davewhite
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Luthier
Aemulor et ambitiosior
Posts: 3,545
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Post by davewhite on Dec 29, 2016 9:19:42 GMT
scorpiodog asked me to make him a Venezuelan Cuatro as used by Show of Hands and I thought - that's interesting why not? As it was a new instrument to me I made two together so that any "learning curve" events happened on the test instrument and not the commissioned one So what is a Venezuelan Cuatro? In essence it's a large ukulele - between a tenor and baritone in size - tuned one step up from a ukulele ADF#B (think bottom four strings of a guitar in EADGBE Capoed at the 7th fret) with "reverse" re-entrant tuning - the top B string is an octave lower and a semitone higher than the bottom A string. Re-entrant tuning has the outer two strings close together in pitch and is effective with up/down strumming patterns. On ukulele's the bottom G string is tuned an octave higher and is a semi-tone lower than the high A string. Interestingly my first guitar commission years ago was from a friend who was a Show of Hands fan and had a David Oddy Cuatro so I had a chance to look it over and play it then. Cuatro is Spanish for four and so my instrument had to be "Ceithre" - Gaelic for four and pronounced “Heh-reh”. I decided to make it as a miniature version of a flamenco guitar, So here's my "Ceithre" - the top is Lawson's Cypress from "The Musical Tree" and the back and sides are Sapele and the neck Spanish cedar. Bindings, trimmings and Golpeador are Etimoe and the bridge is English Walnut. Tuners are Gotoh ukulele pegs (1:1) with Ebony Banjo buttons. Scale length is 498mm: So what does it sound like. Here's "Ceithre Shuffle" - a little messing around
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ocarolan
Global Moderator
CURMUDGEONLY OLD GIT (leader - to join, just ask!)
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Post by ocarolan on Dec 29, 2016 11:25:04 GMT
Fab! Keith
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leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,631
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on Dec 29, 2016 12:06:13 GMT
Sounds like what I expected it to sound like, davewhite - great stuff.
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brianr2
C.O.G.
Posts: 3,067
My main instrument is: Brook Lyn guitar
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Post by brianr2 on Dec 29, 2016 12:27:28 GMT
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Dec 29, 2016 12:49:35 GMT
Looks like a lovely instrument Dave and beautifully crafted.
When in Lanzarote a couple of years ago I visited a local Timple maker in his workshop on the island (and also the musical instrument museum). The timple is a very close relative I was told of the Venezuelan cuatro. We were lucky enough to be there on a festival day when various people were playing the timple. here's an 'expert' I found on youtube
John
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