Which Butterscotch is butterscotch

[Tele Fan]

Howdy Gang, got a question: What color is butterscotch blonde? Now I've always loved blackguards but there's something I've noticed lately and that is there is a huge variation in what's being called BSB. I was at my favorite guitar store the other day and I looked at a BSB AMDLX ash, a Nocaster RI, a Baja, and a 52 RI and each and everyone was a completely different color. I'm talking from a light yellow to a dark pumpkin color. So somebody who's seen the real origionals what was the original BSB? Was it more of a light tint or this pumpkin mess? Thanks.

[popthree]

[Bloozcat]

The problem as I understand it, is that the re-issues are all trying to re-create the original BSB color...and even they differ one to the next. It seems that the reason it's so hard to find the one true BSB color is because of differences in the ways they aged. Lacquer that went on clear in the 1950's would have yellowed over the years, and the degree to which it did so would depend on environmental factors like exposure to UV light and cigarette smoke. I suspect that when these guitars were first top coated with clear lacquer in the 50's, that they were pretty light butterscotch blond looking...much like some of the re-issues today.

Right now I have a Tele body and neck that I just got in from B. Hefner. I'm going through the same frustrating search trying to find a "real" or "true" buterscotch blond color. I think I'm at the point that I'm just going to approximate it according to what I like and think is correct. How far off can I be with so many different shades out there now?

[tonar8353]

I suggest the Blackguard Book by Nacho Banos as a good reference for color. It has great shots of the guitars with the guards and hardware off so you can see how much the UV has affected the lacquer over the pickling white. You will also see the great variation of degrees of yellowing of the topcoat, no two guitars look alike. I think the only way to reproduce that look is to finish the guitar like they did back in those days and then let UV do its job. You can use the good old sun or put it under UVB-313 Florescent bulbs to give it a suntan.

[0le FUZZY]

...The term "Butterscotch" (I call it scudder-botch) issa new term and used tew discribe well worn and uzed old TELECASTERs. It is knott a fixed color jes axe Fenner company watt they went threw back inna early 80s a trynna make the Reisuze look like old wons. The original waz Blond and has changed much over the years as well bean different betwixt wons made inna same month or same day even.

...Tew ant-sir yer kwess-chun --------none of the above or all of the above. Yew make the call.

...This subject has been well covered here over the past years and here are a few of the many threads coverin iss subject:


This thread (click)

This thread (click)

This thread (click)

This thread (click)

This thread(click)






I'm still urglee but still luv the TELECASTER (MySpace)


Please visit my page

[Tele Fan]

Thanks Fuzzy. I think I get it now. So they were originally like what they're calling "Honey Blonde" now and BSB is an attempt to show the effects of age.

[FredDairy]

I love the dark butterscotch orange caramel looking '52 reissues of the mid 90s. When I got into guitars those were the top of the line Telecasters at Guitar Center. Anyone in their mid 20s who started playing in the 90s will know what I'm talking about. Aside from that I have no real input to this thread.

[rdnzl]

I think my AVRI 52 is pretty Butterscotchy.

[Nick JD]

[jimmybusk]

Ok, here goes!! Butter Scotch is a 2 part process. I will start off by comparing it to "Candy Apple Red",which is also 2 part... Gold paint applied first....then a transparent red [clear paint mixed with red] on top of the gold, just like a candy apple ,where they take a gold apple,and dip it in the clear red candy. You are looking at the gold through the red.... Ok ,On,a Real blackguard[1951-54] Leo,s boys painted the Tele' Semi transparent Off-White, [to hide the seams and blemishes in the wood]then applied a clear tinted yellow on top,so you see the white through the yellow.,like the butterscotch candy[ white with yellow on top] . ... So when you see those 70's Tele's and 80's reissue Tele's,even though they are similar in color, they don't look the same,they don't have the 'dimention'. Also the finish On the old teles were Nitro-cellouse Lacquer,which looks more natural,like a fingernail [from beetle shells]

[jimmybusk]

PS,, Those "Werthers" butterscotch candy's in the other post on top of mine may taste Yummy, but they don't look like the butterscotch candy,that was on my grandmothers coffee table, when I was a kid !!! [cream with yellow on top]!

[Ronkirn]

Fuzzy's dead on right....the color “Butterscotch Blonde” is a moving target. The range is quite wide. The best description I ever heard is; imagine some coffee ‘n cream spilled on the wood. There’s Espresso, and then there’s that wimp stuff at Starbuck’s.

I produce the color by taking Amber lacquer and adding a bit of a white pigmented tint. This white pigmented tint is opaque if enough is used but we don’t go that far. I then spray till I'm happy. Then I start the clear coat, to which I may also ad a bit of amber, just depends on how I feel and if the guy the guitar's for wants it light, dark, or matching whatever picture he has sent.

The formula for the “perfect” Amber is: to a 1 quart spray gun, add about 10 drops of Yellow Sherwin Williams Universal dye, and one drop of red Sherwin Williams Universal dye. (Substitute Aniline dye) Of course a lot depends on what color the raw wood is, so find a scrap that is about the same shade, spray a few coats, and adjust the above drops to accommodate. See… nuthin’s carved in stone…. You kinda hafta make it up as ya go. That’s Buckocaster’s Razor.

Amber is purely a transparent finish, rather like looking through one of those beautiful glasses of beer. It too can be a pretty wide range, like Honey Brown Beer to Miller's Beer.

I generally think of "Butterscotch" as a more transparent finish, just a bit of cloudiness, and "Butterscotch Blond" as much more dense, but not opaque, just a bit of grain showing through, rather Mary Kaye like, just more Amber/Yellow.

But since much of the color in the real 50 +- year old guitars with those colors are due to the UV light, Smoke, Beer and whatever else was flying through the air at the stage, causing the Nitro Lacquer to "Yellow" over time, there is NO exact shade, as is true of any other color that had a nitro clear coat applied 50 years ago that is to be duplicated.

I have seen “Olympic White” Fenders that were plain old orange due to time, etc…

So, squirt it, play it….. it’s that easy.

Ron Kirn

[jimmybusk]

Yup, Ronkirn's sayin' it Loud !....Only thing,I like to put the white on first,so when the edges wear,the white shows through...,Like Danny's and Roy's.