Today in pictures again:
Build up the dark brown stain, in between I used fine steel wool to knock back some areas with nice grain.
After drying:
And after the first coat of tru oil. I won't do many coats now before drilling the holes and finishing the front, just a few so the wood is kind of protected when touching it or laying it flat on a table.
My first fret job
First I leveled the fret board using the notched straight edge. Then I marked the fretwire, sanding with a level to find and remove low spots, then recrown with a fret file. The first 12 frets were amazing, no work needed! But in the upper areas, it was a mess. Two wires were so high, the level could almost rock on it. Took me at least an hour to finish it, including polishing with my dremel.
It's not a super pro job, but I think this is going to be playable. At least I hope so