I thought someone might be interested in seeing this. I scraped the paint off with a pocket knife and it exposed pristine maple--plus a little Bondo, and some gouges. I don't know if it was the best approach, but other than a few scrapes (as shown), it came out better than almost any I have done using heat gun or sanding methods. I almost gasped when I saw the thin line of silver around the F holes, and discovered that the luthier had painted over the gold spraklez. That would have been difficult to replace cleanly, and it tells me exactly what color the replacement binding needs to look like.
Obviously there is plenty of hard work ahead, like bending the sides, and fitting the neck. But this was pretty major. The paint came off in tiny fragments, which went everywhere. I was wearing goggles, ear protection, and respirator. I may as well buy a gasmask.
