I need help refinishing my first guitar.

[Ben Shelton]

My first build is a hard tail ash strat clone with a honey burst finish. I made more mistakes than I would like to admit and I'm trying to correct some of them.
While installing a tremolo I noticed how bad the finish is. I'd like to refinish it but I'm not sure how to do it.

The original finish as best I can remember was alcohol based stains, laquer based sanding sealer, pore filler, then lots and lots of coats of nitrocellulose lacquer. In one of the places where the finish has chipped off it measured 0.015" thick. Yikes.

What's the best way to remove the finish? Can any of the original stain be saved?

I'd like to refinish it the same color it is now but I'm open to finishes other than nitro. I'm assuming things have changed since I built this guitar 30 years ago.

I have a compressor and a couple of spray guns but I don't have an explosion proof spray booth nor a temperature controlled work area.

Any advice would be appreciated

[Clay Schaeffer]

For stripping nitro I use lacquer thinner. The cheap Bigbox store stuff works fine. I soften the lacquer with the thinner and then use a plastic putty spreader like auto body folks use to scrape off the lacquer. I soak a clean rag with thinner and wipe off the reside, changing the rag as needed, and then allow the work to dry. It is then ready to refinish.