Longtermers
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist’s longterm test reports Shergold Masquerader SM-04
Writer Dave Burrluck Guitarist Gear Reviews Editor
This issue, channelling his inner Tony Zemaitis, our Reviews Editor elevates the Masquerader to a whole new level. Rock on!
Halfway through my Longtermers test on this guitar it got cruelly replaced by my old ’69 Fender Telecaster, which was better suited to my gig with some old mates running through a set of classic American rock tunes. I’d always wanted to be in the Heartbreakers – yeah, right! – and this was as close as I was going to get.
This left the poor ol’ Masquerader looking rather forlorn. With a bit of time after a recording session and before our next gettogether, I began to consider my options. Should I just send the guitar back? I’d already changed the bridge and both humbuckers and knew I was on the right track for the ‘power single coil’ voicing I needed but I’d been a little concerned about the dull response on the low strings.
The Masquerader has a flat, not backangled, three-a-side head and my thinking was that I needed as much back angle behind the nut as I could achieve. The locking tuners with staggered height posts worked fine but I didn’t really need locking tuners. Also, thanks to the post shape, I couldn’t stack extra winds around the post like I would on my Tele to achieve that maximum back angle. The post holes measure approximately 22mm, 20mm and 18mm, the taller posts placed on the two E strings, the middle on the A and D and the lowest on the G and D. It was specifically the E and A that needed more angle I guessed, so I bought a set of Gotoh vintage-style tuners but with height-adjustable posts that meant – in theory – I could pull the post holes down a little more. The Fender-style black nut (fitted as standard) possibly isn’t maximising resonance and actually has a curved base, with a central nib, sitting in a flat channel. I could replace that with bone. Well, there’s the start of a plan…
My Masquerader has a black Bakelite scratchplate, which Patrick J Eggle (who’s behind the design of the new Masqueraders) went to great trouble to source. But on the glossed dark brown/black finish it completely ‘disappears’. I was reminded of a young guitar maker, Richard Legg, I’d come across who’d seen me on a gig and asked if he could show me a guitar he’d made. Hoping that the guitar wasn’t going to be awful – that’s certainly happened before – I was pleasantly surprised not only with Richard’s fledgling craft but his use of etched aluminium, done in an artful style. Maybe I could commission him to make a replacement ’plate for the Masquerader? Happy to oblige, Richard asked what sort of design I wanted? I’d seen some interesting motifs dotted around on a recent trip to Cadiz, and had taken a few pictures, so I sent them over and simply said,“do your thing!”
A couple of weeks later, still in the grip of the particularly inclement UK weather conditions Richard popped in. While I put the coffee on and he began to thaw out, he passed me an envelope that held two etched aluminium ’plates of different designs. I was stunned. How can a vague idea be turned into something so beautiful? Not only were the designs quite exceptional, but the way Richard had antiqued the aluminium looked extremely cool too. The design might not be engraved but just by laying the ’plate over the Masquerader it summed up a strong Tony Zemaitis vibe and gave me a clear idea of how to enhance the guitar both visually and (hopefully) sonically.
There was plenty of work to do – pull back the gloss sheen of the body for starters, round the fingerboard edges for a more worn feel, fit and age those tuners, fit and cut the new nut, age and fit some Dunlop strap-locks and swap out the original knobs with a pair of Gibson witch-hat knobs that I’d antiqued a little. Along the way I fitted in a new CTS volume pot, a push/push switched tone pot, a Switchcraft three-way lever switch and higher quality jack socket. A day and a bit later, it was ready for a set-up and tuning in.
Some weeks later, with time to get to know this new Masquerader, it’s proved quite a piece. My old Tele has dropped back to spare status. Everyone wants to know “what is that you’re playing?”The singer has also got on board: “I love playing in this band,” he beams. “You guys have such cool guitars.”
And with a nod to the late, great Tony Zemaitis and the inspired work of Richard Legg of Indra Guitars – a nice book-ending of British craft old and new – not to mention the design and production work of Patrick J Eggle, an interesting Brit-made pickup from Alan Price at Catswhisker Pickups and a very neat bridge design by Matt Oram at Fidelity Guitars, I can’t help but agree. Who says us Brits can’t take on the world?
“With time to get to know this new Masquerader, it’s proved quite a piece”