Nicolai Foss
The Levin Guitar Company was Swedish and founded by HC Levin in the beginning of the 20th century (some say 1900). HC Levin had served as an apprentice with Martin in the US, and, ironically, Levin was acquired by Martin in the beginning of the 1970s.
Levin produced a series of very pretty archtops that are seldom offered for sale. Stockholm-based Vintage Guitars features what is arguably the largest number of Levin archtops currently offered for sale anywhere in the World. The 18½ inch Levin De Luxe is particularly impressive and may have been intended as the Levin counterpart to the Gibson 400 or the Epi Emperor (I have seen it advertised elsewhere as “Levin De Luxe 400″). The 30,000 Swedish Kroner price tag seems very reasonable for this fine instrument.
