Clear shellac isn't truly clear. It still has an amber hue to it. Looks beautiful on oak, but I have no experience with it on white tape.

Basically, clear shellac is amber and amber shellac is really ****ing amber. To get a true clear finish, you almost always have to go water based. I don't know anyone who has tried using a water based poly finish over bar tape, so I can't tell you about durability. Part of me wonders how a water based spar urethane would work in this situation. Some of those dry pretty clear, and they're durable as a mother****er.

I wouldn't even bother with a water based polyurethane, because most all of them are indoor only. They aren't really going to hold up to constant moisture (sweat and rain) and UV rays will end up yellowing them anyways.

Water based finishes are usually a lot lower in VOC's too, so yeah. Save the Earth and stuff. Neat.