I ended up doing 4 coats of the Sealer and Filer, the grain is still not 100% but it’s close enough. Also, the risk of sand throughs meant I quit while ahead (well mostly, the dye isn’t that even as this shot shows). The lack of evenness is less obvious when holding the guitar, the grain holds your attention – which was the whole goal. I like guitars where you can tell they are crafted from wood.
This is after the first coat of Tru-oil has been applied. It was at this point I truly noticed the mess that was in the control recesses. I’ll need to clean these up before doing the next coat. I seems the sealer has been building up in them and its too thick to dry. The finish is so far showing a lot of imperfections, I’m wondering if after 3-4 coats if I’ll have to cut it back down with 1000 grit and see if I re-establish a true surface.