c.1934 Levin Model 252 "Parlor" Guitar

Mh. I'm envious of my customer who owns this. From the serial, this is a 1934 Levin (a Swedish company, whose guitars were sold under the Goya name over here in the 1960s) model 252 (click here for a link to an info site on the model) in really amazingly good shape.

It had a neck reset in the past, however, that shallowed the angle... which meant that in addition to cleaning, a hairline repair to the upper bout along the fretboard, light fret dress, and setup, I also had to dispense (well, in the case, now) with the nice original rosewood bridge in favor of a slightly modified flattop mandolin rosewood bridge.

Otherwise this guitar conforms to factory specs exactly... spruce top, solid flamed birch back, sides, and neck, rosewood fretboard with pearl dots, celluloid top binding, inlaid half-herringbone marquetry, etc. What you don't immediately notice in the pictures is how small this guitar is: the body size is like your typical late 1800s gut-strung guitar. It's not a weakness, however... this guitar has punch, clarity, and zing. It's enormously responsive and a great fingerpicker.

The various features and sound of this guitar reminds me quite a bit of the old 20s and 30s Gibson blues boxes, also small bodies with floating bridges. The bracing is ladder-style on this, and due to the bridge plate configuration, I'd almost guess that Levin made a slightly different neck and popped it on the same body as a different model equipped with a pin bridge. Many manufacturers built that way during this period... Regal and Harmony have loads of models with redundant features that make sense in a factory setting but not much else.

Yessir, this guitar is a honey.

Who needs flamed maple? That curly/flamed birch is heckuva delicioso! I never questioned why so many high-end Gibsons used the stuff on mandolins, mandocellos, archtop guitars, etc. Birch, while not hailed as a mighty tonewood, gives projection and oomph like maple and great response, but also deadens dry raspiness and mellows out a guitar with too much treble. In the case of floating bridge instruments, you need that -- they tend to be on the punchier, less refined side, and so that birch helps to give a guitar like this a thick, warm treble as opposed to a pingy thin snap.

Yum.

Ah, yes, the Washburn-style 1 Year Gaurantee... but in Swedish. Did I say Washburn? At least they don't tell you "don't come back with your smashed guitar if you used steel strings!"

Yup, a nice one.