Test various approaches on scrap; some like to seal the wood and work with tinted finishes to achieve the right look (gives you a more 3D look, more dynamic), other prefer direct-staining the wood (gives you a more dramatic, looks great in pictures look, but you loose a little of the 3-dimensionality), still others do a mix and match of both; on my last coloured electric, I did a black stain +sandback and then sprayed tinted color coats until I got the results I wanted, and sprayed clear on top of that:
I'll probably do the next 'tiger eye' style guitar using more direct stains, because it gives you a particular sort of 'in your face' look and coloration. The most important thing to get clean, clear blues is to start off with a piece of maple that is as white as humany possible; no reds, no yellow/amber tint, you want the whitest maple you can find. Western big leaf or euro maple also like stains better than rock maple does, by a fair margin.
Good video on bursting/staining using dyes is this one from Taunton Press:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAn ... x?id=30182
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