I have many finished GammelGura that I have not written about on this blog, some of them I will try to give some time but hardly all. To start somewhere, I dig where I stand with the two most recently finished. Both medium-sized Levin model 14 "Princess". These are not the first ones to become GammelGura and probably not the last. They usually turn out excellent.

A poorly kept secret with these is that many have real BRW in the fretboard! So also with these two. Very beautiful and fragrant wood. BRW is mostly darker and browner than the rosewood you can get these days. I found two extra dark blanks for the new bridges that I made for both to match the fretboards.

There is a 10-year difference between the guitars. The 1939 one has a typical sunburst finish and a simple, straight headstock. The back and sides are maple and the neck is soft poplar. The tuners, which were replaced, were 3-on-a-plate.

The 1949 one was natural colored and had a larger, curved headstock, mahogany back and sides, and a maple neck. The tuners were separate (and wobbly), and they were also replaced with Stewmac's Golden Age replicas. Both have the same simple "Levin" decal on the headstock and a "1 year warranty" label in the bottom. The 1949 one also had a fancy rosette and white binding around the bottom, not just around the top. The fretboard and headstock also had white binding all around. The foot of the neck was significantly weaker and thinner in the middle in an attempt to mimic a classical guitar.

I like the simplicity of the 1939 one, but all the extra *bling*, including the red stain on the mahogany, on the 1949 one ties together and I think it looks good too.

I took some pictures while I was working on both in parallel. The one from 1949 had more modern glue and was difficult to take apart. A mistake happened when I was trying to loosen the neck, the neck foot broke off at the weakest point in the middle. It's not the first time this has happened with a weak neck foot and modern glue... But it's okay to glue the pieces together and reinforce the entire neck foot with an 8 mm round birch dowel when this happens. From previous experience with mahogany, which is loose, almost like crisp bread, I sawed off the bottom just below the bottom binding. That way you get two puzzle pieces that can be glued together relatively easily, while the bottom binding remains in place without the brittle varnish chipping up when you loosen the binding.

The fretboard had shrunk a bit in width and the binding was worn, so a slightly thicker new binding was added all around.

The one from 1939 had been opened up earlier and the kerfing was in poor condition. I glued new kerfing all around with my jig where I first clamp the body so that the shape is maintained before scrapping the old kerfing and gluing the new one in.

The bridge had also been re-glued and the top was damaged underneath it. I inserted new spruce with the grain facing the right way under almost the entire bridge. The new bridge was made a few mm wider and the back of the bridge could be glued on top of the top spruce, which reduces the risk of the glued-in piece coming loose from the string pull. Both the shim and the bridge were glued with fresh hot hide glue.

The bottom got new bracing, so did the top, I was able to thin down the bottom on the one from 1939 as well. Both tops were thinned down about 0,5 mm to about 3 mm. The bottom gluing on the 1949 went without a problem in my jig. Both got a K&K mic installed.

The neck set was successful on both, with the saddles about 4 mm high above the bridge.

Both were measured for nut intonation. The 1939 model only needed minor adjustments to the nut, while the 1949 model needed more, especially on the D string. Both fretboards had a 16″ relief sanded into the fretboard. The plastic inlays on the 1949 model were replaced with real mother of pearl dots.

With both the frets on the original fretboard and the bridge locked in place, I didn't get a chance to match the position of the frets on the fretboard to the open string length as I usually do when I cut the frets on a new fretboard. On the 1939 one, I had to re-glue and move the fretboard forward a second time when the intonation on the bridge saddle turned out to be too close to the front edge of the bridge. But that worked out fine, just a bit of wasted work as I had to re-fret and crown the frets once more.

Both were strung with low tension Newtone Heritage 0.12, which can be replaced with any standard 0.11 string with the same tension. Both sound very good. I find the 1939 one to be a bit “drier” in tone with higher perceived volume, and the 1949 one a bit more “wide” with less midrange. I can’t decide which sounds best 🙂