Levin W32 Dreadnought (Martin Era)

The Levin company has been out of business for a while

but their instruments still have a lot of admirers and collectors.

Their high-end steelstrings are really worth trying.

This one has been made around 1975 after the Martin Take-over.

I really like the sound of this instrument being very direct and

still somewhat dry due to the use of mahogany I think. I
recently placed a brass string saver plate under the bridge
as the ball ends of the strings tend to ruin the wooden
bridge plate. Now the brilliance is there as well and the
guitar almost sounds like a rosewood bodied one!

Ebony fingerboard.

The back view of this guitar shows the use of

mahogany for the neck and soundbox as well.

The Schaller tuners were a later addition.

In order to have a proper compensation I've changed the

bridge: Levin had their own system in which every string

has its' own saddle that consist of a plastic screw with

a mini saddle on top but still not properly compensated.

As the overtones of other strings have their role in

the sound of each string I figured this to be a better

solution soundwise. It tunes perfectly now!