Stripping Finish From a Neck

[Jeremy Steele]

I have an old neck from a trashed Burns Double Six which I would like to put on a guitar body I fashioned from a nice piece of walnut. The paint on the neck is quite ugly and I would like to try to stain it to match the walnut. What's the best method to remove the old finish? Would you use a heat gun or chemical stripper? Thanks in advance for the advice.

[William F.Eden]

I don't think I would use a heat gun .You could try the striper or Acetone but you may just have to scrape it and sand it off .Bill.............

[Ned Knepp]

With the painted guitar necks I've stripped, I found that a scraping it off worked pretty quickly and didn't make as much of a mess as other methods. It also allow you to work right up to the edges of binding and fingerboards and the face of the head without worrying about damaging parts of the neck you want to keep.  

[Kerry Krishna]

 Jeremy, if you are figuring that it is going to look all pretty when finished, think again. There is little chance that there will not be all kinds of dark spots/stains on the neck were the original sealer/paint-laquer seeped into the wood. Unless you are will to sand down way too deep into the wood, it will always look like a badly refinished neck.  I'd just live with it as is. 

[Jeremy Steele]

Thanks guys.

I think I'll take Kerry's advice and leave it the way it is...I do recall from previous stripping adventures that I encountered some very stubborn stains when I reached bare wood.