Levin Model 4 Orchestra

[entresz]

This appeared online for a price I couldn't resist.

It's a 1955 Levin Model 4 Orchestra.

Large 17 1/2 inch wide body, solid walnut back/sides, carved spruce top with single diagonal brace.
It will need a neck reset as the bridge has bottomed out but it still plays pretty well. The neck is pretty chunky, maybe a fraction thicker than my Epiphone Emperor F.

The previous owner glued the bridge down, thankfully the intonation is good - why on earth do people do that? It's not that hard to set the intonation...

The original celluloid pickguard was included separately in a plastic bag but is rotted out. New pickguard is on the way.

I've restrung it with some GHS Vintage Bronze strings and am really enjoying the sound. It is loud! In fact it's almost as loud as my Gitane Macafferri guitar, at least for chords. The Gitane gets the edge for single notes, but this Levin is much sweeter sounding.

I can't wait to use this with the big band I play in. I am tempted to put a DeArmond on it, but for now I am keen to keep it as a purely acoustic guitar.

The cherry sunburst is really striking too. It even came with some old books the previous owner included - one of them has handwritten chord charts for old trad jazz tunes. I can totally imagine this guitar sounding great in a trad band.

[nyc chaz]

Enjoy my friend,those old Levin's can be real gems.

[Cunamara]

That looks wonderful! Congratulations and enjoy!

[Cavalier]

That is nice, like the color! Those diagonal braces are loud, My Bjarton Metro is laminated and still cuts.

[Gitterbug]

Bjärtons are rare ja collectible! They've kinda haunted me since high school, as a classmate had one, ca 1963. He died young and everybody was wondering what happened to the coveted guitar. Bjarton (later without the scandi umlaut) started with double basses, expanded to acoustic guitars and in 1953 attracted the attention of Hagstrom, their sole exporter since. So the Metro model was also marketed under the Hagstrom brand.

Levins are great - and loud. The company used fine spruce from the southern Carpathian mountains in Romania (during wartime whatever they got for the bodies) and carved the archtops quite thin, at least in the late 1940s. The fretboards are almost flat. Truss rods began to appear in the early 1950s. Many Scandinavian top guitarists used Levins or German archtops, because Gibsons were so expensive and hard to come by.

Levin's serial numbers are consistent and reveal the manufacturing date. Vintage Guitars, SWEDEN - Instruments for sale.

[Cavalier]

Mine is a 63. I have several nylon strings made to be sold by Fender under the Tarrega banner. I love the sound, wide body folk shape.

[entresz]

Levins are great - and loud. The company used fine spruce from the southern Carpathian mountains in Romania (during wartime whatever they got for the bodies) and carved the archtops quite thin, at least in the late 1940s. The fretboards are almost flat. Truss rods began to appear in the early 1950s. Many Scandinavian top guitarists used Levins or German archtops, because Gibsons were so expensive and hard to come by.

Levin's serial numbers are consistent and reveal the manufacturing date. Vintage Guitars, SWEDEN - Instruments for sale.

I'm impressed by the quality of the woods on this guitar. The walnut back/sides are striking. The Brazilian rosewood fingerboard is a thing of beauty too.
My luthier has a 3 week waitlist but I'm eager to get the neck reset done.
With the correct restored neck angle, I'm sure the guitar will sound even better. It sure is a loud instrument, it really fills the room.
I can't stop playing it... I have other carved top guitars, this one is the best sounding one I have by a long way.

[entresz]

Well this Levin has had the needed surgery to fix the neck angle, and has also had a refret with stainless steel frets. The old frets still had plenty of life but it was necessary to level the fingerboard to have a straight neck (no adjustable truss rod). It was an opportunity to put a 12'' radius in the fingerboard too. It now super playable. It sounds splendid, loud and balanced. A really fine acoustic archtop.

The DeArmond 1000 reissue is a pleasant surprise too - it sounds really good - and I prefer it to the 1100 reissue I have on another guitar. It's a lot more microphonic, in someways less forgiving, but I prefer the tone compared to the more subdued sound of the 1100.

I'm trying the Galli bronze flatwounds too - they are nice strings and balance will with the pickup. The acoustic voice of the guitar is nice although I still think roundwounds are better for optimal acoustic tone at the expense of some playability.

[GuyBoden]

Yes, the good Levin guitars I've heard have a great sound.

[Gitterbug]

A new life for a guitar worth it - thanks!