In anticipation of the K&K mics that were ordered a month ago, I have done some repairs. One of the repairs grew into an almost complete GammelGura, so it received both a number and a label.

This is one of the most beautiful instruments made by Levin. The most expensive parlor model in 1933, but still only 1 year warranty. They were made with a floating bridge which is a shame as I cannot get the same nice sound as with a fixed bridge. The flamed birch on the side and bottom is sensational on this model, enhanced with a very beautiful stained color. I have seen instruments for real and in pictures that have been stained in red, yellow-brown and like this green-yellow-brown. This particular specimen has the densest pattern have ever seen of flaming birch! The tops's purfling and rosette are also extraordinarily fine and wide, in the rosewood fretboard you have inlays of luxurious mother of pearl. The tuners were fine Waverly mechanics made in the USA.

A very special and lavish model in the choice of wood and details, but not impressive craftmanship. Both the top and the bottom were too thick and the sound before the renovation nothing to cheer about. Plonky and metallic. The guitar had been tampered with before, among other things, it had been given an extra layer of cellulose lacquer and a very mysterious brass end knob which was probably a knob used by a plumber. The bottom had a crack between the bottom halves, a tuner had a replaced knob, a piece of the celluloid binding of the top was missing and the string height was high.

When the bottom was opened it was equally good to update the bracing, the bottom and the top were also thinned for better sound. The bottom received a center strip in spruce. The fretboard was losened and a carbon fiber rod mounted, the neck was a bit bent. The fretboard was given a 20 ″ radius and new nickel bands. The old tuning screws were not good and were retired and replaced with new ones. Because the originals had modern spacing between the posts, it was easy to change to new tuning screws. As so often on Levin, the floating bridge was way too high on the bass side, I planed down the top and gave it the same radius as the fretboard.

When I was to release the mysterious end knob, that was glued with epoxy glue and sat like the rock, the endblock cracked and the sides opened up about 10 cm on either side ... like a zipper. Fortunately, I was able to repair the damage almost invisibly without problems and glued on maple veneer on the inside to strengthen the glue joint. Epoxy glue is not fun! One side was a couple of mm higher on one side, I made both sides the same height.

My newly purchased violin clamp was perfect for clamping the crack in the middle joint of the bottom.

The violin clamp compresses the edge crack.

Glueing the center spruce stick to a counter hold in the form of a ruler.

Uses a strip of yoga mat in rubber to get even pressure over the half-round center stick.

Squeezes the stick glued with hot hide glue with a straight piece of wood and a counter caul in thin plywood on the other side of the bottom.

Since it was a floating bridge, there was no place for my inventions. I usually do not do nut intonation on guitars with floating bridges, these are best suited for blues and fine tuning the intonation feels a bit wrong and wasted. Of course it is possible to do, but this was not a real GammelGura after all. Intonated the top of the floating bridge according to the classic 12th band method and stringed up with Newtone Masterclass 0.11.

To avoid most of the metallic sound from the tailpiece in sheet metal, I taped on a thick welding tape as a silencer under the sheet metal.

Most of the work was with the binding around the bottom. The bottom was shrunk and deformed and I didn't want to force it into place and build in tension. The old celluloid binding was replaced with plastic in the same colour. One piece of the original was used to replace the piece that was missing in the celluoid binding of the top. Glued the bottom and cut out a 3 mm deep ditch for binding. The new binding was 2 mm thick (like the old one), so I glued a strip in 1,5 mm rosewood before finally cut 2 mm deep around. The result was very good. Glued the plastic binding with Duco cement which has acetone as the solvent. Care must be taken to cover the lacquer with plastic tape, the lacquer would otherwise dissolve if it gets glue smears.

When gluing back a fretboard, there is always a joint that must be sanded evenly. Almost no matter how you do it. In this case, a white stripe in the neck wood in maple that did not match so well with the greenish-yellow color of the neck. Made a successful color match with spirit stain in a mix of the colors brown, yellow and green. In fact, it was almost perfect 🙂

Added a thin layer of spirit varnish to give a little extra push to the look and to cover the new wounds at the joints around the fretboard and bottom.

Vibrated it for three days and thinks it sounds good much better than before. The new ribbing and above all the thinning of the lid and bottom is the reason. The bottom was 3,5 mm thick before and thinned a whole mm. Although it sounds good for what it is, it does not hold the same class as an GammelGura with a stable. This one is stronger in volume but lacks finesse and bass in the sound. Very brutal and aggressive sound, the reason is in my opinion not the floating stable itself but the hard anchoring of the string ball in the string holder in metal. A bit like the time I made plugs in birch on a guitar with a fixed stable. Still think the customer will be satisfied!