For the finish, I want to stain it a darkish brown. Pretty boring, right? Probably yes, but I really love finishes that shows the wood grain.
As it's going to be my fourth build (one build every month so far, LOL!), I have gained a little experience about which products work well for me and which don't. I like Minwax products (which I need to buy from Poland as they're not available in Germany... meh), and I have a few tins of oil based penetrating stains that I want to use. Still haven't made up my mind if I want "Dark Walnut", "Ebony" or "Espresso".
After staining, I want to use an oil based wipe on poly for the final topcoat. Either the Minwax poly, or I'll use up a product I tested which is actually for sealing wood on boats. It's most probably very similar to a polyurethan lacquer, it takes a little longer to dry but it looks very nice.

For the hardware, I'll upgrade the tuners to something more vintage looking, and I'll switch the pickups for Gretsch Broadtrons.

No idea what I'll do with the pickguard and trussrod cover yet. I actually planned to get the gold hardware and then make a pickguard and trussrod cover from brass, but I was too impatient to wait until the gold hardware was in stock. So I got the silver instead.... maybe make a pickguard and trussrod cover from steel? Or aluminium? Not sure yet... Let's see

Edit: Thanks Simon! I think I'll take the risk and glue it now =))