CALETTA PRIVATE BUILD
We believe that a great guitar is one that ignites your passion for playing. A guitar that invites you to unite with it and sink into the music. Every aspect of the Caletta guitar was designed for comfort and intimacy.
There was a contradiction between small size and bass resonance that we had to solve. By combining a super light construction and hand-voicing each individual guitar, we were able to achieve the rich and warm sound that we envisioned.
Here at B&G, we are great traditionalists. While we know that traditional building techniques provide various advantages in tone, playability, look, and overall magic, we also know first-hand the weak points of century-old acoustic guitars. The Caletta is built using the best that the American acoustic guitar building tradition has to offer, combined with our own careful innovations.
MAHOGANY BACK AND SIDES
EXOTIC BACK AND SIDES
Intimacy
The Caletta’s unique combination of ergonomic measurements truly takes it another level. The particular body size is small enough to wrap yourself around comfortably, yet not too small as to lose proper bass response. The narrow nut and wide bridge string spacing allow for easy right-hand picking while retaining left hand relaxed positioning. And our signature soft V neck profile equally accommodates various hand and thumb positions.Warmth
We needed to strike a perfect balance between lightweight construction and structural integrity. Starting with our choice of woods, our soundboards are made of either old growth Sitka Spruce or Genuine Mahogany, which have been air dried for over twenty years. Sitka is generally stiffer than other species of spruce, allowing us to minimize the plate’s thickness without losing tonal integrity. These tops yield an immediate response, excellent dynamics and a full tonal palette with a strong fundamental and extended treble response. Our Genuine Mahogany soundboards are reserved for the all-mahogany builds (top, back, and sides), which are characterized by a warm, woody tone and a very musical, light compression. The thickness of every soundboard is determined by our targeted stiffness and is usually taken down to about 2mm, allowing us to achieve our optimal responsiveness and dynamics.Tradition
To enable us to stay true to our envisioned tone, we brace our soundboards with a relatively closed traditional X-bracing pattern, allowing for a punchy, yet full-bodied sound. This, combined with the warmth and musical tone of the 12th fret neck-to-body joint, and a perfectly tuned sound hole, results in a very balanced instrument. All our braces are made of European (Alpine) Spruce, the stiffness-to-weight ratio of which allows for an unhindered soundboard resonance. After gluing them to the soundboard, they are pre-voiced (made lighter) until we are satisfied with the braced soundboard’s stiffness and weight. The final voicing is done after the guitar is assembled and strung, fine-tuning the guitar’s tone and response to our exacting standards. For the sake of resonance, we aim to make the lightest guitars we can, using 2mm back and sides plates and Spanish Cedar neck, blocks, and linings. Our guitars are glued using exclusively hot hide glue (HHG). The use of HHG goes as far back as ancient Egypt and has long been traditionally used for musical instrument making. It chemically bonds with the wood, leaving little-to-no glue film between jointed parts, and achieves glass-like hardness. This means that sound vibrations aren’t absorbed by this adhesive, and the instrument is allowed to resonate fully.Innovation
We also aim to make our guitars as structurally stable as possible, intelligently reinforcing the upper-bout area (neck-to-body joint) but adding as little weight as possible to the guitar, thus minimizing the need for future neck-resets. We brace the upper bout with dual upper transverse braces, guarding against top deformation. The neck block is made with an extended “tongue” along the back, effectively locking the neck angle in. And the neck is set into the body using a deep tenon, the gluing surface of which is about four times that of a traditional dovetail joint.The Caletta is the fulfilment of our own dream to build a truly great acoustic guitar. The guitar that we enjoy playing the most and just can\'t put down. Now you can enjoy it too.
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