Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel is another Shergold user - interestingly as he left Genesis in 1975 this isn't just
as a result of borrowing from Mike Rutherford as it wasn't until 1977 that Shergold
started to work with Mike.
This news item from 1977 about promoting the British origins of Shergold's over US or Japanese competition mentions both Mike and Peter.
This news item from 1977 about promoting the British origins of Shergold's over US or Japanese competition mentions both Mike and Peter.
A Shergold was used on the classic album 'So' according to Peter's guitarist
David Rhodes.
And that Shergold is still in use at Real World Studios according to this article and picture, and in the Classic Albums documentary on the making of 'So' the distinctive headstock can be seen over Peter's shoulder in some interview shots.
Picture from 'Classic Albums - So', Copyright © 2012 Peter Gabriel Limited
Among other twists, Rhodes tried mixing it up on So by playing electric 12-string "with a radical EQ setting -
taking all the highs, so that you end up with a very thin sound. So often, 12-strings take up way too much space.
This way, it was just like the icing. There's 12-string on 'Red Rain' - a horrible old cherry-colored Shergold -
although you wouldn't know it because it's quite buried. That was in standard tuning." On other cuts Rhodes employs
unusual tunings, dropping down to C, A, D, G, C, E, low to high, or D, A, A, G, A, D. He also detunes the G to an F#
for a "quite open sound" or drops the low E to E Flat "to make playing E Flats easier," as he did on "Sledgehammer"
and "That Voice Again".
And that Shergold is still in use at Real World Studios according to this article and picture, and in the Classic Albums documentary on the making of 'So' the distinctive headstock can be seen over Peter's shoulder in some interview shots.
Picture from 'Classic Albums - So', Copyright © 2012 Peter Gabriel Limited