Shergold Marathon

The Shergold Marathon was a range of guitars and basses produced by the Shergold Woodcrafts Ltd. company. These divide down into 4, 6 and 8 string basses.

The Marathon bass

The Marathon bass came as a medium scale 4-string model at 34" scale and 30" for the six stringers.

The bass range divides down into two main types of bass.

Mark I basses,the earliest form of the Marathon. These typically feature stereo wiring and circuitry, with a humbucker pick-up and for earlier models a toggle switch, allowing the user to change between modes of pick-up.

The Mark Ia Marathon has much the same features as the Mark I, however the stereo connection port favoured in the Mark I has been replaced by a dual mono output, allowing the user to bi-amp the bass if needed. It also solved the problem of low output, a problem often found in the stereo Mark I models.

A small number of Mark II basses were also produced before full scale production was closed down in 1982. These typically featured a rosewood bolt-on neck and mahogany body and a single mono 16 pole pick-up.

The 8 and 6 string models

These were specialist order models and only 100 or so 6 string basses were ever made, and even less for the 8 string model. The 8 string model featured four pairs of strings over the standard width bass neck. The 6 string model had a 5mm addition to the width of the neck to accommodate the strings, and a brass nut.

Marathon basses produced after 1992

After the closure of the Shergold company in 1992 some basses were produced by individual luthiers using left-over parts and electronics. However no official records were kept and so for identification purposes these basses are also classified as official Marathon basses.

Notable Marathon players

These include
Peter Hook, who is believed to have three Shergolds, including a 6 string model.

Links

* Eight string guitar
* Acoustic bass guitar

External links and references

* http://www.shergoldguitars.co.uk Shergold official site.
* http://www.shergold.co.uk/models.html#Marathon General information on the Marathon and all other instruments made by Shergold.
* http://www.shergold.co.uk/imgviewer.html?class=circuits&name=Marathon-4.gif&returnto=models.html Wiring diagram for Shergold Marathon 4 string model.