Jeanfranco Biava Gadotti started making guitars in 1997 working for Marcio Benedetti in Sao Paulo - Brazil. Benedetti is one of the most respected South American Luthiers and inspired Gadotti to make a career out of guitar building. In 1999 Gadotti moved to the USA to work with Mark Eshenbaugh of Eshenbaugh basses. In the fall of 2002 Gadotti moved to Florida where he established Gadotti Guitars.

Gadotti is best known for the King-Steel and the King-Nylon electro-acoustic guitars introduced around 2003.  The King-Steel & King-Nylon were acoustic electric guitars, with a solid chambered body (weighing less than 6 pounds) and straight through sound hole. Suggested retail price was $3699 in 2008. There was also a 10-String King was tuned with the first six strings in conventional tuning with the remaining four using Yepes Tuning (C, Bb, A and Gb ). To reduce weight to less than six pounds the body was chambered and the neck specially shaped. The 10-String King had Sperzel tuners and a custom L.R. Baggs Element Active pickup system with two transducers covering five strings each.

Source: Gadotti Guitars website (archived 2010)