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It is normally referred to as the saddle, or the saddlebone.
On this particular guitar, the bone is shaped in a way to make each string intonate optimally, which is achieved by adapting the length of each individual string, to compensate for the differrences in the diameter of the strings. So, this guitar has a “compensated saddlebone”.
Good luck selling!
It looks nice, what brand is it?/Magnus
I would say most Levins have stamped serial no at the end of the headstock.
Regarding value my guess would be that a 320 would sell for 10 -15 thousand SEK in Sweden, which would be around 1500$ in USE currency at current rate.
My experience from Ebay auctions is however that Levin instruments sell higher i the US than in Sweden. It may be that they are rare on this market, as Levin sold their instruments in the Americas branded Goya.
In general I would say that Levin archtops are very rare in the US.
Perhaps You should take it to someone for a value estimation. There must be shops offering these services in the Chicago area.
Take care…./Magnus
PS. Forgot to mention that the 320 is flamed maple back and sides, mahogany neck (probably 5-piece) and ebony fretboard. The inlays are supposed to be true MOP.
[quote=”smallrobot”]I have an old Levin guitar but I need info on it. the only marking on it is a manufacturers label that says the make and Model (320). I was wondering if anyone knows a database or a place I can get information on this guitar like when it was made. i have pictures.[/quote]
The Levin 320 was the second-from-the-top in a line of archtops Levin released 1956 or 1957. The series consisted top to bottom of 315, 320, 325, 330, 335. They all had carved spruce tops and the highest (including 320) also had carved bottom. They were available as option with one or two DeArmond Dynasonic style pickups. The model names for these were added with M1 or M2 for the number of pickups. They were available in sunburst or nature. For this model an adjustable trussrod was introduced.
The series was discontinued from the standard offer sometime in the late 60:s, but the 315 was still available on custom order.The 320 can be seen in the following link.
http://goyaguitars.tripod.com/levin_catalog68_3.htm
From the series number stamped on the top of the headstock You can find the manufacturing year in the following link:
http://www.gitarren.se/radotips/sernr_levin.html
Hope this helps…./Magnus
purplefin,
Model 123 is made for steelstrings, and was described so in the catalogs. some models were marketed to be for steel- or nylonstrings but they were all slotted heads. The 123 has solid head.
I think it can hold up to atleast a 12-53 set, but perhaps You should start with a lighter set to try it out for a period.
Materials are solid alpspruce top, back and sides of birch, mahogany neck and fingerboard and (classical) bridge in RW.
Scale is 630 mm.Good luck with it!
/Magnus
Ismail,
Crafton is a swedish company, which started with guitar manufacturing in my home town Gothenburg in the early 40:s. Thr manufacturing ended in 1953. After this there have been some Crafton labeled instruments manufactured in Asia throughout the years but none of the same class as the local made.
There is a guy in Sweden who posesses the entire build & delivery log from the early Crafton production. If You look up the seriel no, probably stamped intor the top of the headstock, I can help You get all details of Your guitar.
The Crafton company is still around but solely as importer of musical instrument gear since many years.
They made some amazingly beautiful Archtops in the late 40:s. Take a look on the homepage of Vintage Guitars in Stockholm, in the gallery of sold instruments.
/Magnus
[quote=”tanturia”]
Hope someone will be able to help me. Any information will be very much appreciated! :D[/quote]The brand name is Levin. The brass plate marked 1900 refers to the year when Herman Carlson Levin started manufacturing guitars in Gothenburg Sweden.
In 1956 Levin introduce a new line of archtop guitars. The high end model was 315, followed by 320, 325, 330, and 335. They were all available in 3 versions, which were (325 as example) 325 for the acoustic, 325/M1 with one Dearmond Dynasonic Pickup by the fretboard, and 325/M2 with dual picups, 2nd one by the stable.
My guess is that the 1900 marking was used around 1960 to celebrate the 60th aniversary. You should be able to find a serial number on top of the peghead, by this You can date Your guitar at
http://www.gitarren.se/radotips/sernr_levin.html
Levin stopped serial production of archtops by the end of the sixties, but continued with the 315 on specific orders. Martin bought the company in 1973 and closed it down in 1982.
