(Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Fenderguy » Thu May 28, 2015 1:50 pm

Kevin, I`m really glad to hear to that you`re enjoying the guitar :)

Allthough it didn`t play as good as it should when I had it, it did indeed sound incredible. Those pickups are quite special, strong but yet clear and articulate. Love them :)

And it`s sexy as hell! Black finish and lots of checking, what more could you want :)

You certainly got a nice collection there my friend, a family photo would be awesome :)

cheers!

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Despot » Sun Aug 28, 2016 6:25 am

Bit of a necro thread revive.

So, recently I picked up a Gretsch Harrison Duo Jet on trade - and loved it. I've always loved Duo Jets and Dynasonics and the Harrison ticked all the boxes. Then last week I took out the Levin (which has been hasn't been getting much love lately - the LP Junior is getting most of that lately). Before I plugged it in, toe to toe with the Gretsch, there was no contest. The Gretsch, though great, just doesn't have the acoustic character of the Levin.

Now ... that's to be expected with a Levin, which is more acoustic than electric (they made electrics as an afterthought from what I can gather), where they used such top quality material. Solid spruce top, solid maple back and sides ... no ply here. The Gretsh on the other hand is a ply top and solid mahogany back and sides, but made more like a chambered guitar than a hollow guitar.

The Levin sounds amazing in the neck - there's a lot of punch to it, and a very pronounced yet crystal clear bass. Where it's lacking is in the bridge ... and that's because of the neck reset. The new angle, which it's got the action down to fretboard skimming level, does mean that the bridge itself is quite high off the body and as a result quite high off the bridge pickup - the poles are extended quite a bit, but the pickup sounds distant and lacklustre compared to the neck pickup (which is just beautiful sounding).

So ... time for yours truly to come up with a plan. And that plan involves getting a piece of ebony or rosewood (though ebony would be better) and making a pickup riser to get the bridge pickup to where it needs to be to have proper output.

And then my GAS for Gretsch type guitars will be done.

No, seriously. It will. Honest.

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Mon Aug 29, 2016 3:02 am

Nowt wrong with a thread revival, especially when it's a guitar like this. I actually did a search for it the other day, after reading your Duo-Sonic For Sale ad.

I either forgot or didn't notice first time around that the Levin had it's neck reset to a different angle. Interesting! I really wanted to put a pair of GFS NYIIs (effectively Dynasonic repros) in my Telecaster but the height was always going to be an issue, especially as I wasn't planning on using a wooden-based bridge. So, do Duo-Sonics have the same neck angle as your Levin?
Last edited by PorkyPrimeCut on Mon Aug 29, 2016 3:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by shadowplay » Mon Aug 29, 2016 3:50 am

That's a lovely looking guitar, chic as Chanel, a veritable LBG and I bet it sounds great too.

D
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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Despot » Mon Aug 29, 2016 3:52 am

They're close - I'd say the Levin should have the same angle as a Duo Jet, but this one is just a bit too steep (maybe only a degree or so). The body of the Levin is also slightly thinner - and it's fully hollow rather than the chambered body of the Duo Jet.

Levin guitars have always felt really lightly built to me - not enough bracing or structural support. It's one of the reasons they sound so nice as acoustics - and it's the same with the electric. I spent a few hours yesterday playing it as an acoustic guitar and tweaking it.

I've also noticed something obvious in comparing the Duo Jet and Levin - the Levin's pickups are the wrong way round!!

The higher pickup is in the neck position, and the lower in the bridge. I'm not sure whether this is as a result of the work done, it could just as easily have come from Levin that way (through an error on the part of the maker - they didn't make so many of these after all) as the switch works Gibson-correct in terms of switching between neck/bridge.

The neck pickup is right where it needs to be (in terms of height). There's no easy way to swap the pickups around (everything would need to come out through the pickup holes), so I think my original idea is still the best - putting a riser under the bridge to get it up by about 5mm to where I think it needs to be.

I'm not too precious about this guitar that I wouldn't install the riser - I've put so much into this guitar by now that it would make no sense to sell it, besides which ... who the hell out there other than OSGers will recognise the guitar or appreciate it?

I need to get this finally sorted though - it's just too nice a guitar to not be right. I was delighted with that Duo Jet when I got it ... played the hell out of it for a few weeks. And as soon as I put it against the Levin there was just no contest - the Levin wins every time. And realistically this is as close as I'll ever get to owning an original/good condition '50s Duo Jet with a similar spec - so I can live with that.

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Mon Aug 29, 2016 4:30 am

First dibs if you ever sell it!! :whistle:

Funny about the pickup height. Surely that was done by someone else, rather than the folks at Levin.
I can image it'd definitely be a faff to correct it so yeah, a riser makes sense. These may well do the trick.
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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Despot » Mon Aug 29, 2016 4:37 am

Ah sweet! Thanks Mark.

