Taking off the polyurethane

Have several MIJ strats. Was thinking of just taking the polyurethane off the body and leaving whatever paint remained. Just on the body. I like the look of just the flat paint. Figured the guitar would relic naturally from there. Is this easy, practical, crazy? Will it help the sound or hurt it? Is it okay leaving the body in this semi naked state? This is my first post-

Thanks in advance,

Frank

Difficult at best. The poly is not that thick! The paint is even thinner! The sanding sealer underneath, well....

You could just take a very fine sandpaper (try some wet/dry paper, maybe 600 grit or finer?) and just rough up the Poly. You'll get the look you're after and take a few microns off the finish to 'help' it age faster.

Trying to be as exact as just taking off the poly seems a bit of a stretch to me. But I've been wrong before.

Fugeddaboutit, Frankie.

If you like flat, you could get some fine sandpaper...maybe 1000 or 600...and rough it up.
If you don't like it, you could buff it back up...it would take patience, though.

You mite want to just strip it down and repaint? mite save some time and you still get you want, just a thought.

Thanks for the help. I think I'll pass and let the guitar age the old fashioned way.

--Frank

Use a heat gun and a scraper. Be sure to wear eye protection because the poly will explode off the guitar. Do not hold the gun in one place for too long ( you do not want to burn whats underneath.) Once you have scraped off most of the poly, you can sand with an orbital sander. If you work at it you can be down to bare wood in under 3 hours.

i tried to do it with a squire tele and it took forever with a machine-sander. never-ever again. a lot of stuff was leftover on the guitar and i had i respryed after all. no chance for a 70ies natural-wood look.