c.1967 Levin-made Goya G-13M Classical Guitar

This is easily one of the cleanest Levin-made Goya guitars I've come across. It also happens to be a fairly rare model in that it's the "satin/matte" version of a G-13. Click here for more info over at Vintage Guitars Sweden. The finish is more similar to a modern Martin satin finish rather than the high-gloss, easily-weather-checked finish I'm more familiar with on these Swedish-made guitars.

Work was really pretty light on this one: I shaved the saddle area of the bridge and the saddle itself, shimmed up the nut slightly, cleaned it up a little bit, and set it up. During the setup process I noticed that the regular tie-block wasn't giving the guitar significant down-pressure over the (now slightly lower) saddle so I also drilled "through top" stringing holes in the bridge. I restrung the instrument through these and, as expected, the tone opened right up.

Anyhow -- if you follow the blog regularly, you know I'm a fan of Levin products. The faithful, oft-seen entry-level G-10s are still bang-for-buck the best classicals you can buy. Once you start stepping up the product line to a G-13 like this guy or a G-15 like this other guy, though, you start noticing that things just get better and better. The mahogany back and sides on this G-13 vs. the standard birch means a bit more sparkle, sustain and a little bit of a faster response to my ears.

I actually like the satin finish on this guy a lot. Even though the guitar has had some play it shows far less age-related wear (namely: finish spidering and cracking) than most of its gloss cousins have. This particular guitar was also well-cared for: it has zero cracks, the bracing is all tight and in good shape, and it hadn't had any poor repairs done to it in its past.

The neck is one-piece mahogany. Note the mid-60s Levin-style tuners (these were replaced with cruddier stuff in the 70s).

The flat rosewood board is joined to a neck with a flattish, thin (front to back) profile that's a feature of these Levin-made Goyas that I find really attractive: it actually plays fast and comfortable vs. most traditional classical necks.

Simple rosette...

The back and sides are plain-ish, straight-grain solid mahogany.

The neck set is perfectly good to go.