hey Oli,

I think at the end of the day it depends on what tools you have on hand. I have always done all my bursts by hand rubbing water based dye onto the guitar - a so called 'poor mans burst'. It isn't difficult to learn and there are a lot of you tube videos to give you some pointers. I would suggest doing a couple of tries on scrap before doing your guitar but you'll get the hang of it pretty easily.

Other options are to use the same dye (eg. Colortone) to tint lacquer and spray that on the guitar to form the burst. I wouldn't suggest using actual spray paint, as the burst you'll get isn't really 'subtle' enough. You can get tinted lacquer in cans though - this might be a good option.

hope this helps!

cheers,
Gav.