Want to leave the back natural, just grain fill and clear coat. So hopefully I can get all those spots cleaned up as nicely as possible. Kit has no hardware, so no control cavity cover. Hoping to get a thin piece of mahogany that matches decently well and cut one out.

Planning to dye the veneer a deep blue, but I need to experiment first. Ideally I think doing black and then blue over it with a bit of a burst would be better but that would involve sanding and risk sand through. I have some curly maple scrap to experiment on, will try straight blue on that and maybe a black burst over the blue.

I've also seen an example of using colored grain filler on veneer. It's subtle, but helps it pop a little and should require less sanding than sanding back dye. So black/ebony grain filler on the veneer could be an option, but I'm not really leaning toward it.

Tru-oil and most oil-based clear coats are out of course. That would make the mahogany pop super nicely but it would ruin the blue. So I have some Varathane water based poly that dries nice and clear in my previous experiment with it.

Hardware is black nickel/cosmo black. I think I have everything except the strap buttons.