Best Way To Remove Deft Lacquer/nitro?

[~davie]

What's the best way to remove DEFT lacquer or nitro? I want to refinish a body.

I want to know the best way with the least damage to the wood. since i'm want to do a translucent finish to an ash body.

sanding? chemical stripper?

if i should sand it, then what grit should i use? or if stripper, then what type or brand?

ps. the lacquer/nitro is fully cured

btw.. there's a minwax wood stain on it too, is there a specific way to get rid of it? or can i just sand it?

[ihocky2]

I've had the best luck with a heat gun for stripping and then sanding for the last bit of clean up. But that might not be the best bet with nitro since it is flammable even when dry. Nitro is not very chemical resistant at all, acetone will melt right through it, so a stripper should work well on it.

[syxxstring]

I've had a lot of luck stripping stuff recently with Ace hardwares Refinishing Liquid

[Sand Paper]

I'd go with one of these two. Use a heat gun on medium to high heat and a flat putty knife to peel off the finish. You can play with the heat and sometimes get the stuff to peel up like a sheet of plastic. After that I would clean up with a strong stripper and follow its wash instructions for the final clean up. The other method is to buy a good paint stripper and go at it with just that. Flo-Strip 1826 is what we use at work. This will remove pretty much anything, however it isn't a paste so you'd need something to wash the guitar in while you work with it. If that's not your cup of tea then there are a ton of strippers at hardware stores. Always buy the strongest one you can find, usually called Paint Stripper or something like that.