Shergold Guitars, or Shergold Woodcrafts Limited, was established in October 1967 by former Burns London employees Jack Golder and Norman Houlder. Based in east London, the company moved from Forest Gate to Harold Wood in 1973.

Initially they concentrated on producing woodwork for other companies, principally for Dallas Arbiter under the Hayman brand (until 1975); for Jim Burns himself under the Burns London banner; "Ned Callan" and Rosetti. When the contract for the Hayman guitars came to an end, the Shergold company found themselves with significant stocks of part finished instruments and raw materials. With this stock they launched their first guitars under their own brand name from late 1975.

Shergold concentrated on guitar production until 1982, when a downturn in the guitar market (especially for home grown instruments) meant that they returned to general custom joinery producing furniture, and only undertaking guitar work on a custom order basis. In 1983, Norman left the company to emigrate to Australia, but would return to the country (but not to Shergold) within a few years. In 1991, Jack began making new Shergold guitars - the Limited Edition Masquerader - due to a rising interest at that time in British guitars from the 1970s. This revival was short lived, as Jack died in 1992. The Shergold company closed shortly afterwards.

Shergold had an eye for innovation - pioneering features that would be used by other manufacturers (bi-directional truss rod, semi through body neck joint on the Cavalier), and others that have surprisingly been forgotten (interchangeable control electronics on the Modulator series). These features were always tempered by a tendency towards clumsy styling - bodies were slab sided, the juxtaposition of arcane Blackletter script on modern instruments, and the quirky logo of a man carving a guitar body all contribute to a style that was often criticised by contemporary reviews, but now has an authentically 1970s retro feel.

In 2015 the Shergold Guitar Company was purchased by UK distributors Barnes & Mullins Ltd, the same British company who had distributed the original guitars during the 70s and 80s. Early 2017 saw the brand re-launched under the guidance of the British guitar luthier Patrick James Eggle.