Construction
Traditionally a charango was made with a dried armadillo shell for the back and wood for the soundbox top, neck etc. This is no longer the norm, rather they are typically made of wood, with the bowled back merely imitating the shape of the armadillo shell. Unlike most wooden lutes, the body and neck are typically made of a single block of wood, carved into shape. The charango's ten strings require quite a large headstock, often approaching or even exceeding the size of its diminutive sound box. Aside from these visual distinctions, it resembles a small ukulele.
The overall length of a typical charango is about 66 cm, with a string scale length of about 37 cm. However, the number of frets ranges from five to eighteen.
There are many variations in the shape of the top in "plan view" and species of wood, though cedar or spruce family woods are preferred for the soundboard (top), and there is generally a narrowed "waist" somewhat reminiscent of the guitar-family—not the pear-shape of the lute.
The typical construction is a one-piece body and neck, classical guitar style peghead and machine tuners (occasionally positioned perpendicular to the headstock), spruce top, and some degree of ornamentation. Variations include a separate glued-on neck, palisander or ebony vertical tuning pegs, guitar-style box construction, or even a hollowed-out neck. Another variety is a neck with two holes bored 3/4 of the way through, parallel to the fretboard and close to the headstock (an innovation said to color the instrument's tone). The size and shape of the soundholes is highly variable and may be dual crescents, round hole, oval hole, or even multiple holes of varying arrangement.
More recently solidbody electric and hollowbody acoustic-electric charangos are coming on the scene. The solidbodies are built very much as miniature electric guitars, whereas the acoustic-electrics are usually more like a standard acoustic charango.
The instrument has four to fifteen metal, gut, or nylon strings.
In his book The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara describes an instrument that he identified as a charango while near Temuco, Chile in 1952. It was "made with three or four wires some two meters in length stretched tightly across tins fixed to a board. The musician uses a kind of metal knuckle duster with which he plucks the wires producing a sound like a toy guitar."
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An absolute trust.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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