#16
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Frankly, I don’t believe there is a significant number of people afraid of charangos as public knowledge of armadillo susceptibility to leprosy appears to be rather limited. Most charangos made from armadillos are not fully playable as they are made for the tourist trade as novelty items and musicians seem to prefer the tone of a wooden charango anyway. I’m fortunate to have a 43-year-old, professional-grade, armadillo-backed charango made by a renown Bolivian luthier who once had made a special guitar for Evita Peron. The same luthier made a guitar out of a turtle shell. I offered to buy it without even playing it as it was missing two strings but he surprised me by being unwilling to sell it. Also in his shop in for repairs was a dual-chamber, Argentine guitar. Inside the guitar which was slightly larger than a typical classical guitar was sound chamber similar to that of a mandolin to better reproduce the higher frequencies. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to play it but it is a safe bet that it wasn’t a very successful design or it wouldn’t be so rare. |
#17
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But sometimes I think people lose sight of the fact that certain instruments evolved as folk instruments, and the charango is certainly among them. Armdillos were likely originally used because they were plentiful and more or less free, whereas seasoned wood was scarce, expensive, and luthiers weren't actually abundant. Sure, now we have luthiers who specialize in these things, and access to properly prepared tone-woods, and we like to use little frills like bridge saddles. But the people who invented this instrument mostly didn't have these things, and they managed to create, play, and pass on a substantial body of music with them, nonetheless. Quote:
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As regards the Argentine guitar, too bad you didn' t get to play it -- I'd be really interested in how it sounded. It might even be a good idea, but it sounds like it would be a real b|tch to make -- that alone could be a reason why it wasn't successful. |
#18
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I commissioned my Charango in 1970 and evenback then, at least one of the more prominent luthiers catering to musicians was already reluctant to make charangos from armadillos out of concern that the result might adversely affect his reputation as a master charango luthier. |
#19
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I will say, though, that I own both armadillo ("Quirquinchu"), and wood charangos, purchased in the past 6 years, and am quite happy with the playability and sound of both. Perhaps I was just lucky. |
#20
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The first charango I ever saw was on ShopGoodwill. To me, its top looked odd enough, but that scaly, bristly back gave me the shivers!
A local shop has had a scaly (but not bristly), armadillo charango up for sale for several months now. Once again, the first thing I noticed was the oddly proportioned top. Next, I observed that this thing creeped me out completely. After that, I recalled that I do have guitars with bone nuts and saddles, and said appointments most assuredly had not grown on trees. So ... on my next visit, since I felt silly about feeling squeamish, I picked up the creepy charango. Its lack of bristles helped a lot, plus it didn't smell. Don't know any charango chords (couldn't even tell if the thing was in tune, but this shop is really good at keeping its stock tuned up), so I just strummed at random and picked a few notes. Sounded to me like a mellow mini-mandolin with banjo undertones and uke-ish tendencies. Quite pleasant, really. Now I totally understand the inspiration behind the armadillo-backed charango, and why it's endured. Still ... brrrrrrr. Also ... ewwwww.
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Yairi and Son, Clase 300 (1971) / Yairi Guitar/S. Yairi, Clase 650 (1971) Seagull Series-S S6+ Cedar GT (2005) / Alvarez Masterworks MD90 (2002) / S. Yairi YW-40 (1973) Martin 00-15M (2012) / Martin 000-15SM (2011) Nimbus 2000 (2000) Kamaka Gold Label Soprano (c. 1960s) / Nameless "Chicago-style" Soprano (1910s-30s[?]) / Keli'i Gold Series Tenor (2012?) Kamoa E3-T Tenor (2012-13?) |
#21
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Well, it is the only instrument I own that has it's own hair. |
#22
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I just bought a Charango from a friend. It was made by Mendoza in Peru. It's beautiful, he sold it to me for $50 bucks. Great deal. It's all made out of wood, it's not made with an armadillo thankfully.
I like it because I'm a Mandolin player and two upper courses are the same as a Mandolin and then the other intervals resemble a Ukulele so it's easy enough to figure out at least in jam sessions. But I have to get new strings for it. I don't know, I prefer my Ukulele to this. I may buy some Aquila nyglut mandolin strings and put them on because I've ALWAYS wanted a mandolin with a softer tone. That would be fun, the two upper courses sound just like it. |
#23
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I've slowly been acquiring the various members of the charango family: I now also own a hualyacho and a ronrroco. I really like the ronrroco; being primarily a guitarist, the scale feels more natural to me. I'd like to get a charangon, if I can find anybody who actually knows the difference between that and a ronrroco. |
#24
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The hualaycho (or walaycho) is smaller than a charango but has the same number of strings and is tuned either a fourth or a fifth higher.
The ronroco is larger than the charango and is typically tuned a fifth or fourth lower. Despite having lived in Bolivia for a few years, I’ve not heard of the charangón but the suffix of the name suggests to me that it is larger than a charango. I had heard of a charango bajo (bass charango) and it may be that, charangón, is another name for the same instrument. Anyway, I’m certainly not an expert on the charango family of instruments. Last edited by Herb Hunter; 09-28-2013 at 12:09 PM. |