(SOLD) Levin No.320 Archtop Acoustic Sunburst 1957
Levin No.325 archtop, sunburst, made in Sweden 1957. Herman Carlson Levin was bon in 1864 in Sweden, training initially as a cabinet maker. In 1887, he moved to NYC USA, taking a job in a guitar factory. By 1900, he decided to move back to Sweden and start his own instrument manufacturing company, starting out with two staff and 70m2 space. The young company did well, picking up a number of Europe-wide medals and awards for their craftsmanship and enjoying increasing demand. By 1950, the company had 130 staff, a 2600m2 facility and had produced more than quarter of a million instruments. This beautiful jazzbox was made around 1957 at Levin's Gothenberg facility, It's a classy thing: solid spruce top, gorgeous flame maple back and sides, dark rich ebony board on a mahogany neck... great ingredients, all combined by hand to make something remarkable. The finish has a lot of checking and some honest play wear, and good heavens, it looks superb. There's a rich warmth to the look, with mild patina on the gold hardware, yellowed binding and a mellow glow all around. The sound is crisp and clear, with a percussive clarity through the low end, shimmering high end and a woody, dry midrange. Chords come out in vivid detail, while notes sing with sweetness and zest. The neck is a moderate rounded shape, still straight and stable after all the decades, and offers a very agreeable action all the way up the neck. This is an unusual find in this part of the world, but oh boy: it's certainly a rewarding one.
Model: Levin No.320
Made: Göteborg Sweden, 1957 approx (serial 201152)
Finish: 'cremona brown' with yellow sunburst, 'hand rubbed high gloss polish'
Body: hand carved solid German spruce top, solid flamed rock maple back and sides, 'grand auditorium' size, fully hollow construction, 425mm wide, 80mm depth, 510mm long
Neck: mahogany, ebony/maple stripe, ebony fretboard, 12" radius, 24.8" scale, 16" radius
Weight: 2.550kg
Mods: neck pickup attached to guard and subsequently removed
Pickup: none
Case: basic vintage hard case, blue velvet lining, good quality and condition
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some dimples on the end and front near the top, some scuffs on the back and top edge and checking lines all over. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, the board has a couple of very small nicks from the re-fret work, while the back has checking lines and rub wear, some lacquer peeling and some minor separation in the finish up the top near the body join along the stripe and some dents on the sides of the neck next to the body join. The back has widespread checking lines, scuffs in the middle of the body and along the back edge, dimples in the elbow area and bottom corner and some minor marks on the horns. The sides have checking lines and dimples around the whole body, as well as some surface scratches and rub wear in the elbow area. The front has some surface scratches around the top F-hole, dimples and rub wear in the elbow arrea, dimples and scuffs along the back and bottom edge, dimples around the bridge and top horn, play wear on the shoulders and widespread checking around the whole body. The guard has a section of binding cut out where a pickup has been attached and since removed. Overall: very good condition (7.5/10).
Playing condition notes: Neck is straight, intonation is good, action is low, truss rod works. No headstock repairs, and according to the previous owner, no neck resets. All electronics tested and working properly. The frets appear to have been replaced at some point a long while back, and have some normal wear, but they're fairly even with no major buzz issues, 6/10 for fret life left. Setup with fresh 12/54 Moonshiners strings.