The thing I'm working on at the moment will have a spruce top (and sapele ribs/back). I imagine I'll end up chickening out and leaving it natural, but as part of my normal process (overthink ten times, measure twice, cut once), I should consider colours... A deep red is my preference in guitars, but will spruce end up looking orange? What does coloured spruce look like? Sunburst?? Another negative consideration is that a bound edge is beyond my confidence/experience level, so there would be all the issues of either dye soaking into the end grain (if coloured after trimming to size) or undyed end grain (if coloured before trimming). A brown wood dye would perhaps be more conventional with spruce, especially for a super antique look but I don't reckon the antique look will suit this thing. Roughly telecaster shaped BTW FWIW.

Jim C