Thanks for the advice! I hadn't thought to use acrylic paint and using photoshop to colour match is definitely not something I would have thought of.

I think you're right Simon, it's probably safe to say that its become more of a sticking point than necessary because I know they're there.

I had been planning on using crimson finishing oil or tru-oil, but the more time i spend with it the more I've been toying with the idea of either a brown to whiskey/amber fade or a brown sunburst. I'm more or less a complete rookie when it comes to finishing but from my understanding spraying a tinted nitro would probably be the easiest way to do so.

I'm waiting for some zebrawood veneer that I ordered to arrive, I'm planning on using it to toy around with some of the stains and dyes I have to see how the wood reacts. If I don't like how it looks, I'll probably go with an oil finish.