very nice mate... i always contemplating stripping back my old bass and making it into what i call the "purple burst" as you could imagine its would be purple fading to black... but i wouldn't wish that on such a beautiful bit of timber.
being a woodwork teacher (in training
) myself my advice would be keep it as original in colour as possible... there is no need to stain that type of timber, just sand it to a very high quality, i'm talking at least 1200grit sanding paper (the wet and dry stuff ie the black silicon carbide stuff, hope you get that there, is the way to go) start with some course stuff and after each sand give the timber a light wet down, let this to dry and then sand again with the same grit, do this all the way down the grits (120, 240, 360, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and finally 1200) i know this will take a long time but trust me the finish will be worth it. from here you want to get your hands on a product called "fine buffing oil" you will pay through the nose for it but trust me its worth it.... using very vrey VERY fine steel wool (about AAAA is the way to go) apply this oil about 5-6 times (reading instructions on tin) this will bring out the natural colour of the timber and all those gorgeous wood grains you have, it will be shiny as and remarkably hard wearing and easy to fix if a scratch does end up bugging you so much you have to get rid of it...
ok wow thats long,
thats my advice... use all those grains and please for god sake dont paint it
enjoy