ash

Yes - virtually impossible to get these days. Bloody useless though as they are worse than P bass ashtrays for getting in the way!

It's a Satellite bass with ashtrays! £100 worth!

One thing I must say is that the Marathon in the listing does have an original ashtray cover at the bridge and that is unusual!

I think the price is a bit optimistic - best offer would be 2/3 of that at best. They are lovely instruments and scarce in unmodded condition but in today's market I'd only pay that for a Marathon 6 or 8 string. Marathon 4s go for between £260 - £490, OK the finish on many is poor but that's one of the quirks of Shergold - still contemplating a Bass Doc refinish on mine!

The body is three pieces of alder and quite dense for the size - rings like a bell! The main difference between the P and the Bullet is that the small pickups don't have quite the same mid 'grunt' as my Precision. Easily remedied with EQ however. The scale length means it's much easier to move around on and personally I don't think the shorter scale makes it any lesser a bass in the tone department. I like the core sound of the Bullet, it's currently strung with a Elite medium roundwounds and gives a nice contrasting sound to my Hofner Violin which is very old school!

Here's mine it's a short scale US model B30. The pick guard was custom made by our very own Bass Doc. The original guard is off-white. The bass is in the rarer walnut finish - most I've seen are red or cream as in the OP. I'm using this instead of my JV Squier Precision at the moment because of a neck and shoulder injury this is much lighter and manageable to play at long gigs. The neck is superb and it's surprisingly punchy sounding. I've owned the MIJ long scale version too and they are excellent basses but not available as a 30" scale version. If you find one of these in decent condition go for it. They are certainly capable instruments and relatively cheap for US made basses.

Brilliant job on two custom pickguards for my Fender Bullet Bass - many thanks!

Could be a modded Egmond or Rosetti bass - has that European 60s look about it.

I think mine would be considerably more expensive

May well do that, but I do quite like the weather beaten look - matches the owner!

Having regained my Hayman/Shergold GAS after seeing Discreet's wonderful Hayman 4040 renovation I bought this bashed in Marathon. I honestly thought it would be a 'project' given the price paid however after a tweak of the trussrod it plays great and thanks to the added Jazz bass pickup has a very wide range of sounds. The body looks like it's been dragged along the M6 and attacked with a hammer -amazingly however it has not sustained any structural damage. It's a little heavier than some Shergolds I've played although lighter than my Fender Precision it has great sustain and less neck dive and is very comfortable to play.

This restoration rekindled my GAS for all things Jack Golder and Norm Houlder and oops I've bought another Shergold Marathon.

Charlatan !

Beautiful - great to see the old girl restored! The tone on these basses is amazing just goes to prove that classic basses don't necessarily have to be made in the USA. Thanks for sharing. Being a one time owner of this bass I can vouch for the condition of it prior to restoration and this is a top class job. Well done!