Originally Posted by: painter33Despite what others may say about the mess and difficulty of stripping a guitar, it is a very gratifying experience and makes the project really yours and not that hard. I've recently stripped a poly finish on a Strat - started with chemical stripper, moved to a careful scrape, and then sanded and sanded through clear, black paint, primer, sunburst (???), and then the sealer, which was a urethane of some origin and the toughest to remove.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure a person even needs the stripper. I was testing a repair method on a finished body I have for an upgrade project and using only 1000 grit, I accidentally sanded completely through the poly finish with ease. And I was just running 1/4 inch strips under my fingertip. :p Now I might sand the whole thing because it was so easy, and the mahogany underneath looks awesome.

[QUOTE=painter33]I get tired of reading people who say," just block it, add springs, and tighten the claw screws. The tone of a true, through-body hardtail is vastly different from that of a blocked trem simply because wood is different than metal and they carry sound waves differently.

I also agree. This project guitar is a Yamaha SE, basically a hardtail Strat design, though out of mahogany. I have all Fender parts to replace the chintzy circuitboard electronics and the folded metal bridge. Making it a string through. I am interested to hear what it sounds like.