Not a dumb question at all, Greg.
Yes, if the wires are presently coated, if you wanted to evaluate the sound of using lacquer insulation(and ONLY lacquer), the currently polymer coating would need to be removed.
I would attempt to clean the bare wire in either lacquer thinner, MEK(methyl ethyl ketone), or acetone(dimethyl ketone, or methyl methyl ketone). Actually, all three are fairly close to each other. Acetone and MEK are both ketones, and close in size, so their functionality and use is almost identical. Acetone has a lower boiling point(so it will evaporate a bit faster), due to it being a bit smaller. And, acetone is a good bit less toxic. Lacquer thinner is something along the lines of a mix of the two(maybe other ketones - like MIBK - ketones will all work more or less the same), with the addition of aliphatic and/or aromatic hydrocarbons(maybe toluene, xylene, stoddard solvent, etc. - I apologize for not know the formulation right off the top of my head...).
I don't think a hydrocarbon buys you anything in this situation, so you are probably better off just going with acetone in the first place. Hydrocarbons will not do anything to things like PVC, polypropylene, polyurethane, teflon, polyethyelene, or polyester(PET[PETE] or PBT). A hydrocarbon would simply be a latent(nonfunctional) solvent in this case.
After stripping and cleaning in solvent, if you notice that whatever residue(if there was any in the first place) from the wire is getting removed or becomes gummy, you are on the right track. Contrary to a bad thing, the residue becoming gummy means you have hit the nail on the head. You have found a solvent capable of attacking the polymer you want to remove. You could then leave the wire in that solvent for as long as it takes to remove everything. Going back every so often to manually remove that residue.
Let's hope that just stripping does the trick, and no residue remains.
Since we are hot on the trail of the meticulous Kondo - san, we might as well discuss things to a very minute point. After stripping the wire, it will need to be prepared. I would recommend going over the bare wire with 0000 steel wool. I believe he was the first to dicuss a wire's surface, and its effect on sonics. The better the surface, the better the sound(it's actually the main focus of the new AudioQuest line). As there is oil in the steel wool, cleaning off with the acetone, MEK, lacquer thinner previously discussed.
You are now ready for the lacquer coating. Although I know the importance of sanding between coats(from my furniture finishing), I would suggest trying this(at least on a test wire, before you do the whole project) without any between coat sanding. Sanding with a paper from 220 to 600 grit or even 0000 steel wool is meant to abrade the coating; providing more surface area for the next coat to adhere to(thus making the bond stronger).
However, that abrasion may well serve as your enemy in this case. Sanding always leaves a fair amount of the bare material exposed. Exactly what we are trying to avoid here. We are trying to form an insulation on the wire. I am not so sure that we want to remove a lot of the insulation each time we apply a coat of lacquer.
Conversely, this may be the method employed by Audio Note. And the explanation of the adherence to using 7 coats of lacquer. As I stated before, my guess(from prior experience) is that three coats would begin to provide an insulation with no holes.
If you wanted to test with a multimeter or ohmeter, set for resistance measurement. Then, you could simply attach one lead to one the bare ends of the wire. Test the wire at various points along the insulation. If the reading stays open, you have an insulator. If you are able to measure something, current is able to flow from the wire through your lacquer coating. In this situation, I would always add two to three additional coats of lacquer. The lower the resistivity reading, the worse the insulation.
A note of caution, make sure that as the number of layers are built up, the coating is not stiff enough to crack. This would mean that the insulation becomes useless. But, as we have already established that people are using lacquer to coat wires, it should not be a problem.
By the way, if you(or anyone for that matter - first come, first served) are really interested in pursuing this, I have a quart of Deft Clear Wood Finish that I would be happy to give to anyone who wants it. This is a great product, a brushable nitrocellulose lacquer. Being brushable means that it has higher solids than a sprayable lacquer; hence each coat would be thicker. Solids content is 25% +/- 1%.
Solids content is related to your dried coating thickness. A coating with 25% solids would yield a dried film twice as thick as one with 12.5% solids. Thus, half as many layers would need to achieve the same final film.
I used a bit in testing on wood(very nice indeed), but decided to go with acrylic for my application. So, if anyone wants it... Others may pick this up a KMart or Lowe's. I believe it was around $10 for a quart.
GOOD LUCK!
