Willie, that is looking good! There is nice wood on those 26s, you might find a little filler but they are some of China's better efforts.
I am no expert but I did one that I thought turned out pretty well. You can find it in the albums. This was it...
I highly recommend the Birchwood-Casey pamphlet Warm Wood, Cold Steel, as a starting point. I also recommend their Tru-Oil product very highly. As with most things, especially wood, the prep is more important than the finish itself.
Forget trying to match any remainders of the original finish- it all has to go (and that is tough stuff). I mean it all, really, has to go. Inside the thumbhole area was tough. There are always a couple places where the original dunk stain penetrated deeper. They gotta go, too.
Go in stages from 150 grit to 220 or 400. Wet lightly in between to raise that grain, then go up a grade of grit. Use a sanding block, not fingers. Leave the butt pad on and tape it off to avoid rounding the edge. For contoured areas like the thumbhole, you can wrap the sandpaper around soft round things, and an unused cigarette butt is a surprisingly good backer for tight curves.
I used Minwax Oil Prep, then Minwax stain. I went with the lighter Golden Oak and I like it, but I coulda gone darker. The Golden Oak was quite a bit lighter than the original finish.
Then it is Tru-Oil, hang to dry, sand lightly, and repeat. Do that about a dozen times. The first coat should be fairly heavy (wood will be thirsty) and needs a full 24 hours to dry. Then do two new coats a day, so every 12, once before work and once after happy hour :-)
Don't use steel wool. After the first couple coats you'll use like 400 grit, and after that I recommend a heavier scotch-brite. I read about it and it works, and doesn't leave bits of steel whiskers like the steel wool.
It will start looking real good. That means it's time to keep doing it. Like I say, a dozen coats is amazing.
Find a way to hang it to dry so you don't leave fingerprints. The oil sets up and hardens beautifully but it will capture bubbles, dust, and fingerprints, hence the frequent sanding and hanging. I have heard of final coating with automotive paste wax but I didn't do that.
Now a real stock maker like Timmy might chime in but this labor of love can actually be completed in a week and this is how I did it. I was very happy with the result.
