The third in the batch that has been completed is a Levin from 1915. It is a bit unusual as it has a dark brown-red color, usually similar Levin parlors have a lighter yellow-brown color. It is possible that this is more like the original and that the red color has not yet been faded by sunlight. The story behind the guitar is that it was discovered in a newly bought old house, the seller let it be included in the purchase. It may have been protected in the dark for many years and fortunately the strings on it had not been tuned

It was in unusually good condition without cracks in the top or bottom, except for the bottom which had a small crack in the middle joint. Both the top and bottom were thick, about 4 mm in the top, and had to be thinned out considerably with the drum sander on the bottom and planers in the top. The bottom did not need to be thinned too much, parts of the burn stamp could be preserved. The neck in soft poplar wood had some minor damage from a capo. The tuners were not in the best condition and were replaced with new ones.

The original bridge was of the simpler triangular type and very tall. It and the walnut fingerboard were replaced with Madagascar rosewood, the bridge was replaced with a replica Levin pyramid bridge. The neck in soft poplar was given a carbon fiber rod and a wood screw through the neck block, the latter to strengthen the weak attachment without a dove tail. The fingerboard was given a 16´ radius and the bridge a segmented saddle. All braces were replaced in the usual order, the third brace at the bottom was made flat to make the bottom less rigid. Nut intonation, spruce bridge plate, plugs and a mounted K&K mic made GammelGura complete.

One thing I have been working on lately is to glue the neck at the right angle. I now fit the neck in two steps, once with the bridge but not the bottom glued, and a second time when the bottom is glued and before the neck is glued in place. For the first time, I make sure that the sides have about the right shape, with the bottom as the measure, with the help of a threaded rod between the neck and bottom block and two straps across the sides. With approximately the right shape on the sides, the neck block gets almost the same angle it has with the bottom glued in place. Doing the adjustment of the neck in two steps facilitates the adjustment, at least the second time, which becomes more of a fine-tuning.

The bottom gluing went well as it always does with my clamp jig. Since the bottom is always a bit shrunken, part of the edge of the bottom at the waist must be scrapped off with a sharp knife and files. With a magnifying glass and the greatest care and a little patience, you can do it without scraping off the thin varnish on the side near the joint. The wood-white surface is then stained to the same color as the bottom and side. Normally, Herdin "Carl-Johan" brown stain fits on a yellow-brown Levin parlor, this time I had to mix in a little red to match better.

The intonation went well and the saddle got a height of about 4 mm, which is ideal. The fretboard got EVO FW74 GOLD frets, the new tuniners got 12 bushings on the posts, a gutar band knob on the neck foot and my variant of StrapKeeper assembled. The last thing that was done was the side dots in 2 mm mother of pearl and the label, the last one I always forget! After three days of vibration, it opened up as they always do with longer sustain and better sound.

Since it was a snowstorm outside, I had to take the pictures of the finished guitar in the room. One Gator 3/4 case fits perfectly with Levin parlor guitars.

Here we see it in its true element, the recording studio in the old house!