcoated over for durability. I have restored Paramounts by Waterford, Brian Baylis and a local painter, Brian Pritchett of Cycle-Delic, and all 3 sources have asked me the under or over question. (BTW, if anybody has a Waterford catalog, that is my red pre-war Paramount in there).
Now, with that said, I had Waterford repaint a 1962 Paramount that had "Disneyland font" decals (that is what Richard Schwinn called them). He had to have the decals made up. This bike has some pretty elaborate pinstiping on it. I requested Waterford to have their pinstriper redo them exactly as they were. They look something like the stripes on this bike
http://www.bicycletrader.com/
Well, Waterford sent the frame to Gary Prengy, the decal guru on the East coast, and not only did he make up the "Disney" decals, he also made up decals for the pinstripes on the toptube and the fork blades. They turned out great! I will post this frame up on my website when I get a chance.
Scott "how many Paramounts do I really need?" McCaskey