c.1960 Goya F-11 Guitar by Levin of Sweden

This is a c.1960 F-11 model guitar made by Levin of Sweden for the Goya brand in the US. It's a "folk guitar" as they called this type back then and features nylon-string fan-braced construction and a big, whopping, flamenco-ish tone for a smaller body. The neck is some nicely grained mahogany with a thin front-to-back but wide (classical) profile, and a rosewood board. The body is flamed solid birch back and sides with a good quality spruce top.

For those "in the know" -- Goyas and old Levins are a tremendous bang for the buck. They're built quite well, have the feel of costlier guitars, and sound excellent. They also have that Nordic charm!

This guitar is all original save for a new bone saddle, some slight bridge reprofiling, and new pickguards that replaced some peeling old white flamenco-style ones (I cut them to exactly the same shape as the old ones). I've repaired some top cracks, reset the neck (which was loose), and set it up. Plays nice, feels nice, sounds nice. I'm happy!

Rosewood board, typical faux MOP dots, nice 60s-style frets.

Typical simple Goya/Levin wide-red-band rosette.

New bone saddle, original pins. Strangely enough, Levin opted to use a pin bridge for this nylon/gut-intended guitar, which gives it the peculiar heritage of pin-bridge gut-stringers from the pre-1920s era. Also, strangely enough, they went for a solid peghead and right-angle gears, like on a typical steel string.

Label.


Back.

The flamed birch on this guitar recalls me of 1920s Gibsons... which happened to use the stuff in abundance. I tend to think birch inflects a straightforward, big, yet sustained tone. It really brings a "snap" to an instrument.

Headstock back... nice looking mahogany, huh?


Heel.


Side.


Detail.


End pin area.