Features "Sound box: White Spruce Pine Fingerboard: Jacaranda Type of wood: Cedar Sound hole: Round Strings: Nylon Tuning Pins: Metallic Material Bridge: Bolivian Jacaranda and bone frets Tuning: The most popular tuning for the cuatro is (ADF#B) with the B string tuned to a major second interval from the A string (instead of the more "guitar-like" perfect fourth from the F#). This feature where the strings are not tuned from low to high is known as "re-entrant tuning" and is believed to have originated as a way to prolong the life of gut strings, which were used until the early XX century. Re-entrant tuning helps to achieve similar sounds between the down stroke and the upstroke on strummed instruments. The 5-string banjo also uses re-entrant tuning
Approx. Size: Length:75 cm (29.53") Width: 24 cm (9.44").
The cuatro is smaller in size than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although the current instruments may have more than four strings. The cuatro is particularly designed for strumming: the fingerboard finishes flush with the top of the instrument, and the upper half of the sound board is completely covered by a scratch plate made from hardwood." |