I think there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. I decided to stop with the finishing on monday. I realized that my perfectionism is getting in my way here and that it will never have a perfect high gloss surface, because it's completely hand finished and I have no prior experience whatsoever. It will be as good as it gets and then it's okay. I don't even know if I WANT a super high gloss finish or not? I'm just stumbling along this path... Other than that, in case this guitar turns out to have a good sound (who knows?!), I will quickly add many many imperfections while playing it - that's just the way it is. So during the long weekend, I will keep adding a coat in the morning and one in the evening, and then on tuesday morning, it goes into a box to cure for 2 weeks.
Then I can hopefully get the new pickguard done. I bought a sheet of copper on monday, but so far, the seller hasn't shipped it yet, sigh. But I got lucky on eBay today, won an auction for a few sheets of copper that already have a great patina from storing them for a few years, exactly how I like it! :-)
So I hope I can dust off my piercing and make a nice pickguard that's a little smaller than the current one.