Shergold double neck

Mike Rutherford owned a custom-made Shergold double neck, which was one of the best known instruments he played with Genesis.

He had four detachable "halves" of the Shergold - a 4-string bass, two 12-strings and a 6-string guitar with single-coil pickups. Those were all early Modulator models. For the bottom half of the Shergold double neck it was always the bass, while for the top half Mike would alternate between the 6- and 12-string guitars. Mike's double neck guitars before or since the Shergold didn't have the changeable halves option.

All the Shergold guitars came with a selection of 5 different modules which Mike could change between - including, to name a few, a Module 4 (stereo), Module 2 (phaser) and Module 5 (recording).

Mike first played the Shergold on the Wind And Wuthering tour in 1977, and continued to play it for the majority of Genesis concerts and studio work up until the Encore tour in 1982. The Shergold's heavy weight, however, meant that a deep rut in the shoulder can form if worn for too long so he tended to change guitars in concert to avoid the problem. By the time of the Mama tour, Mike changed over to the Strata double neck which was a lighter, carbon-fibre based alternative.

Halves of the Shergold were sold in 2001.

Quotes on the Shergold double neck
"'I tried a Shergold 12-string in a shop, and I liked it very much, so I said 'Do you make basses?' And they said yes, and I tried that. Very nice sound - it had the sort of treble attack I like, and the bass warmth. I said 'Can you do me a double-neck?' I've always had this idea of a changeable instrument, to give me the scope during a live show to swap over easily, and they came up with that.'"