Accuracy of BJCP guidelines vs. real examples of style?

I am formulatiing a dubbel and I'm havin' trouble!

Accordng to the style guidelines if I add amber candi amber sugar and special B it is too dark. Though they mention those very same ingredients. I messed around with using less but I would have to use next to nothing in order to be in the correct range.

In the end i will just go with what I want but what gives?

I had a westmalle dubbel today (one they cite as an example) and I can say for certain it was darker than 14 SRM.

Anyone else find peculiarities such as this? I know they are just "guidelines" but I try and follow them to a certain degree.

The Brewer's Association has a slightly higher range (14-18 SRM) for a Dubbel. BA bases the descriptions on current commercial beers, so they differ from BJCP.

You should have poured a SNPA next to it and see. The SNPA has an SRM of 14 as well.