I could just stack two of them together.

I wonder how much of a ball ache it would be to try flip them back around to how they should be. If I could do that, put a spacer under each, I'm pretty sure that it'd be back to perfect.

I'll record some clips of it as it is now, and then do some after. It would be interesting to be able to hear the difference.

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Mon Aug 29, 2016 4:44 am

Despot wrote: I wonder how much of a ball ache it would be to try flip them back around to how they should be. If I could do that, put a spacer under each, I'm pretty sure that it'd be back to perfect.
If it's any help, I've seen a few videos where folk have pushed 2ft lengths of narrow hose piping over the pots so when the wiring & pickups are pulled out the hosing stays in the holes & it's really easy to pull everything back into place, once you've switched the pickups around. What I'm unsure about is whether or not you'd need to cut & resolder a wire or two.
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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Vintage_DWARF » Mon May 13, 2019 4:36 am

Whooooo - I played THIS axa on Saturday and I loved it. But I was just on a weekend-trip with friends and no budget for GAS was confirmed....

But I had to google it and this thread. Any news on it here ?
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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Despot » Mon May 13, 2019 4:50 am

That guitar is long gone I'm afraid - I can't even recall the specific trade...

I put quite a lot of work into getting that guitar right - between the neck reset and taking the wiring loom and pickups out again to make sure that the neck pickup was back in the neck slot (and vice versa). The funny thing is that having made all that effort ... I let it go.

It's been hanging on the wall in Someneck guitars for a long time now - which is a shame because it's a great guitar with a lovely sounding pair of DeArmonds. I think it's just a little bit too odd for a lot of people - not many people have ever heard of a Levin (I hadn't until I found it here on OSG) and even those who have usually only know about acoustics. Levin electrics are a far harder to find. I think this one is the only 350 that I've found online (I too took to google around the time that I got this).

Such a shame ... that guitar deserves a nice home.

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Despot » Mon May 13, 2019 4:52 am

Also ... this was my second Levin. I think that meant that I owned about 2/3s of the known Irish Levins at the same time (I know of a Goliath owned in Dublin...).

I still have my little Goya badged Levin small body acoustic ... which also needed a neck reset, but which now plays as great as it sounds.

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Maggieo » Mon May 13, 2019 8:27 am

My god, that is wonderful. :-*
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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Vintage_DWARF » Mon May 13, 2019 10:21 am

Hey Despot,

yes - it was at Some Neck Guitars ! I went in, looked left and right, very nice guitars hangin everywhere, but I kept walkin.... Then there she was - I stopped. One of the Shops guys came and asked: "you wanna try it"?

YESSSSS !!!!

The Levin really played nice ! light strings on it (I think 10s). And the sound of these old Dearmond is sooooo nice. BUT: I have a modded Gretsch Rally with these Dearmonds (old ones) and my budget was not prepared (or the price tag was not :D... )

Hmmmmmm :) :-*

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Despot » Tue May 14, 2019 1:13 am

Vintage_DWARF wrote:
Mon May 13, 2019 10:21 am
Hey Despot,

yes - it was at Some Neck Guitars ! I went in, looked left and right, very nice guitars hangin everywhere, but I kept walkin.... Then there she was - I stopped. One of the Shops guys came and asked: "you wanna try it"?

YESSSSS !!!!

The Levin really played nice ! light strings on it (I think 10s). And the sound of these old Dearmond is sooooo nice. BUT: I have a modded Gretsch Rally with these Dearmonds (old ones) and my budget was not prepared (or the price tag was not :D... )

Hmmmmmm :) :-*
Oh ... by the way ... that wasn't a 'store guy'. That was me. :)
I usually stop in there for a chat with the owner and a coffee if I'm in the city centre on a Saturday - and that day he was short staffed so I stayed around to help out a bit while it was busy. Lady Despot was busy working on the final touches to her college work ... I needed to be out of our apartment for a few hours, so I ended up in Someneck.

I saw how you were looking at the Levin and knew that if you didn't try it you'd never see another ... so that's why I asked if you wanted to plug it in.

I always get nostalgia (and seller's remorse) when I hear other people playing old gear that I've sold ... at the moment there are quite a few guitars hanging on the wall of that store that used to be mine... but it's all going to the housing fund, so as nostalgic as I might feel I know selling off was the right thing to do. That Levin did sound really lovely through the Swart - that's the same set up that I have at home (I use a combo version of the head/speaker amp that Owen has in the store).

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Re: (Nearly) NGD - 1964 Levin 350

Post by Drill » Tue May 14, 2019 1:48 pm

One of the prettiest guitars I've ever seen... I thought I'd found in this topic some kind of "sleeper" brand, but the prices say they're already quite known :'(

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