>I have an old electric guitar (my first, actually). There's a very thick clear finish on it that I can't identify, though I think it might be polyurethane. I'd like to strip this off and put a thinner lacquer finish on it, as guitars, even electric ones, tend to benefit from thinner finishes. However, the wood is stained in a sunburst pattern, and I don't want to disturb this.
What I'd like to know is [1] if there is a way of stripping off the clear layer without affecting the sunburst stain, and [2] is there a way of identifying what was used to finish the guitar (polyurethane? lacquer?) in the first place?
>I doubt that you will be able to get it off and save the sunburst. Not sure about yours, but I tried to strip and old guitar with one of those heavy type finishes a bunch of years ago, and if I remember correctly, dynamite would have been a good option. I never did find anything that would dissolve it.
>When my son wanted to experiment with a new finish on his first guitar, he asked me to strip it. Like Dan said, I probably would've been better off using dynamite! My favorite stripper, Bix, struggled to remove the finish. However, after a lot of work, it did come off. I don't think you'll be able to just remove the top coat and not disturb the sunburst. In fact, the sunburst might be part of the whole.
Unless you're up for a lot of work and starting over from bare wood, I'd leave it alone.