Modern 10-string Puerto Rican cuatros.

These beautiful instruments are not like the other’s, they might look like guitars but these are not regular guitars these are cuatros! Not cuatros made in a foreign country without the traditional love. No these cuatros are handmade right here where they belong. These cuatro instruments are hand crafted by an artisan from Puerto Rico.

Not just anyone can play these instruments either, it takes a special mastery to play these guitars for their unique amount of strings. You should see the masters play this instrument!

The Cuatro is Puerto Rico's "national instrument." Smaller than a guitar and larger than a mandolin, the cuatro's distinctive, nasal twang has been loved by Puerto Ricans since the early days of Puerto Rico's colonial past.

In its earliest form, it was quite different from what it is today. The "early" cuatro or cuatro antiguo once had a peculiar, keyhole-shaped soundbox and was strung with four single strings made from animal guts--hence it's name cuatro-- or "four." Its tuning and stringing-- originally derived from a primitive modal form of tuning dating back to 15th century Spain-- remained unchanged on the Island for centuries. In this form, the jíbaro country folk living in the remote central hills of the Island, preferred it.

Read & learn more here

The artisan himself which I had a chance to briefly chat with allowed me to take him a photograph with his fine masterpieces. It is a true art to create these traditional guitars. I happen to own one of these handcrafted pieces paid $500 dollars for mine.

---

This Post Has Also Been Posted On Weku.

Posted using Partiko iOS