Sound box: White Spruce Pine
Fingerboard: Jacaranda
Type of wood: Nogal
Sound hole: Round
Strings: Nylon
Tuning Pins: Metallic Material
Bridge: Bolivian Jacaranda and bone frets
General features: geometric carving

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 "reentrant 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. Reentrant tuning helps to achieve similar sounds between the downstroke and the upstroke on strummed instruments. The 5-string banjo also uses reentrant 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.