Another Levin archtop ready, this one from 1952. Replaced the neck that was not glued as it should (with carpentry glue) and put a solid carbon fiber rod (1 × 1 cm) under the fretboard instead of the rather lousy aluminum reinforcement. Planed the fretboard and mounted new straps, the fretboard got new bindings. The mother-of-pearl inlays had an impressively good fit! It is strung with…
A taller one just left the room, a Levin archtop from 1954. An odd bird when it was trampled to pieces and patched up by a fine carpenter. Half the rim is in walnut (original) and the other in mahogany, in addition a large mahogany inlay in the half walnut rim. Well done, but the carpenter had bad kerfing and was not careful with the brush…
An unusually fine old Levin was completed, from 1909 with vein painting on the bottom and side. Actually no cracks, but three twigs in the bottom during the vein painting. It is often the case that vein painting / brown color hides wood of the second grade. Original maple board and stable were changed to replicas in rosewood. The original stable was of the triangular shaped simpler type, but…
Made a nice discovery in the room today. When you paint with spirit varnish, the surface becomes infinitely shiny, but at the same time you see small irregularities in the paint from the brush. My method on all GammelGura is to paint two coats with sanding in between on top of the original paint. Removes the worst gadgets and gives new power to the paint at the same time as the charm…
