Finish-wise I'm definitely planning on a stain rather than a solid colour as I assume this is much easier to end up with a good result? Thinking most likely a relatively light natural colour finish or (if I'm feeling particularly brave) a sunburst (but I worry this may be too hard). Any advice on this front?
Also, I've noticed that almost every thread seems to used the DingoTone finish available with PBG. I was initially planning on using some high-quality timber stain from the hardware store. Is this a bad idea?
Thanks FrankenWashie, I didn't think to do that, but I will make sure it's the first step now. I'll post a photo once I've done that and let you know how I go