I'm not keen on Nitromors - not because it's not gopod but it can be messy and get on your hands etc
Jonathan, it's what rubber gloves were invented for!! (Well apart from the drug searches........).
Like everything else heat can be a bit of a mixed bag. I stripped a Jazzmaster not that long ago starting with heat (as Nitromors wouldn't touch the top coat) and the heat turned the underlying paint into the consistency of chewing gum which was all but impossible to remove. Fortunately Nitromors came to the rescue once the top coat had been breached.
Sanding - yes you're right, it needn't cause problems if done with skill and care. Unfortunately that's the whatsit in the woodpile and the reason I only use it as a last resort (even then, having extreme difficulty removing the finish from a Korean LP copy with figured top, I managed to sand through the veneer that was the figured top so it became a solid colour in the end!)
Incidentally, the advice from the experts on the Musical Instrument Maker's Forum (
www.mimf.com) is generally don't sand unless you have to.
