I got a Harley Benton kit for Christmas, which was a perfect excuse to up my skills and build a guitar I'd buy myself.
I wanted to go for a seafoam green stained guitar, but the coat that was on the body already penetrated so deep that I couldn't sand it off without messing up the body. I probably should have started with a layer of white stain as well, since the wood turned out pretty dark. I decided to go with a more worn look (not relic though), and I like how it turned out. I finished it with penetrating finishing oil and Renaissance wax.
With regards to hardware, I put in a brass trem block, vintage saddles, Wilkinson vintage split shaft tuners, roller string trees and The Heritage RPS6 Jimi Hendrix style pickups. I also redid most of the wiring.
When I put the guitar together, the pickup selector had died, so I replaced that with a proper one as well.
The setup took me a while, but is as good as it's gonna get with an action of 1.25 - 1.5 mm and an almost straight neck.
I probably put in two to three times the money that the kit costs, and a lot of hours, but it was was worth it.
I dunno if it will help now, but you might be able to bleach the body to reduce the intensity of the colour.
(Would 100% test on an offcut that has been stained and finished like the main body)
Maybe for a future build, but for now I'm happy with how it turned out. I still have half a bottle of stain, so who knows.