Who does THE BEST early 50s butterscotch refinish?

[plaintop]

Pics, links, info...thanks

[Tele295]

Mark Jenny, our own mjtele

http://mjtelecaster.com/example1.html

[Mark Davis]

Mark not only does some of the best work his prices are super resonable. His Relics look right not fake.

[LexLuthier]

Mark just finished my Tele, if it looks as good as the pix he sent, I'll be real happy. Very reasonable prices.

[plaintop]

I looked at Mark's site, and felt that the color was too yellow. Does he do different tones of butterscotch? Pics?

[Lotis]

I have a '52 I got from mark and no one has ever been able to tell the diff. He'll adjust however you like color wise. I had a '63 Strat done and was sent emails all along with requests for input. Amazing, good price, great service. Just a straight up good guy. Otis

[Joel Terry]

Mark Jenny, hands down.

Joel

[gls500]

He'll match any color you want if you have enough pictures to show as an example.

[jimfog]

Hate to be redundant, but Mark Jenny is the man. He did a butterscotch 3 lb USA Custom swamp ash body for me a few months ago. I also thought it was a tad yellow when it arrived, but it has already mellowed down nicely.....AND I'm sure he'll do anything you want, if you give him examples.

Super nice and easy to work with......highly recommended.

[olewichita]

check out his site...

http://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com...ichVillage.htm

mine is the first blackguard on the page... no i'm not rick homstrom... rick and i swapped guitars... tj

[plaintop]

Don't get me wrong. I think Mark's work is great. I'm just having a hard time understanding how anyone see's the original color in his refin. The color is a soft butter cream with a light amber from UV and smoke. I've just never seen an original Tele that looks like his refin. Maybe I don't get it?

Here are pics of the color that I want for my '52:

[plaintop]

Here is Mark's butterscotch refin:




Am I the only one that see's a difference here?

[0le FUZZY]

Who does THE BEST early 50s butterscotch refinish?

Don't get me wrong.

[*]I think I may have at first but now I smell fish.

I my own seff haff held many an old TELECASTER, Broadcaster and Esquire
and held many that Mark has dunn.

Yew gotta noe watt chew want first of all. Dew yew want the look of a fresh
manufactured yeast-terd-day won or won that has been drug threw the
mud, blood and beer of night clubs over the years er sunthin in-betwixt.[*]Pick-churs onna inner-mess don't tell the truut and sumtimes even the bess
of the bess kant make sum folks happy as in won case of a famous person
on these pages hoo ended up finally doin it hiss own seff after makin Mark jump threw hoops
from around the werld.

Yew cannot expect anyone tew paint yer Chebby er Ford er Mopar jes like yew want
with the faded look of sum arbitrary year in its life.
It ain't a gonna happen.

Few wanna Tele tew look like yew want ex-act-tick-lee then yer gonna
haff tew dew as I haff done, that iss, dew it cher own seff.

Hundreds of folks @ Fenner haff spent countless hours cents 1981 trynna capture the elusive
scudder-botch look that wood please the masses and they haff had
success for the most part.

I noe dozens of folks hoo refin TELEs and I also noe that none of them kin please erry body.

Also keep in mind that inna few years the duck-plucker issa gonna look a hoe lot different than it duz whence yew first git it.

Wye noe, wye noe------I'm wastin my type.



Please visit my page

[Chris S.]

Originally Posted by plaintop

Am I the only one that see's a difference here?

I see two sets of photos that have been lit in a completely different style, and shot from totally different angles (also macro-lens close vs. several feet away).

I see testimonials from a number of folks (some of whom who know a LOT about old Telecasters) testifying as to the "authenticity" of the appearance of MJ's finishes.

Finally, I see the word "BEST" in your original question, which is often a completely subjective judgement call (at best). ;-) What's the BEST tasting type of steak? What's the BEST country song? What's the BEST breed of dog?

That's what I see. – CS

[AJ Love]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

What's the BEST tasting type of steak? What's the BEST country song? What's the BEST breed of dog?

