Shergold Telstar Bass - Short Scale

[Chienmortbb]

I wonder if they are jut trying to expand their customer base? The Haymen/Shergold original basses were unique but not to everyone's taste and by branching out they may be able to expand both the range and the people that would buy them. I love the idea of an iconic British brand but not at the expense of form or function.

[Russ]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

I wonder if they are jut trying to expand their customer base? The Haymen/Shergold original basses were unique but not to everyone's taste and by branching out they may be able to expand both the range and the people that would buy them. I love the idea of an iconic British brand but not at the expense of form or function.

Agreed. They could do what Eastwood do - just churn out cheap reissues, or they could do something new. I’m actually quite happy they’re doing the latter. They’ve taken the less easy option. 

 

There’s plenty of old, used Shergolds out there, and, for the most part, they’re not expensive for vintage instruments - why bother with a reissue when there’s quite a few originals out there that aren’t selling for silly money? 

[BigRedX]

But why use the Shergold name if you're not going to re-issue the original guitars, or at least follow on from them with more modern versions using a slightly updated styling?

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

But why use the Shergold name if you're not going to re-issue the original guitars, or at least follow on from them with more modern versions using a slightly updated styling?

Reviving an old name is always going to have more clout than something brand new, even if the instruments offered aren't particularly reminiscent of the originals. It's certainly got them some attention on here!

 

I do wish they were a bit more similar to the originals, like the Burns reissues.

[Cato]

I guess there's no point in having someone like Patrick Eggle on board if you're just going to do reissues, although that then raises the question of why use the Shergold brand at all.

 

Although they do a Masquerader skinny stringer that's aesthetically broadly similar to an old Shergold design, albeit with very different electronics, so maybe a bass based on the old designs however loosely, isn't out of the question.

 

For what it's worth I like the look of the current range, both guitars and basses, but I understand why others are disappointed that the brand's back catalogue is being largely ignored.

[neepheid]

On 14/11/2024 at 19:44, merello said:

Oh....I have a Fender Cabronita Thinline in Shoreline Gold guitar looking for a sibling....

 

 

 

 

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[Maude]

I have @AndyTravis's Marathon bass now. It really is a fantastic instrument, the punch from that pickup is something else, back the tone off and it'll do old skool Precision, but up full it's just a powerhouse. 

Every time I use it I do wonder how they weren't more popular, admittedly I don't know how they compared price wise to a top end Fender Precision, but I feel build wise it's equal and tone wise it's superior, although that is obviously subjective. 

I would love to see a reissued Marathon but can see why they're trying something new. Personally, I'd like to have seen a few nods to their heritage incorporated in the new designs, but there you go. 

[Chienmortbb]

If you just stick with heritage designs is suggests stagnation or managed decline. 

[Pea Turgh]

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!

 

Fender are regularly bashed for sticking to their “formula”.  Conversely, this lot are making something new with an old brand name and they are bashed for not doing reissues!

 

I like the gold/champagne SS.  Headstock is a bit 90’s for me.

[Shaggy]

Have to say I feel the same about this as I do the new  - Chinese? - MG cars (I used to own a '72 MGB Roadster) - if the new product bears no relation whatsoever to the old product and what made it uniquely appealing, then why not just call it something else entirely?

Wal basses were one way the Hayman / Shergold design evolved, but there were potentially other ways - keep the multi-string formats, keep the multi plug-in module model with modern module options such as MIDI, synth, headphone amp, bass modeller etc, keep the original body and headstock design but make it a bit sleeker with modern finish options like flip metallic paint and funky stained hardwood.  

Also agree with @AndyTravis about the short scale thing - always needs to be an option of course, but are players getting smaller these days or what? 

[Russ]

6 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Have to say I feel the same about this as I do the new  - Chinese? - MG cars (I used to own a '72 MGB Roadster) - if the new product bears no relation whatsoever to the old product and what made it uniquely appealing, then why not just call it something else entirely?

Wal basses were one way the Hayman / Shergold design evolved, but there were potentially other ways - keep the multi-string formats, keep the multi plug-in module model with modern module options such as MIDI, synth, headphone amp, bass modeller etc, keep the original body and headstock design but make it a bit sleeker with modern finish options like flip metallic paint and funky stained hardwood.  

Also agree with @AndyTravis about the short scale thing - always needs to be an option of course, but are players getting smaller these days or what? 

Not sure the MG analogy holds water - remember the MG Metro, Maestro and Montego, the ZR/ZS/ZT, etc? It's not like they haven't tried to reinvent themselves before!  

 

But, for anyone who really wants an MGB, there's plenty of old ones out there, the same way there's plenty of old Shergolds out there. MG decided they want a new, younger demographic, not men in their fifties and sixties whose dads might have owned an MGA or MGB. It's a rather limited market, after all.

 

Similarly, Shergold have identified who they want their audience to be this time around. Younger guitarists who want something with a classic name but modern design - not the small-ish number of older players who probably have the means to buy a proper vintage Shergold anyway.