Braguesa from Portugal open G tuning

[ballynally]

viola braguesa tunings

I was looking for a 12 or 10 string instrument to tune in open G for all
that Ry Cooder type of stuff, when my eye caught the little Braguesa, made in Braga (hence the name), a city in the north of Portugal, about 30km from Porto.
I thought a smallish double string guitar would do nicely with probably a better punch than the full scale 12 string guitars. In caribbean music one can pick up a tres or a quatro and what not and play that kind of stuff. This Braguesa fits the bill, is made out of solid woods walnut b&s, lime top, mahogany neck. 5 double strings, making 10 in total, 200 euro.
I did realise that most of indigenous music has its own tuning, but i was sure to be able to get the right strings for open G transfer. That turned out harder than it seemed. First of all the scale. It sits between a guitar 65cm/25 1/2" and a mandolin 35cm 14", with 50cm/19 3/4". The strings that come with the Braguesa have the gauge and tension suitable for their regular tuning (from low to high: C G A D G). As i was looking for G D G B D, it looked like, well... a stretch.
I went to Portugal (braga) and ended up buying the instrument (info a little later here). I did a lot of calculations, swapped some strings and bought a few others. I tuned it like i would to get open G, and i just experimented until the tension on the strings felt right. It ended up in open C, a 4th higher than the open G i was looking for. It was now C G C E G. The neck being short (only 10 frets), a capo job for open G (on the 7th) was out of the question. Only D would be possible.
I had my mind set on open G though.
I did some more research and discovered the viola Brasileira which can use the so called Rio Abaixo tuning : A D F# A D. Looked transferable ( A to G, F# to G, high A to B). That turned out not a good option. The viola Brasileira is 8cm longer, the low strings were too thick (036 for low G) and the tension wrong.
Now i not only had a set of La Bella viola Braguesa but also Daddario viola brasileira strings. I lost track of all the gauges at some point but i finally managed to get G (09/020) D (011/18) G (013s) B (010s). For the last high D i tried two super thin 008s. 2 of them broke straight away. The tension is simply too high (it is high over all the strings anyway). I opted for an octave lower with 2 011s. I use that as a drone. It's now basically a 4 double string instrument, with an extra double string when needed. I feel i really need the extra D. There would be another possibility here though: take away the high Ds and start with a lower string, like the C (026) that came with the LaBella set. Tune that one step up and you have D G D G B ( or leave the low C, then you have root, 4 and 5th / Richard Thompsons' 'vincent black lightning'). One might opt for open D instead of open G for a lower pitch (026/028 for low D) and a slacker but possibly better string tension.Also: maybe better get an Amarantina (same instrument but with more frets) or Caipira (from Brasil w longer scale).

About the instrument: it's really well made (all solid woods), but has a few design flaws. Biggest one is that the neck is on the same horizontal line as the body, making it only possible to play at the soundhole without scratching the body. The bridge was also way too high with little leeway because of the even level of neck and body.
But i managed it anyway. I lowered the bridge (about 75% off!). I also stuck 2 extra ebony frets on top (from the leftover bridge) as the Braguesa only has 10. And the lokally made top had no lacquer (Tung oil 4 layers).
Some of the Braguesa is made in China. It's now such a joy to play! I am doing Chan Chan by the Buena vista social club at the moment.

I looked at the Braguesa on Ebay. I bought it in Braga from Helder (acoustic melo/ebay) for 200 euro, plus a Cavaquinho (80 euro). The latter the original ukelele. I have tuned that in D G B E (last 4 guitar strings). Strings are metal, highly strung. Now i can play some guitar chords on it. My ukelele has the standard uke tuning C F E A and the transpose can be a bit of a bother.
Problem solved.

About Braga:
Since i visited Braga in the mid 1980s i had fond memories of the place. The Braguesa was a good excuse to go back.
The North of Portugal (Minho) is wonderfully lush, green and hilly (they do get quite a bit of rain in the winter months) coast and nature parks (Gerej) nearby, and the place is relatively unspoiled by tourists (unlike the Algarve). Well worth a visit and purchase an instrument i'd say. Oh, and cheap btw.
Porto is an easy access from other cities in Europe.

Some clips here:http://youtu.be/6nXoRxqdwYY

[Neal]

That's very interesting and sounds excellent, I'm looking forward to more playing from you on that.

[Tony Done]

That scale length is a major 4th shorter than a guitar scale, so the high string would be an A in a guitar string context. So you tune down with guitar strings (I suppose a light gauge) to a D-style open G ie DGbdg. Would that work for you? Pitch too low?

