Shergold Guitars, or Shergold Woodcrafts Limited, is an English

guitar manufacturing Guitar manufacturing is the use of machines, tools, and labor in the production of electric and acoustic guitars. This phrase may be in reference to handcrafting guitars using traditional methods or assembly line production in large quantities usi ...

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. Ormston Burns Ltd. was bought up by Baldwin Piano Compan ...

employees Jack Golder and Norman Houlder. Based in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

, the company moved from

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham 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. ...

to Harold Wood in 1973. Shergold Guitars is currently a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

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 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 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 Blackletter (sometimes black letter or black-letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule or Gothic type, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for ...

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, best known as co-founder, lead guitarist and bassist of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis. He and keyboardist Tony Banks (musici ...

(

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

) * Tim Smith (

Cardiacs Cardiacs are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (Cardiacs), Tim Smith (guitar and lead vocals) and his brother Jim Smith (bassist), Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. One ...

) *

Christian Hayes Christian David "Bic" Hayes (born 10 June 1964) is an English rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Best known as the frontman of Dark Star (band), Dark Star and guitarist with Levitation (band), Levitation, he has also released solo material ...

(

) *

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English musician. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synth-pop, and ...

(

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

, New Order) *

Gillian Gilbert Gillian Lesley Gilbert (born 27 January 1961) is an English musician. She is the keyboardist and guitarist of the band New Order. Early life Gilbert's family moved from her birthplace, Manchester, to the nearby market town of Macclesfield when ...

( New Order) *

Peter Hook Peter Hook (born 13 February 1956) is an English musician. He was the bassist and co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division and its successor New Order. He often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...

(

, New Order) *

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

*P. Paul Fenech (

The Meteors The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are one of the pioneers of the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style. "Starting in t ...

) * Marty Willson-Piper ( The Church) * GP Hall * Gary Marx (

The Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980. After achieving early underground fame, the band experienced a commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s, sustaining their success until the early 1990s, when they halted th ...

) * Porl King ( miserylab) *

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

* 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 The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

* 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