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Private Build

Mahogany Back & Sides / Spruce Top

US $4499

Price includes a premium case and worldwide shipping

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GALLERY

THE CALETTA, MAHOGANY Back & Sides / SPRUCE Top

The Sitka spruce top and Honduran mahogany back and sides is one of the most classic wood combinations in the tradition of the acoustic guitars. Because of its inner tonal balance and the perfect structuring of harmonics above the fundamental notes, it makes for a versatile instrument, suitable for a wide range of styles and genres.

In the Caletta, the basses are well focused and controlled, the midrange is expressive and the trebles are rounded and smooth. The voice is warm, yet clear, without a trace of boominess. The spruce top delivers a gentle natural compression, that softens the attack, offering a well-balanced tone to both fingerpickers and strummers.

Single note accents and fast solo runs are equally clear and detailed, as are strummed chords and flatpicking alternate basses.

Finish

Natural

Tobacco Burst

Honey Burst

VINTAGE AMBER

HIGHLIGHTS

Sitka Spruce

The most classic soundboard wood is Sitka Spruce, and for good reason. The pronounced dynamic range ensures a fast, responsive instrument. The bass provides the necessary power to deliver strong fundamentals, and the treble comes through lucid and pure. The tops we use have been air-dried for 20+ years.

Caletta Size

The Caletta unique body design strikes a perfect balance between sweetness and power. The 14 5/8” lower bout allows the fundamental notes to develop full-bodied and punchy, while the narrow waist and the smaller shoulders emphasize the crispness of the upper range and the development of harmonics.

Hand Voicing

The soundboard is pre-voiced before the final assembly of the guitar. Then, once strung and tested, the inner side and the bracing are further fine-tuned to create perfect, desired tonal balance, underpinning the individual sound character of the guitar. Each guitar, every guitar, one at the time.

Traditional X Brace

Fully respecting the Caletta's vintage heritage, the soundboard is braced in an X-pattern, fine-tuned and customized in the dimensions, weights and scalloping pattern of each brace.

Nitrocellulose Finish

The vintage recipe for achieving the best looking, thinnest and most resonant finish, is still the best technique. Nothing compares to an adequately sprayed and buffed, traditional nitrocellulose lacquer, the only finish that ages together with the wood, merges into its molecules, and allows them to vibrate freely. We finish the Caletta in the same manner as the classics of the 50s -- with a very thin nitrocellulose layer that merges into the wood grain.

Alpine Spruce Braces

An excellent wood for braces, it combines light weight and stiffness, to achieve remarkable volume and projection, with excellent headroom and minimal compression.

Hot Hide Glue

We mix and use our own hot hide glue recipe, to achieve the strongest chemical bond with the minimal thickness of the glue layer itself. Hot hide glue is not easy to work with, or economically convenient, but it guarantees that the different woods will virtually integrate into each other, contributing to the resonant qualities of the finished guitar.

Deep Tenon, Void-Free Neck Joint

Another of the original design features of the Caletta, our proprietary neck joint ensures optimal stability of the neck onto the body, thanks to a gluing surface that is about quadruple that of the surface in a traditional dovetail joint.

Locked Neck Angle

The substantial, yet lightweight block with its back ‘tongue’ further reinforces the neck joint, and locks the neck angle into a stable, long-lasting position.

Upper Bout Braces

Two upper transverse braces support the last portion of the fretboard over the top, and guard against any possible top deformation in the delicate upper bout area.

Light Build

The goal to build the lightest guitar possible, without compromising on the integral strength of the design, is achieved with a set of solid back and side sheets, only 2mm in thickness. The neck and kerfing are carved from Spanish Cedar to further reduce weight.

Ultrathin Pickguard

We selected an ultrathin pickguard, durable enough to protect the top finish, but also light and inconspicuous enough not to hinder the top’s movements.

Premium Casing

A virtually indestructible, custom-built Ameritage case will protect the Caletta against (almost) all odds.

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