Angus, "All my Exes Live in Texas", Golden Retriever

OK, what do I win? ;)

[plaintop]

Ok, ok… everybody calm down. I sense some hostility here, and I certainly didn’t intend for things to swing that way. I am not criticizing Mark’s work. He obviously does an impeccable job as noted above. I’m sure I could work with him privately, and probably should have gone straight to him from the beginning, but I wanted to get the general consensus, and maybe find a restoration artist that isn’t as widely known.

For me, and I do mean for me. I look at the pictures I posted above and see the original Fender “butterscotch” finish. If you’ll notice for a moment that there are (7) guitars in those two pics, and between them there isn’t much variance in the color. Yeah, a couple have seen more use and have a slightly more ‘amber’ tone to them, but for the most part, I see the same color or tone on all of them. Now, FOR ME…. That IS the BEST and only color. Anything other than that color is not the color FOR ME. So, with that said I would rather keep my original ’52 stripped down to the bare wood, then to have something other than the original looking finish on it. If someone would say “it can’t be done”, I’m ok with that. If someone said, “we could get the finish on there, but it won’t look like the guitars in the photos for 2-3 years,” I’m ok with that too. It just has to look original or I’d just rather not do it.

I hope that makes sense to everyone. I don’t mean anything negative, and I’m quite familiar with all the refinish babble associated with this type of work. It just has to look right to me, that’s all.

[Chris S.]

Originally Posted by AJ Love

Angus, "All my Exes Live in Texas", Golden Retriever
OK, what do I win? ;)

A big, wet, sloppy kiss from "Mac" for getting at least 1 out of 3 right:



Hee. ;-) CS

(Edited to get the photo to appear... d'oh!)

[Mr. Sparkle]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

A big, wet, sloppy kiss from "Mac" for getting at least 1 out of 3 right:

Click HERE to receive your prize...

Hee. ;-) CS

Yee-Haw!! I smell a new thread.

[petebradt]

Originally Posted by plaintop

Here is Mark's butterscotch refin:




Am I the only one that see's a difference here?

What you're not taking into account are the differences in lighting and the color of the material the guitar is sitting on, all of which can have a profound effect on how a color is rendered, especially in a low-resolution internet jpg file.

For example, the lighting in the first photo is very warm, very flat and would tend to enhance the oranges and yellows. The background material is also a bit warm, though a lot of that may be lighting.

However, in the second photo, the guitar is laying on a blue towel, and that color is very obviously reflected onto the guitar as well. The light appears to be window light, which will also tend to be a little cool unless there is a llate-afternoon sun component (which is very warm this time of year).

I'm not endorsing nor condemning Mark Jenny, I've never dealt with him in any way, but the photographs you're using as examples are so flawed, they cannot be considered good examples of anything.

JMO.

[Tim Armstrong]

Plaintop, you asked for the general consensus, and I think you got it! Mark Jenny is generally considered the best.

I have to agree with Pete, there's no way to tell from those pictures if the colors are similar or different. Even if the lighting was identical (and it doesn't look like it is), the pink background on one versus the blue background on the other is going to greatly affect the perception of the guitar's color. Look at the metal parts to see just how different the lighting is...

Cheers, Tim

[AJ Love]

I'm looking forward to having Mark Jenny work on a few Tele projects for me in the near future

[Twangmeister]

I'm another Mark Jenny fan and happy customer.

I think the most important factor here is communication, and Mark is excellent at staying in touch through every step of the process. In this type of situation I wouldn't be surprises if some actual finish samples would need to go back and forth, but I know that Mark is dedicated to getting it right for the customer. No attitude, no condescension on his part whatsoever. We all know how important it is for each of us to have our "duck pluckers" in exactly the shape and condition right for us, whether it's bridge saddles, neck, finish, whatever.

Hope that helps.

[Teddy Salad]

Mark is the best.



-Teddy

[Dana]

Another vote for Mark Jenny.

He did a killer two tone Strat for me a couple of years ago.