Some way through sanding down this old beech stock I am thinking about what colour to stain it. It was originally covered in Merde Brown Old Shoes laquer. Now it is sanded it is that pale and slightly pink beech colour.

What should I do with it? Two BBS members recently told me how they disliked stained beech, but my old Meteor looks quite nice with a dark stain on its beech, it looks elegant. What should I use on this one? Never been into the deeper reds, but anything else would be OK. Does a pale stock go grey like uncoated wood?