twayneking Says:
Sunday, July 20, 2014 @9:03:40 AM

I wanted a Goya Classical all my life. I haunted eBay for years till I found a broken one for $29 plus shipping. Someone had put steel strings on it and pulled the bridge off. I repaired the bridge, replaced the nut and she works beautifully. It was made during the last year Goya's were made in Sweden before Martin bought them and moved the manufacturing to Korea. I think the Swedish ones play better, but it may be my imagination.

Jim Yates Says:
Sunday, July 20, 2014 @11:06:00 AM

You are definitely right about that. The Levin made Goyas are professional quality guitars, while the Martin Goyas are student models. My Goya M26 was made in Sweden in 1958. The first guitar I owned, was a Goya M26 just like the one in the picture. I bought it in 1960 for $75 used. I was always sorry that I sold it, and when I found this one about 10 years ago, I snapped it up. It was more than $75, but still a good deal.
The Goya classicals were used by many of the folk singers who were playing during the great folk scare of the '50s and '60s. Ed McCurdy, Theo Bickel and Oscar Brand all used Goya classicals, as did Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music.

twayneking Says:
Sunday, July 20, 2014 @5:46:55 PM

I didn't realize Julie played a Goya in SOM. Learn something all the time. Love my little Goya. I haven't had a guitar with a sweet sound since someone broke my little Mexican guitar I bought off a friend for $6. Incredibly lovely sound - made by some Mexican luthier and sold in a border shop. I loved that guitar. The guy that broke it gave me a Yamaha classical. Just didn't have the same sound, though.

Jim Yates Says:
Sunday, July 20, 2014 @6:49:21 PM

Some googling found me a contribution from Magnus Hultin on December 31, 2010 at 6:39pm

For the record, the guitar used in the movie is a Goya F-19, which was in the series of "Folk Guitars" developed for the North American market. If studied carefully it can be seen that the guitar in the movie has a pin-bridge.

These Guitars were designed for steelstrings but were often used with strings of brand Bella, which I think is a kind of hybrid-string.

Goran Levin told me about this guitar, which was specially prepared for the movie-set, by making it in matte finish, to avoid reflections from the lights used by the camera-men. What they did forget (the movie people) was to remove the logotype, obviousley nothing that Levin or Herschman Music prioritised.

The F-19 was the "grand concert size", same as G-17, G-20, G-30 and G-40, but had the same neck as the F-25 and F-27. A 12 fret neck slightly narrower than a classical and with an aluminum T-shaped trussrod.

twayneking Says:
Monday, July 21, 2014 @9:20:30 AM

Someone must have confused mine with the steel string variety. When I got it the bridge was ripped off the body and there was a bit of steel wire wrapped round one of the tuning pegs. Willie Nelson fan was my suspicion as there are a couple of dinks where a pick guard should be.

Impressive knowledge of the Goyas you've got there though. I looked mine's number up when I got it and found it was made the last year they came out of Sweden. Thanks for the backstory on the SOM guitar.