Has written an article about ladder bracing, spruce stalk plate, segmented stall legs, plugs and oversaddle lining which will be published in "American Lutherie". In English of course. I want to spread the word about my discoveries and hope that more people will take the time to test. We'll see what happens! To illustrate the article, I needed a project where I photographed all the moments. It turned out to be the worst Levin wreck in storage, a 1914 Levin as simple as it gets. Bought it at an anonymous auction, but with the guitar it came with a board with an old picture of the guitar. Unfortunately, I don't know the couple's name, but the guitar is engraved with "Edvin".
The levine was not in good condition. The bottom had shrunk considerably and was almost loose. Two bottom ribs were missing and the back of the neck was completely torn apart by a capo (as seen in the picture!). The base had several cracks while the top only had one crack to the side of the fingerboard. The guitar had an early string holder type "Muse Pigg" and a stand with holes for the strings. Walnut fretboard had deep play pits, this guitar has been played.
Planning to make a renovation trip for the guitar on the blog, took more than 200 pictures of all the elements of the renovation which took 2,5 weeks all in all. Took the opportunity and tested plum wood in both stables and grip boards for the first time. Seems that the tone became a little less playful than with rosewood. Here are pictures of the finished guitar that sounds very good.
Got help from Gunnar Säfsten to take pictures of myself, here I stand on Varvsberget with the guitar and with Ö-vik in the background 🙂
