Shergold Guitars, or Shergold Woodcrafts Limited, was established in October 1967 by former Burns employees Jack Golder and Norman Houlder . Originally based in Forest Gate in East London, the company moved to Harold Wood, Essex in 1973. Despite this move out of the city, the "Handcrafted, London" tagline was still retained.

Initially they concentrated on producing woodwork for other companies, principally for Dallas Arbiter under the Hayman brand (until 1975); for Jim Burns himself under the Burns London banner; "Ned Callan" and Rosetti. When the contract for the Hayman guitars came to an end, the Shergold company found themselves with significant stocks of part finished instruments and raw materials. With this stock they launched their first guitars under their own brand name from late 1975.

Shergold concentrated on guitar production until 1982, when a downturn in the guitar market (especially for home grown instruments) meant that they returned to general custom joinery producing furniture, and only undertaking guitar work on a custom order basis. In 1983, Norman left the company to emigrate to Australia, but would return to the country (but not to Shergold) within a few years. In 1991, Jack began making new Shergold guitars - the Limited Edition Masquerader - due to a rising interest at that time in British guitars from the 1970s. This revival was short lived, as Jack passed away in 1992. The Shergold company closed shortly afterwards.

Shergold had a eye for innovation - pioneering features that would be used by other manufacturers (bi-directional truss rod , semi through body neck joint on the Cavalier), and others that have suprisingly been forgotten (interchangable control electronics on the Modulator series). The necks of Shergolds are generally reckoned to be amongst the best made. These features were always tempered by a tendancy towards clumsy styling - bodies were slab sided, the juxtaposition of arcane Blackletter script on modern instruments, and the quirky logo of a man carving a guitar body all contribute to a style that was often criticised by contemporary reviews, but now has an authentically 1970s retro feel.

Notable players of Shergold instruments are

• Mike Rutherford of Genesis, who had a set of double neck Modulators custom made in 1977 which could be split in half and interchanged
• Peter Hook of New Order, plays six string Marathon basses
• Julian Cope, plays various Custom Doubles

Standard Models

Guitars (six string)

• Masquerader
  • Custom Masquerader (1977-1990)
  • Mark II (1981-1982)
  • Limited Edition (1991-1992)
• Meteor
• Modulator
• Activator
• Cavalier
• Nu Meteor

Guitars (twelve string)

• Masquerader
  • Custom Masquerader (1977-1990)
  • Limited Edition (1991-1992)
• Modulator

Basses

• Marathon
  • four string 34" scale
  • eight string 34" scale
  • six string 30" scale
• Modulator
  • four string 34" scale
  • eight string 34" scale
  • six string 30" scale

Double Necks

• Custom Double, Cavalier and Modulator
  • six string and twelve string guitars
  • six string guitar and bass (four or eight string)
  • twelve string guitar and bass (four or eight string)

External Links

• Shergold Guitars Homepage