I play open tuning slide on a variety of scale lengths, so I've done this kind of head-scratching myself. One that works really well for me goes in the opposite direction - an electric bari with a 30" scale. I use 10-46 strings and tune to DADf#ad. I've also done it wth 13-56, but tuning is a scary business, you feel the need for safety glasses.

[tdq]

Sounds very interesting - I was waiting for more playing!! Do you have something recorded on it?

[s11141827]

Originally Posted by ballynally

viola braguesa tunings

I was looking for a 12 or 10 string instrument to tune in open G for all
that Ry Cooder type of stuff, when my eye caught the little Braguesa, made in Braga (hence the name), a city in the north of Portugal, about 30km from Porto.
I thought a smallish double string guitar would do nicely with probably a better punch than the full scale 12 string guitars. In caribbean music one can pick up a tres or a quatro and what not and play that kind of stuff. This Braguesa fits the bill, is made out of solid woods walnut b&s, lime top, mahogany neck. 5 double strings, making 10 in total, 200 euro.
I did realise that most of indigenous music has its own tuning, but i was sure to be able to get the right strings for open G transfer. That turned out harder than it seemed. First of all the scale. It sits between a guitar 65cm/25 1/2" and a mandolin 35cm 14", with 50cm/19 3/4". The strings that come with the Braguesa have the gauge and tension suitable for their regular tuning (from low to high: C G A D G). As i was looking for G D G B D, it looked like, well... a stretch.
I went to Portugal (braga) and ended up buying the instrument (info a little later here). I did a lot of calculations, swapped some strings and bought a few others. I tuned it like i would to get open G, and i just experimented until the tension on the strings felt right. It ended up in open C, a 4th higher than the open G i was looking for. It was now C G C E G. The neck being short (only 10 frets), a capo job for open G (on the 7th) was out of the question. Only D would be possible.
I had my mind set on open G though.
I did some more research and discovered the viola Brasileira which can use the so called Rio Abaixo tuning : A D F# A D. Looked transferable ( A to G, F# to G, high A to B). That turned out not a good option. The viola Brasileira is 8cm longer, the low strings were too thick (036 for low G) and the tension wrong.
Now i not only had a set of La Bella viola Braguesa but also Daddario viola brasileira strings. I lost track of all the gauges at some point but i finally managed to get G (09/020) D (011/18) G (013s) B (010s). For the last high D i tried two super thin 008s. 2 of them broke straight away. The tension is simply too high (it is high over all the strings anyway). I opted for an octave lower with 2 011s. I use that as a drone. It's now basically a 4 double string instrument, with an extra double string when needed. I feel i really need the extra D. There would be another possibility here though: take away the high Ds and start with a lower string, like the C (026) that came with the LaBella set. Tune that one step up and you have D G D G B ( or leave the low C, then you have root, 4 and 5th / Richard Thompsons' 'vincent black lightning'). One might opt for open D instead of open G for a lower pitch (026/028 for low D) and a slacker but possibly better string tension.Also: maybe better get an Amarantina (same instrument but with more frets) or Caipira (from Brasil w longer scale).

About the instrument: it's really well made (all solid woods), but has a few design flaws. Biggest one is that the neck is on the same horizontal line as the body, making it only possible to play at the soundhole without scratching the body. The bridge was also way too high with little leeway because of the even level of neck and body.
But i managed it anyway. I lowered the bridge (about 75% off!). I also stuck 2 extra ebony frets on top (from the leftover bridge) as the Braguesa only has 10. And the lokally made top had no lacquer (Tung oil 4 layers).
Some of the Braguesa is made in China. It's now such a joy to play! I am doing Chan Chan by the Buena vista social club at the moment.

I looked at the Braguesa on Ebay. I bought it in Braga from Helder (acoustic melo/ebay) for 200 euro, plus a Cavaquinho (80 euro). The latter the original ukelele. I have tuned that in D G B E (last 4 guitar strings). Strings are metal, highly strung. Now i can play some guitar chords on it. My ukelele has the standard uke tuning C F E A and the transpose can be a bit of a bother.
Problem solved.

About Braga:
Since i visited Braga in the mid 1980s i had fond memories of the place. The Braguesa was a good excuse to go back.
The North of Portugal (Minho) is wonderfully lush, green and hilly (they do get quite a bit of rain in the winter months) coast and nature parks (Gerej) nearby, and the place is relatively unspoiled by tourists (unlike the Algarve). Well worth a visit and purchase an instrument i'd say. Oh, and cheap btw.
Porto is an easy access from other cities in Europe.

Some clips here:http://youtu.be/6nXoRxqdwYY

If C5 is the Highest note you can get then maybe I'd drop the tuning down a step to Open F.