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Thread: Help please

  1. #1

    Default Help please

    I know absolutely nothing about mandolins and my son has asked me to sell a Levin as he has now settled abroad. It is not in a case or anything. I have tried and tried to read more details on the gold certificate behind the strings but am struggling - have put camera behind and everything.

    Do have pics - am based near Cambridge but moving so want to resolve this fast. Anyone help please?!

    Thanks
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  2. #2
    Confused... or?
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    Default Re: Help please

    While I have no personal knowledge of Levins, they have been discussed here on occasion, and sometimes as fairly nice instruments, but maybe not always. A quick Google search brought up this past Cafe discusssion, and there are others ...
    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...evin-mandolins

    Given the fit & finish, particularly the flat top (rather than canted or carved arch-top), matte finish, and possibly painted-on binding around the soundhole and/or laminated top (just my impression), I'm guessing that it's a lower-level member of the family. There's a small crack from the fingerboard into the soundhole that makes me think the binding is painted on. (Hey, my '63 Kay guitar has the same!)

    Edit: But that crack may also indicate that the top is NOT laminated (meaning, not plywood), and that's a good thing.

    For comparison, the link shows a nice-ish looking blonde two-point that's also a flat-top, making it still a fairly basic instrument by most folks' standards.

    With any luck, the truly knowledgable folks will jump in here to correct me!
    Last edited by EdHanrahan; Sep-29-2018 at 11:24am.
    - Ed

    "Then one day we weren't as young as before
    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
    But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
    - Ian Tyson

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Help please

    Levin guitars were quite popular in the UK during the 1960s & 70s but I don't recall seeing many of their mandolins; if any.

    I think you'll find that the one you have dates from this period and the label will be in Swedish. As Ed says, it looks to be one of their lower end models. As with their guitars, modern instruments have improved upon them and I doubt whether it will be particularly valuable.

  4. #4
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Help please

    What you have looks like this Model 54. from the '50's, with a different finish. Three years ago the seller was asking $225, which seems optimistic to me, especially if you read the description.

    I don't believe that Levin, the respected Swedish instrument firm, made plywood instruments, so yours may well be solid woods. Even so, you have an entry-level mandolin, and I'd feel OK with getting $100 for it, especially if there's no case.

    If you want to hear a Model 54 played, here's a YouTube cut:

    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  5. #5
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Help please

    Here is every thread on the Cafe with the word Levin in it.

    Here is basically your same model in a thread from 2017 that says the owner paid 90 Euro including shipping. That would be about $105.00 US.

    This thread has some links to some sold and historical Levin sites.

    Going through the rest of the threads gives you a little more information. This is pretty similar to a model made by Harmony in the US. It was an entry level mandolin. It sells regularly in the same range as the Levin model like yours that sold in 2017. It's not going to pay for a semester of college but you might get a good meal at a decent restaurant out of the sale.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  6. #6

    Default Re: Help please

    This is a good resource for looking up Levin/Lewin/Goya models and specs: http://www.vintage-guitars.se/Levin/Levin_info.htm There is a page for mandolin models that may have yours.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Help please

    Whoa! Sorry to jump off-topic for a moment, but Seter's link above lead me to ...
    http://www.vintage-guitars.se/Levin/Levin_CF_Martin.htm

    As somebody who digested the earlier Martin historical tomes but only scanned the later 2-volume set (o/t to find details), I've never seen the Levin name pop up there! Who wouldda thunk it?
    - Ed

    "Then one day we weren't as young as before
    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
    But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
    - Ian Tyson

  8. #8

    Default Re: Help please

    I've been keen on trying to acquire one of the higher end Goya classicals (GG17 and up generally speaking) at a good price, no luck yet but the hunt is part of the fun.

  9. #9
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Help please

    The Levin Martin connection is pretty well known and I think a bit over played but it is there. Where Martin seemed to try to shy away from the entry level instruments (until they started importing them), Levin seemed to embrace that end of the spectrum.

    Thinking about this, the Levin Martin connection is more a part of the Levin history than the Martin history. It obviously would have influenced Levin. I doubt it caused much to change at Martin.
    Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Sep-29-2018 at 10:51pm.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  10. #10
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Help please

    Quote Originally Posted by jan1 View Post
    I know absolutely nothing about mandolins and my son has asked me to sell a Levin as he has now settled abroad. It is not in a case or anything. I have tried and tried to read more details on the gold certificate behind the strings but am struggling - have put camera behind and everything.

    Do have pics - am based near Cambridge but moving so want to resolve this fast. Anyone help please?!

    Thanks
    I am assuming you are talking about being based near Cambridge, Massachusetts? Not that it really matters. Others have commented that this is a lower end Levin. The only thing I can add is that these mandolins were not really sold much in the US. If your son lives anywhere in Europe he might have a better sale of it. You only said abroad so that may be anywhere.

    One possible and sensible place to sell it would be to list it on the Mandolin Cafe classifieds. Assuming it doesn't need much work it could be a good starter mandolin for some players.
    Jim

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  11. #11

    Default Re: Help please

    The label is indeed in Swedish. It translates to approximately: "1 year warranty. Should any materiel or manufacturing error become apparent within one year, we will repair this at no charge if the instrument is sent to our factory. Herman Carlson Levin LTD, Gothenburg."

    I believe I can say with some certainty that the 1 year in question is up.

    Thanks,

    Magnus

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  13. #12

    Default Re: Help please

    Thank you enormously ! It all helps me learn

  14. #13

    Default Re: Help please

    I meant Cambridge England - stupid of me not to say ! Thanks for feedback
    Jan

    - - - Updated - - -

    Lol - yep am guessing the year is up too !!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Thanks so much - will have a look

  15. #14
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    Default Re: Help please

    If you're heading wouth into London at any time soon, take it into Hobgoblin on Rathbone Place (just off Oxford Street) and get them to take a look at it. I'd agree that the best place to sell it would be here, on the Cafe, but the majority of sales are between people in the US and you really don't want to get into trans-atlantic shipping and all the necessary paperwork. I think Hobgoblin will sell it for a commission if they won't take it off your hands.

    You could take it to the music shop in Cambridge (I assume it's still there?) but local music shops tend to know very little about mandolins if indeed anything at all! Hobgoblin is a national chain/franchise who specialise in "minority" instruments, like the mandolin, rather than guitars, electric guitars, drums, electronic whizbangs and over novelties.

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