Picture of my 1961 acoustic model 335:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r253/magnus_onsala/Levin/335/DSC03216.jpg
I read that these series of guitars were made from oak pallets found on the yard at Taylor. The guitars were made to prove that un-ortodox choices of woods could be used as tonewood.
The nails were pulled out and the holes were filled with aluminum.
Have never heard of guitars made from wine stained woods but Fylde guitars have a single malt matured model…
Ricke,
The list is for all stringed instruments built by Levin, except Goyas after sometime 1960. So, The factory made in total close to 600 000 instruments, plus in the region of 300000 Goyas (the ones made after 1960), during 80 years of production.
So, to be clear, the list is valid for Your Lute.
Don´t forget to tell us how old it is… 😀/Magnus
My final comment would be that the Levin archtops in the 50:s were far more classy than this one.
The lowest priced of the archtops in 1953, “The Dansant”, was still an extremely well built instrument which they sold with a 10 year warranty.
The top of the line, “De Luxe”, is a real monster guitar, see the Django picture below…Django in 1946:
[quote=”embee”]I’m in touch with a Swedish guitar player and Levin expert, named “Bottleneck John”.
He doubts it’s a Swedish guitar, although the text inside is in swedish …The quest goes on ..[/quote]
Search no further….
I agree with “Bottleneck John”, at least as far as that this guitar is not manufactured by Levin. There are no typical “Levinesque” signs on it.
It may very well be manufactured or more likely, distributed by a swedish company. In another forum, dealing with Antiquities, there is a discussion on instruments. This guitar was discussed a few weeks ago and one of the guys showed pictures of two guitars in his possession, very simlar to this one. One of the guitars was marked “Bella”.
Look in:
(in swedish, but anyway)http://www.antikviteter.net/antikprat/messages/183/188151.html?1181763647
[quote=”MicroSark”]All I can say is…
WOW!
Top detective job Magnus.[/quote]
As You might have guessed already, Levin guitars is my favourite subject.
Having grown up in Gothenburg, where the company resided, it was hard not to come across some of these fine instruments over the years. I had a schoolfriend whose father used to work in the factory, doing inlays and intarsia work.
Now that I am grown up and can afford it, I have hunted down some Levins and Goyas. There are Levins hanging on walls or stuffed away in storages in every second Swedish home, and Goyas tend to pop up on Ebay in US all the time.
Some of these instruments are amazingly fine.
In fact the Levin Goliath (the LM-26) is available as a replica, made by Moon Guitars, as a tribute to a Shetland trobadour, Thomas Fraser.
Look at the Moon Guitars homepage under News, look for “THE THOMAS FRASER COMMEMORATIVE GUITAR”….
http://www.moonguitars.co.uk/moonhome.html
8) 8) 8)
[quote=”Michael”]Welcome to the boards Magnus. Good info, thanks for helping.[/quote]
Thanks for the welcome, Michael!
I forgot to comment on how to find the serial no on Levins. Normally it is stamped on top of the headpiece, into the “end-wood”. There is a list existing, which the Levin company sent out to their distributors, with all the serial number intervalls per year, from the beginning in year 1900, until 1978, I guess when the list was distributed.
The list is also valid for Goyas manufactured 1953 – appr.1960, after this they started with separated series.
You can find this on the homepage of a guitar-shop in Gothenburg, which happens to be started by a former sales manager within the Levin company.
Good Luck…/Magnus
http://www.gitarren.se/radotips/sernr_levin.htmlWell,
First of all, It is a Levin LM-26. I think it was introduced in the late 50:s, and that it was first offered on the american market as Goya M-26.
The size was called “Goliath” and in Europe there was the LM-26, called “The Levin Goliath” and a nature version, the LS-18, called “The Super Goliath”.
The LM-26 changed name in the early 60:s to LN-26, the only visible differrence were the the dot inlays on the fingerboard moved to the base side of the board. In 1969 it was changed again, a new shape of the headstock and the pickguard was itroduced on the new version, named “Model 163”. I have a 163 myself…
Broshure from a british delaer in 1962:
(I really can´t explain the model name in this broshure…)
(I add pictures of a Goya M-26 below, found on the net)
