I had the same problem - used the strongest paint stripper I could find to get the paint off an old RG. Like you, I wanted a trans finish.

Basically I found that even after the stripper, I had to sand the body back to bare wood, so I might as well have not bothered wasting time with the stripper.

I posted pics of the guitar here if you're interested... I sanded everything but the inside of the horns by hand :eek: