1976 Levin W36 ("Goliath") Dreadnought Guitar

Years ago I briefly owned a Swedish-built, Levin-made, Goya-branded S-18 "Goliath" dreadnought guitar. I remember thinking just how dang great a box that was. I haven't seen one since (they're a bit rare over here), but just recently Mr. Ted from in town has begun to thin his Levin guitar herd and my pal Susie bought this Levin-branded Goliath-style guitar from him.

I did some work on it for her so it'd play on-spec, but she couldn't get used to the neck and body shape (she plays a slim-neck, small-body '60s Gibson LG-0 as her daily bread), so it's now here on consignment.

This is basically a short-scale (24 3/4") D-18 clone and its tone is pretty-much halfway between a Gibson square-shoulder (read: Hummingbird) vibe and a Martin (read: D-18) vibe. It has a bit of that woody simplicity I expect from Gibsons and a bit of that punchy zip I expect from Martins. It's nice.

These Levin products are always well-made and generally only need light fiddling-around-with to get them to play the way they should. Most guitars do not escape the vagaries of time that easily, so I think of that as a great win.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, bridge modification and replacement (from parts-bin Goya stock!) saddle, cleaning, and setup.

Setup notes: the neck is straight, the truss rod works, and it plays bang-on at 3/32" bass and 1/16" treble action at the 12th fret. Strings are 54w-12 gauges.

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

String spacing at nut: 1 7/16"

String spacing at bridge: 2 3/16"

Body length: 19 3/4"

Lower bout width: 15 7/8"

Waist width: 10 7/8"

Upper bout width: 11 3/16"

Side depth at endpin: 4 7/8"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid mahogany

Neck wood: mahogany

Bracing type: x

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: rosewood, synthetic saddle

Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~14" board radius

Condition notes: replaced tuners, various light usewear seen throughout, weather-check to the finish throughout, replacement bridge pins. There are also several small, filled/sealed (old work) hairline cracks above and below the jack at the lower-bout-treble-side and one small (repaired) one at the waist in the same area. The old acoustic pickup installed in this has ground hum with certain acoustic amps in certain settings and so should probably be replaced or swapped-out if you're planning to use it regularly.

It comes with: a foam/zipper "flight case" hard case... nice and light and very protective... like a violin-style case.