Goya and Levin Guitar Owners

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Comment by Steve Frank 18 hours ago

Thanks for the great info Ted! It may have been, but looking at the year, it was also a time when Martin wasn't keeping their own quality up, so the company may have just been in a bad way, which is really odd considering the number of acoustic guitars being sold at the time. I have a 1940 Martin and 3 newer ones, and one of the newer ones is incredible, one terrific and the 3rd.....nothing special. With guitars being wood, glue and steel or nylon for the most part, each one is always different, and I always tell people to play a guitar and have someone else play it so you get the projection. Although I did it on a couple of cheaper collectible guitars intended to be "wall hangers" from my birth year and teens, I could never understand buying a guitar without hearing it and playing it. (Of course custom jobs, you do just that, but in that case, it's best to have a luthier you can talk to who is a wood tapper and you can surmise the sound, although those guys are out of my league for now, and my playing doesn't merit a custom job anyway...lol) But if you have a factory guitar, and quality control keeps the guitars consistent, you have a much better chance with buying "on the blind". I did have a small nylon string made by Levin that had an amazing tone....it did need a neck reset, and had a neck like the fat end of a louisville slugger. Rather than pay for the reset, I sold it, but looking back, had I had the money, I would have kept it. I forget the name, but it was signed inside for some outfit in California, and I could never find anything more about it....was it a Klangora or something. I still have photos and will post some tomorrow. Maybe you can help me with some info on what I lost....and I definitely plan to find another....were their steel strings as highly rated?? Used to go to Manny's by the way....Manny Pensa...first time I went there was with a friend who owned a Koontz and 1957 Telecaster, and he had John Suhr redo the fretboard on the tele when he was working there....great work!! Mannys is still there, isn't it?? I know most were swallowed up by Sam Ash, but one is still there....a kid I met, and a heck of a blues player, Brad, moved to the city to play and was working there I think. Rambling a little....time to hit the hay, and thanks again!! Steve

Comment by Ted Hechtman 23 hours ago

I have 6 Goyas. Three from Sweden and two from the Martin era. The latest - the G312 - is a sweet piece of work. 

Comment by Ted Hechtman 23 hours ago

Hi Steve. No if there was I probably would have found it. The model is knowable but the logo is a mystery. Martin bought Levin and then shipped the wood to Nazareth. There are a few made in Sweden Martins around but not many. There are numerous explanations regarding the reason for the purchase and then destruction of Levin by Martin (there is no real other way to describe it). Some say they wanted to do away with the brand because the "Goya" brand in the US was beginning to draw customers away from Martin in numbers that they noticed. Certainly my first guitar was a Goya N-21 instead of a Martin and that was a choice based on sound and not price. It was $110 in 1965. That inflates to $790 bucks in 2012 dollars. I don't remember what I paid at Manny's in New York on 48th street. No longer with us but that was where you went. But if you figure that at best it 95 or so.that takes you to 680. A Martin D-28 in the same year was about $100 I think. That would inflate out to 690 and figure 650 over the counter. So I suppose they felt they were and would lose business.

Comment by Ted Hechtman 23 hours ago

Hi Jim. It's the same model but the logo is different. Martin kept the original logo for quite some time and then it developed into some ugly lettering for reasons I can't really comprehend. This typeface is one I have never seen.

Comment by Steve Frank yesterday

Very nice....is there a good way to find the year on this? I'm not the most informed Goya guy here, but have owned a couple of them.....they were both Classicals, and both made in Sweden...excellent guitars, and then I heard when Martin took over, they messed the company up somehow, which being a Martin owner also I found difficult to believe, but I assume these were Martin owned and not produced in Nazareth.....I would think anything coming out of Nazareth, PA has to be top quality!! I would love to hear more on this from those with knowledge of when exactly they did start to lose quality, and when Martin owned the company, did they start making them somewhere other than Nazareth, PA. Thank you, and congratulations on a beautiful guitar....Happy Birthday!!!

Comment by Jim Yates yesterday

I don't know how much good this'll do you Ted, but just in case: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/f-martin-goya-312-acoustic-si... 

Comment by Ted Hechtman yesterday

Comment by Ted Hechtman yesterday

Comment by Ted Hechtman yesterday

Hi. I have a few questions that I can't answer and I need some HELP. Okay. I know the guitar picture below is not a Levin Goya Goya. It is not a Levin Dude Goya. But...I have no idea when it was made because of the strange logo. Can anyone help me with this??? Thanks

Comment by Ted Hechtman on Thursday

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