I ended up filling the grain with wood filler dyed black and make it pop and then layered a few coats of trans-red from a spray can so you can still see the grain. It’s not a glassy finish but that’s what I was going for and the colour is amazing! I always wanted a red strat with a black pickguard and gold hardware so I thought why not!

I’m personally a fan of leaving the wood visible but the best thing is you can do whatever you want and it’ll be awesome because you made it.