The Tarregas are all built by Bjärton, as far as I know. The only sure sign is the label saying eather 'Made in Sweden' or 'Made in Finland'. Thats why its hard to distinguish Espanas made by Bjärton and Landola. Anyway, the guitars 'Made in Finland' are Landolas who got the blueprints and specifications from Bjärton. But its not that easy, it also seems that Bjärton laid some work to Landola from times to times when they couldnt keep up with the orders. My investigation shows that Bjärton built the Espanas between 1961-66 and the finish company Landola continued from 1967. The high grade guitars stod up agains Levin and the export guitars was mainly high grade guitars.Ībout who built the Espanas. That concerns the medium class of instruments anyway. The reason is that Bjärton couldnt compete with Levins reputation so they compteted with lower prices and praiseworthy instruments. They did built alot of guitars with laminated back and sides. The model is based on (or even the same guitar) as Bjärton model Espana (not to be cunfused with the brand Espana). Mike you're right about the Espana SL-4 being all solid. These all brands acoustics (Tarrega, Espana, Hagström) was built mainly by Bjärton who was the head supplier of acoustic guitars to Hagström. On the matters of Goya and Levin, I couldnt tell, you're the expert. Much has been said in this thread and a agree with Magnus about that Levin has never been involved in building Espana, Tarrega or Hagström and all the things you wrote about Espana, tarrega, Bjärton and so on. Just kidding! Im Robbi and I run the site mentioned earlier in this thread.įirst of all, im impressed about the knowledge and enthusiasm to dig into these matters of Levin and Bjärton.

Piece of junk while new (huge ladder braces), junk when I got it (birch body, repaired here and there with pine, pine, and Bondo, all hidden by black brush-on paint), junk when I sold it (I did get the black paint off and stained it - although the stain didn't stick to the Bondo - but you could still see through it). My first birth-year guitar was this 1944 Levin 'mandolin-guitar'. More recently I bought this one on eBay awhile back, sold it a little later - the neck was just too fat for me.

Did own a lovely Hagstrom for awhile but traded it in on a Harmony Sovereign Jumbo Dreadnought (so I guess I was committing early to steel). Back in them days, all we wanted was Goyas or else Martins, but in gut it was Goya or nuthin'.

Espana guitar serial numbers