Did one of the old men who built the Levin guitars refuse to start building the new Levin LT-18 and just continued to build Levin LS-18 in secret for two more years? Did they have a lot of bodies and necks lying around and released a Levin LS-18 once in a while as a treat? They did open the new factory in Lessebo in 1965 so perhaps everything was a bit of a mess around that time because of the move? Either way I really like my 1965 Levin LS/LT-18, it has a lot of bass and bottom and reminds me in sound of my 1960 Levin LS-18 but with the feel of playing my 1968 Levin LT-18 which I love and use as my main guitar. According to Vintage Guitars Sweden the Levin LS-18 was discontinued in 1963 even though the latest known example is from 1965, 451584. So if we move away from the fact that the body is Goya stamped and the head is Levin stamped, I have a couple of those guitars at home so that seems to have happened now and then, the big mystery is the LS-18 label.
GOYA MARTIN GUITAR SERIAL NUMBERS SERIAL NUMBER
The body has an old LS-18 label inside, just like the 1960 Levin LS-18 that I got, but the body is stamped inside with a Goya serial number for 1965, 227210, while the head is stamped with a Levin serial number from 1965, 450431. It has a LT-18 neck on a what appears to be a LS-18 body and it looks like it left the factory that way. This guitar is a bit odd, but as they say, anything can happen in a guitar factory.
![goya martin guitar serial numbers goya martin guitar serial numbers](https://claescaster.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/img_7278-copy.jpg)
It’s a 1965 Levin LS/LT-18 and I wished I would have had time to take pictures, record a video and write about it earlier but I just never got around to do it. In August 2020 I turned 40-years old and bought a lovely old guitar for myself, as I sometimes do when it’s my birthday. It’s been fairly quiet here for 2-3 years and I’m terrible sorry for that, I’ve been busy trying to raise two kids and get through a pandemic.