Giggsy, I ended up going with a gloss black with gold zyrillic flake after some sanding revealed a gap in the grain which had to be filled (not big, but big enough to be visible with a natural finish as planned). The back of the headstock and neck are satin clear. The glossy parts were polished with high gloss automotive polish (the paint is 2K without clearcoat).
The fret board has Dunlop 65 lemon oil applied to it to bring out that nice rich colour. The frets needed quite a bit of work to make the edges smooth, although they are feeling a bit scratchy at the moment, I think the room it's in might be a bit cold.
I put in some spare Seymour Duncan Blackouts from my Charvel Desolation DS-1-FR (AHB-1B Pickup in Bridge and AHB-1N in the neck position) and did the wiring according to SD's website (see link below). I put in aluminium tape (looks like duct tape, but is aluminium - available from Builders' Warehouse) on the complete underside of the scratch plate before I started with assembly as well as inside the wiring cavities. The guitar's electronics are dead quiet.
Seeing as though it is a replica I had a Gibson trussrod cover made with the scratch plate and jack plate in the same satin black with gold at the back (Techplates Edenvale - 011 452 9608). To finish off I added gold coloured straplocks and a plain black leather strap.
Before I started:
Full Length View:
The body showing scratch plate and SD blackouts:
Headstock showing sparkle of the gold zyrillic and faux Gibson trussrod cover
On the stand with my Charvel DS-1-FR and Jackson King V KVXT
I did the wiring for the active pickups according to diagrams found on Seymour Duncan's website
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2_blackouts_2v_1t
I found the truss rod cover and scratch plate template on this site which has loads more designs:
http://www.terrapinguitars.com/index_php.php?content=pdfContent
There are more kits and all kinds of parts (including Bigsby-type tremolo's) available from Guitarfetish.com
http://www.guitarfetish.com/