Highway one refinish

Hi tdpri folks!..

so i've been playing for a while now.. and my highway one tele will be turning three years old here pretty soon.. I really love the sound of it.. i just adore it so much.. but i don't know if i like the looks of it so much anymore.. maybe i can show you what i mean.. it's been relic'd.. most all of it is natural/accidental which is desirable i guess.. but I would really like the body to be black instead of the sunburst it is now.

the best case scenario would be to just to go out and get a new stinkin guitar (a black 2002 ish american tele would be grand).. But alas.. i am a poor college student and it would take some time to save up for one.. I'm thinking that a refinish would be cheaper. New bodies can go for 150 bucks and up.. and my idea is that a refinish would be even cheaper than that. I've thought about removing the headstock decal too.. It looks kinda silly to me.. but anyways

The body is alder.. here's some of the relic'd marks.. there is a big gouge in the bottom half where it got rammed into a music stand.. lovely. Character? I dont know..

but if you have any suggestions as to what i should do on such a low budget- with either the headstock or body.. i'd love to hear them! thank you all so very much.. this is such a great guitar community!

You can fill the gouge with epoxy filler and just over finish it in black.
The burst will make a good base for your new finish.
Its how Fender often did it back in the day.
You could do it your self with Black nitro from a rattle can.
Its not that hard.
I did my first refin in my dorm when I was your age.
If your not too fussy its pretty easy.
If its the gouge thats bothering you thats actually an easy fix as are the chips on the black edges we see in your pic.
I find the Burst finish to be one of the more boring looks myself
I have 2, both alder Highway 1 bodies, a strat and a tele.
If you need to keep playing that guitar you might consider touching up the finish and letting it go at that.
If you save up a few bucks, around 150 you can snag a new highway 1 body from Reliable Fender a e-bay reseller. They part stuff out. Black bodies come up all the time. If you follow the auctions they sometimes go for much less.
You can just swap out your parts with the new body.
Eh ? just a thought.

The lacquer is softer, much softer than an ordinary finish and is prone not just to debrided finish but also to assorted dents, etc.

I would just polish the guitar out and see if that'll tide you over for another year. You don't sound gung ho enough about this guitar; it takes commitment to get a result worth the trouble you go to.