Shergold

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Russ Gannicott
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Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 8:28 pm

Shergold

Postby Russ Gannicott » Wed May 28, 2014 8:24 am

Now, it's no secret that I am a big fan of the English guitars that were manufactured during the seventies; Ned Callan, Doug Wilkes, Hayman and of course Shergold. In particular Hayman and Shergold are renowned for their suberb necks which are arguably the best designed electric neck ever made. The other two things people tend to remember Shergold for are the paint finish (which crazes and cracks over time) and the strange black perspex bridge cover they were all fitted with. The covers soon aquired the name 'frisbee' owing to the fact that as soon as you opened the case, the first thing yo did was pull it off and throw it as far as possible! The net result of this is that probably 80% of the surviving Shergolds (and that is a few thousand) are missing their bridge covers. Of my three Shergolds only one has a cover. so I am luckier than average!
My backround in engineering plastics lead me to think it should be quite easy to make replacement covers, so after a couple of attempts at tool making (from MDF) I brought home the jig and some acrylic blanks and disappeared into the kitchen where I set the oven at 150C. Net result, know have perfect replica bridge covers on my other two Shegolds. When word of this got out to other owners I started getting bombaded with requests for new covers - so much so, that I have had to set up a mini production line to keep up with demand! Who would have thought that forty years after Shergolds were made there is a little piece of English guitar industry carrying on in my kitchen! Funny old world!

Trevor Raggatt
Posts: 275
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Middlesex
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Re: Shergold

Postby Trevor Raggatt » Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:44 am

Russ,

Shergolds are lovely instruments. Have always harboured a sneaky desire to have one of their basses. I recall seeing Genesis back in 1981 and being right up the front drooling over Mike Rutherford's Shergold double neck.

Although this is more dedicated to 4 strings than 6, if you are a fan of vintage British luthiers from the 70s you might enjoy my Wal basses blog. Lots of Giltrap connections too...

Main page. http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk

The 1970s... Including some images kindly provided by Gordon... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-beginnings.html

Some more I info on the early years of Wal (a magazine article that sadly got cancelled after I had submitted it...) http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_17.html

Trevor

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Roger
Posts: 565
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:02 pm
Location: Southsea

Re: Shergold

Postby Roger » Mon Jun 08, 2015 11:00 am

I have come across a review of the Masquerader from 1976. Please PM me with e-mail details if you would like a scanned copy.

Roger

BillyFrenzy
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Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:43 pm

Re: Shergold

Postby BillyFrenzy » Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:13 pm

I know that this thread was some time ago, but in the hope that you're still out there, I was wondering if you're still making the Shergold bridge covers?


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