Vandals hit the much-loved structure on Thursday night, scrawling crude graffiti tags across it and prompting Big Golden Guitar Tourist Centre owner Tom Coultan to consider extending the centre’s CCTV coverage.

Mr Coultan’s revealed the whole guitar would have to be repainted – at a cost of about $3500 – because a metallic element in the special gold paint meant graffiti was “impossible” to permanently erase without painting over.

With the tourist information centre set to re-open at the site next month, Mr Coultan said it was an opportune time to review security.

Chairman of council’s crime prevention committee Cr Russell Webb said with $500,000 of federal grant money about to be unlocked for local CCTV cameras and lighting, he would push for part of it to go to the Golden Guitar precinct.

“I was absolutely dismayed to think people in Tamworth could deface one of our city’s premier tourist attractions,” Cr Webb said.

“We need to catch these sorts of perpetrators and if that means putting cameras up there, well then we need to discuss it.

“Part of the (federal government) funding will be spent on mobile CCTV cameras so perhaps that’s an option.”

He credited existing CCTV cameras with helping secure the arrests of a number of known graffiti vandals in recent months.

It was the first time in four years the 12-metre high guitar has been hit by vandals.