Have taken time off during the weekends and done other things than working with guitars. Among other things, a new album with "Roger and The Rockets" is almost ready, this time songs in Swedish. Also playing a bunch of old cassette tapes with recordings and song ideas that were in a pile, actually found a finished and good song that I completely forgot! Bought a new TV when the old one made all people green in the face. Had to adapt the bookshelf to the larger screen. Took advantage of the ComHem connector in the wall that has been around for 5 years without being used, it opened up a new world with more channels and a better picture. Sacrificed a few half days to take a closer look at gold diggers and their adventures 🙂
Well. Have had a couple of days in the room and even though it was tough in the beginning, it feels good to be up and running again. Is working on the very last on the Levin lute guitar in the last batch and has taken 4 new objects to the room, thought to present some "before" pictures here.
GG132 European
The guitar was bought on eBay from Germany a few years ago. It is interesting as it has fruit wood on the side and bottom and not maple as it usually is. It is in relatively good condition and probably from the 1930s. Noted that the holes for one of the tuning screws were a bit incorrectly drilled, the post for the thick E string must be forced into place - but it must be fixed!
GG139 English
A Norwegian guitar made in 1933 is not seen every day. Looks like completely in mahogany at the bottom, lid and side. Got a silver prize at a fair at least according to the note inside. A handy and inventive person who is not a trained instrument maker has done it. The craft is OK but it is very covered with clumsily cut ribs and with a baseball neck. The stable is innovative, the shape of the rim is also different and the lid is really curved. The biggest innovation is a "half" Stauffer attachment. The neck angle can be adjusted with a screw on the neck foot, but the fingerboard is not floating but glued as usual! A good idea as it is possible to bend the wood of the fretboard without problems at the 12th band for small adjustments of the neck angle. The screw was cleverly attached to the neck with two small nails through a flange that was filed out on the screw. This meant that the screw could be turned but was still firmly attached to the neck foot. The posts of the tuning screws (looks like a Levin tuning screw) had been made thicker with brass sleeves, the heaviest tuning screws I have come across! The holes were not directly nicely drilled… Clearly different and difficult to disassemble as the glue was tougher than usual.
GG138 Levin 1917
A Levin pearl with mother of pearl bow and wider rim. In addition to cracks in the lid in good condition. The back of the neck has marks of a medieval capo. The stable had been screwed on and the "stable band" was replaced with a stronger brass wire.
GG140 Levin 1916
Still an old Levin in concert size, there seems to be some of those from the years around 1915. The last one I did was getting well, this one will be too! The guitar was in a little worse condition, especially the bottom needs a lot of repair work, a center strip in the joint will be installed as it shrunk and cracked properly in the middle joint despite a stick glued to the inside of the bottom ..
