1969 Goya (Levin-made) G-45 Classical Guitar




While not as outwardly-fancy as a maple-backed G-30, this Goya G-45 has the upgrade of solid Brazilian rosewood back and sides. Flip it over and mmmm, look at that chocolatey goodness.

Most Goya-brand guitars from this era were made in Sweden by the Levin company and this G-45 is the earliest known example of this model per the "Vintage Guitars Sweden" Levin resource pages. It has serial number 4096015 which puts it at 1969.

My friend Ted is whittling-down his vast Levin collection, and so this one's here on consignment. I gave it a glorified setup and it was then ready to go and playing nicely. It's in great shape, has no cracks, is all-original, and has just the right amount of weather-checking in the finish to give it that classic aged look.

Tone-wise it definitely has that rosewood classical sound -- sort of moody but pure and clean -- but it's not oppressively-boomy like some can be. It has a good, balanced sound.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, minor adjustments at the saddle, and setup.

Setup notes: the neck is straight and action is 3/32" overall at the 12th fret -- nice and easy. The frets are low and small, but that's how they were from the factory, too. If you like big, proud frets, you should have me refret it for you. These are not those. Strings are medium-tension as I found light-tension strings a little too reserved on this one.

Scale length: 25 5/8"
Nut width: 2"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/4"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/4"
Body length: 19"
Lower bout width: 14 3/4"
Side depth at endpin: 3 5/8"
Top wood: solid spruce
Back & sides wood: solid Brazilian rosewood
Bracing type: fan
Fretboard: ebony, synthetic nut
Bridge: rosewood, synthetic saddle
Neck feel: slim-medium D/C profile, flat board
Neck wood: mahogany

Condition notes: as noted, it has no cracks and is all-original throughout. There's minor usewear on the top and a few tiny scratches here and there throughout, but overall it's very clean. The saddle area has been modified slightly to allow better back-angle on the saddle, though it's not obvious. The saddle itself is fairly low, but back-angle is good on it so long as a ball-end-style (or knotted-up-style) of stringing is used.

It comes with: a TKL hard case in good order.



















Comments

Claude said…
Interesting. The G-45 sounds exactly like my G-20, which I got for my 13th birthday in 1964. The G-30 sounds totally different.