charango

The charango is a type of guitar originating in South America in the 1700s that uses an armadillo shell as a soundbox. In the Andes Mountains, where the charango developed, trees were sparse making wood a rare commodity.

a small guitar : a small guitar of Spanish America with a body typically made of an animal shell.

A charango is what you'd get if you took a classic guitar, scaled it down to about the size of a ukulele, and made it out of an armadillo shell. It's also one of the most celebrated instruments in Andean culture, with a long history and an ongoing presence in South American folk music.

The long neck and bowl are commonly carved from a single piece of wood, often cedar or spruce. The basic charango has ten strings arranged in five pairs, or courses, both nylon and metal-wound. Some courses are tuned in unison, others in octaves. It does take a bit practice to tune a charango!

The charango is a strummed and plucked bowl-lute chordophone of the Andean regions of Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina.

It was invented by the Aymara and Quecha peoples living there, traditionally made of shells from armadillos called “quirquincho” and wood from the few trees in the area. Currently, quirquincho are listed as an endangered species, so modern charango resonators are made of wood in the shape of an armadillo shell.

The ramifications of the charango tuning are that there is a very narrow tonal range in most chords, often with many pitch duplications, which produces a surprisingly powerful sound from the small instrument. Seventh and ninth chords shimmer more than on a guitar due to the close harmonies.

Original charangos featured a resonator (the back of the instrument, which reflects sounds made by the strings) made of an armadillo shell, while the instruments of today have a wooden resonator that may be either flat or arched.

Charangos originated in the northern Andes mountains, specifically thought to be the Bolivian city of Potosi, during the early 18th century. It was invented by the Aymara and Quecha peoples living there, traditionally made of shells from armadillos called “quirquincho” and wood from the few trees in the area.

Parts of the charango

• Head.
• Tuning pegs.
• Bone fret.
• Sound box.
• Face.
• Bridge.
• Strings.
• Freats.