B&G Guitars | 5 years ago

The story of the B&G Caletta by B&G co-founder and the guitar's designer - Yotam (Kiki) Goldstein.
Learn more about B&G acoustic guitars at https://bngguitars.com/acoustic

Full transcript:

Hey there,

This is Kiki from B&G Guitars. I wanted to share with you the story about how I built my dream guitar - The B&G Caletta.

The story begins in 1904 in Chicago when a freshly made Stella guitar left the Oscar Schmidt factory. Stella guitars were the bread and butter of the legendary bluesmen of the early 20th century. Because of their throaty tone and comfortable size, Stellas were considered the best choice for fingerstyle and slide playing.

After 108 years of journeys, the guitar ended up on my workbench. And so I got to work, restoring it with love and care. When I finally picked it up to play, I was hooked - enchanted by its intimacy and soul.

As time went by, I kept thinking how fantastic it would be to combine the sound of another legendary guitar I own - a vintage Martin dreadnaught - with the compact size of that old Stella.

It took a few years of countless tests and a few different prototypes. I wanted to find the perfect balance between the comfort and playability of bluesy fingerstyle guitars and the warmth and richness of folky strumming guitars. For me, this dream was worth pursuing

I knew I had to start by:

• Finding the optimal body size through many hours of research, trial, and error
• I also had to determine the right shape and depth
• Experiment to find the most accurate pattern, size, and weight for the braces.
• And figure out the perfect thickness for the top - it had to be thin enough to resonate with a lot of bass, and still remain strong enough to withstand the tension of the strings.

• I also came up with an innovative neck joint technique for enhanced stability and durability.

...And that was just the beginning.

At the end, I finally had a guitar I was proud of. Old and new at the same time, it had its own voice and character and yet, it felt familiar like an old friend. I knew I had to bring it to B&G and share it with the world. And thus, the Caletta was born...

We use only premium tonewoods like the 20-year-old air-dried Spruce we use for the soundboards. We voice each X brace top individually and use only traditional hide glue for maximum sustain and a rich and balanced tone. Each Caletta is made according to traditional American lutherie techniques,

As a luthier, I get the rare opportunity to make my dreams as a guitar player come true.

I can imagine the Caletta finding its place among the classics of the acoustic guitar world and I hope it will inspire players for decades to come.