Just got thru this on a set of maple finish Slingerlands. They had that great "old Varnish" look, so I really didn't want to strip them. Our bassist does guitar restos.This is whar he had me do. Mixed stain to match the scraped raw spots. I *very lightly* sanded with 330 just to clean things up, and knock off any loose stuff. Used MinWax Wipe-on Poly {gloss}. I may have went overboard, but I did 6 very thin coats.
They look great. Vintage, not piano finish perfect, just that nice glow. Warm glossy, but not glassy shine. No problems, and I've never done the stain and varnish thing before. Got a round badge Gretsch snare that's gonna get the same treatment! Bill