varnish ?

[Adrian Levi]

I'm interested to know how luthiers would approach varnishing an instrument in this state / see pics .
I'll be embarking on finishing my almost finished 'french' bass soon . The scroll and heel have what I believe to be the original finish ,perhaps underneath some clear later applied finish . Its always been near impossible to match color exactly but I'll try again I guess , or would it be better to strip the remaining color off the scroll and heel and complete the entire bass in one exact color / I'd be loathe to do that though .... any opinions and advice would be great