( not your typical fingerstyle, light-right-hand- attack action were 4.5/64 to 6/64 action is the commonly preferred action height) The action is 5/64 treble to 7/64 bass and little room left to lower at the saddle…so playable but ideal for a player with big hands and hard attack as this action is “medium” action as preferred by Bluegrass players with a hard attack. The top is German Spruce with some bear-claw Back and sides are lightly figured curly German maple with a rosewood bridge and fretboard fitted to an African mahogany neck. No repairs or structural damage anywhere on the guitar and tuners are original. There are several spots where the finish has worn and flaked off the back of the neck.
The finish is well worn but well cared for the nitrocellulose lacquer finish that is thoroughly lacquer-checked over every square inch of the guitar and there are dozens of minor dings and scratches. All original except for the Lace Soundhole pickup which can be easily removed.
This guitar would be the ideal “cottage guitar” for a player with large hands looking for a full bass, fingerstyle guitar. They had some unusual features that kept them from becoming main-stream in the USA the most obvious being the extra wide neck, 12 fret neck joint and top-and-bottom flamenco style white plastic pickguards. Highly skilled craftsman were plentiful in post war Europe and the quality of the instruments out of the Swedish Goya factory was certainly world-class. It played in Massey Hall, The Pantages Theatre in Winnipeg and even the Music Hall in the Hague in the Netherlands…and to quote my cousin: more dumps and dives than most can imagine ! And the huge 2″ wide neck of the Goya was ideal for my cousin’s enormous mitts as he was McMaster University quarterback… when he wasn’t playing coffee house gigs or protesting injustice.Īs the years went by, other guitars and banjos came along and the Goya went into storage.īut in its prime it had a very interesting life among other things it played at the NDP rally where Tommy Douglas won the leadership of the party.