How to sand and stain a guitar

Here's what I started with. The previous owner decided to spray paint this guitar.

Using 220 grit sandpaper I sanded down till there was no paint left on the guitar. Don't sand the fret board of course.

Use caution sanding edges and the neck of the guitar. If you sand too much in one of those areas without sanding the areas around it you will have uneven areas that won't look good when stained.

Tape carefully around the neck of the guitar. Make sure all areas that you do not want stained are covered. (fretboard included)

Use a damp cloth to wipe all dust and paint debris from guitar. Use a clean dry cloth to apply Pre-stain and allow to dry for a minimum 15 minutes

Allow Pre stain to dry.

Put these on. You might want to use a different type of glove because the stain ate through these after a while.

Dip dry cloth in stain. Rub stain along the grain covering all desired areas of guitar. I did about 4 coats of stain over all the desired areas.

Allow to dry after all coats of stain have been applied for around 8 hours.

Apply a coat of polyurethane with a very good paint brush and allow to dry for 4 hours.

Sand lightly all areas where clear coat was applied and apply polyurethane a second time. I suggest repeating this process at least twice more.

The finished product.

Front picture of finished product.