Shergold Masquerader SM04-SD

A vintage-style electric to rock your world

Spoiler warning: we are huge fans of Shergold’s Masquerader. The revival of the British brand, under the ownership of Barnes & Mullins and creative stewardship of Patrick James Eggle, has thus far been restricted to the Masquerader’s S-style double-cut, but that’s fine by us. The mahogany body and Seymour Duncan pickups are ever-present but there are a variety of spec options, particularly with regard to pickup configurations: there’s the awesome SM01-SD, with its Seymour Duncan Trembucker/P90 combo; the super-versatile SM02-SD with a Trembucker in the bridge and two SSL-6R single coils in neck and middle positions; while the SM03-SD has a three single coils, with two vintage SSL-2 singles and a Seymour Duncan Hot Tele lead pickup in the bridge. This month’s Masquerader, the SM04-SD, is a dual-humbucker model, complete with the classic humbucker pairing of the Seymour Duncan Trembucker in the bridge and ’59 in the neck. The inference is clear: this Masquerader has been built to rock. It’s also a love letter to mahogany. While the SM01-SD had a rosewood neck bolted to the body, the SM04-SD’s neck with a similar profile and satin-smooth finish, is cut from mahogany. Double-’hogging, with an ebony fretboard to set things off and top humbuckers in the wheelhouse, guarantees the SM04-SD a measure of warm, thick tone. We’re talking beef dripping and double cream – seriously fat, high-cholesterol tone.

Through a clean valve amp, the bridge Trembucker has plenty of that Jeff Beck mid-range bite, definition, but a quiet power that suggests you might want to dial in a little gain. As the signal breaks up, you’re invited to work your pentatonic chops. The ’59 in the neck is a bit woodier. Based on the vintage PAF humbuckers, its clean tones are mother’s milk to blues and jazz players with a slight nasal quality, but dial in some treble on your amp and it sharpens to a piano-esque clarity. Altogether, the tone handles itself effortlessly when the gain is cranked up. The Trembucker is a harmonically responsive; searing but never shrill, while the ’59 has (Uriah) heaps of classic-rock mojo.

Like its kin, the Masquerader SM04-SD is a perfectly balanced guitar. At 7lbs it’s not exactly slight, but a contoured belly cut and shallow sculpt at the heel make it a lithe performer. The neck profile feels somewhere between a 50s Les Paul and its slimmer 60s-style neck. It’s a universal format, facilitating both rhythm and lead players. A pro-quality instrument with a boutique feel that’s vintage and modern, all for under a grand.

we’re talking seriously fat, high-cholesterol tone