Time to change the look of my bass?

I've been playing this Alvarez A5EBC for a little over 4 years now and as I "mature" in the journey, I'm seeing some basses that are just plain gorgeous. I'm very comfortable with disassembling mine (and have several times) and doing setups on it (like when I try different brands or sizes of strings).

I've been looking into building my next bass (Warmoth possibly?) but until I have the money, I think I will start with "updating" the look of my current bass. I really like the shape, feel and sound of my Alvarez and while I *might* consider upgrading the pickups, electronics and hardware at a later date. The Alvarez A5EBC is an entry level bass of decent quality, but really not much more than that.

Anyway... here's a pic of the current look and the first proposed change to the look.

1 - Remove the fingerboard inlay dots and fill them in with epoxy, then sand them smooth. (the idea being to make it appear that there are no dots)

2 - Remove the "Alvarez" logo from the pickups.

3 - change the knobs out for black (metal) knurled knobs.



Also, the finish is a VERY dark translucent cherry over a quilted maple veneer (alder body, I think) and I'm considering removing the finish and possibly doing a light stain with tung oil finish. Any thoughts or suggestion would be appreciated.

EDIT - The Alvarez specs say:
* Contoured Double Cutaway Body Style
* Solid Alder with Quilted Maple Top
* Bolt on Neck (5 bolts) Maple-Graphite re-inforced
* 34" Scale (22 frets)
* 10" Radius
* 2 Custom Alvarez HB Pick-ups
* 2-Volume, 1-Tone Control Knobs
* High Mass Bridge
* Die Cast, Black Finish Tuners

Standing on the bottom line,

dutch

 

I really don't like the "redness" or darkness of the finish myself. In fact I really never have. I do like quilted / flamed / figured woods though.

As far as the look change to sans dots ann markings, I'm just looking for "clean".

I'm going to leave "revolutionary" to the younger generation. LOL!

 

Wow! Thanks for the input about the quilting possibly being a photo finish or super thin veneer.

I just took it out in the sunlight and upon a very close visual inspection, it does appear to be a photo type finish. BUMMER!

Well, I'm either stuck with this or sand it down, see if I like the natural wood underneath and finish that, or if I don't like it, paint it.

Guess, I'll just settle from removing the dots, logos and changin the knobs. (being poor is a heartbreak, sometimes)