Shergold Guitars, or Shergold Woodcrafts Limited, is an English guitar manufacturing company established in October 1967 by former

Burns London Burns Guitars London is an English manufacturer of electric guitars and bass guitars, founded by Alice Louise Farrell (1908–1993) and James Ormston (Jim) Burns (1925–1998) in 1959. The company was first named "Burns-Weill", then renamed "Or ...

employees Jack Golder and Norman Houlder. Based in East London, the company moved from

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. The town ...

Harold Wood Harold Wood is a suburban neighbourhood of Romford in the London Borough of Havering. It is situated east-northeast of Charing Cross and near to the Greater London boundary with Essex. History Toponymy The name Harold Wood was recorded in ab ...

in 1973. Shergold Guitars is currently a subsidiary of Barnes & Mullins since it was acquired in 2015.Our brands
on B&M website, 19 Oct 2019

History

Initially the company concentrated on producing woodwork for other companies, principally for

Dallas Arbiter The Fuzz Face is an effects pedal for electric guitar, used also by some electric bass players. It is designed to produce a distorted sound referred to as "fuzz", originally achieved through accident such as broken electrical components or damaged ...

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 died in 1992. The Shergold company closed shortly afterwards. Shergold pioneered features that would be used by other manufacturers (bi-directional

truss rod The truss rod is a component of a guitar or other stringed instrument that stabilizes the lengthwise forward curvature (also called ''relief'') of the neck. Usually, it is a steel bar or rod that runs through the inside of the neck, beneath the fi ...

, semi-

neck-through Neck-through-body (commonly neck-thru or neck-through) is a method of electric guitar construction that combines the instrument's neck and core of its body into a single unit. This may be made of a solid piece of wood, or two or more laminated ...

-body on the Cavalier), and others that have been forgotten (interchangeable control electronics on the Modulator series). Visually, the guitar bodies were slab-sided, featured arcane blackletter lettering and presented a logo of a man carving a guitar body, a style that was often criticised by contemporary reviews. In 2015, Shergold Guitars was purchased by Brian Cleary and Bruce Perrin of Barnes & Mullins Ltd, the original UK distributor of Shergold guitars. One year later, Patrick James Eggle became a shareholder. Eggle is a British guitar builder responsible for Patrick James Eggle electric and acoustic guitars, and the designer of Faith guitars and the new Sherwood guitars models.

Artists

Notable players of Shergold instruments include: MikeRutherfordGenesis

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...

( Genesis) * Tim Smith ( Cardiacs) * Christian Hayes ( Cardiacs) *

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, and Electronic. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the po ...

(

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...

, New Order) * Gillian Gilbert ( New Order) * Peter Hook (

, New Order) * Julian Cope *P. Paul Fenech (

The Meteors The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style. About.co ...

) *

Marty Willson-Piper Marty Willson-Piper (born 7 May 1958) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as a former long-time member of the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church. He joined in 1980 after seeing an early gig where they were perform ...

( The Church) * GP Hall *

Gary Marx Gary Marx (born Mark Frederick Pearman) is a British guitarist and musician. He was a founding member of British rock band the Sisters of Mercy and its lead-guitarist and songwriter from 1980 to 1985. He left the band in 1985 to form Ghost Da ...

(

The Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasi ...

) * Porl King ( miserylab) * Gary Numan * Bob Walsh ( The Dooleys)

Models

Some of the models produced by Shergold were:Production models
on Shergold Guitars tribute website

Guitars

* Masquerader * Modulator * Custom Double ( double neck) * Meteor * Nu Meteor * Cavalier * Activator * Trojan

Basses

* Marathon * Modulator

Notes

References

External links

Shergold tribute website
{{Guitar brands Guitar manufacturing companies Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom 1967 establishments in the United Kingdom