My new toy, a Mariachi Vihuela.

D

Don Luis

Joined
Dec 26, 2002
Messages
2,473
Just thought some of the musicians around here might enjoy this.

I found this cutie a few weeks ago at a local (Mexico City) guitar shop and I've been having as lot of fun with it.

The Mariachi Vihuela, 5 nylon strings, round back, four tied on nylon frets, typically used for strumming chords in Mariachi music, it is normally tuned similar to a regular guitar but with strings 5-4-3 one octave higher.

I actually changed the 5,4,3 strings to common guitar strings and tuned it just like a guitar (without the 6th string), this way it sounds more familiar and I don't have to learn anything new.

It's gives out good tone and volume with that round back and the thin neck fits my small hands just fine, what I like most though is that it is much easier to carry around than a full size guitar.

Shown here with my old classical guitar for size comparison.

Luis


Click to enlarge
 
There was an instrument called a vihuela, IIRC, that was an intermedian between the lute and guitar.Any relationship ? The spanish threw out the arabs and anything associated with them including the lute [unfortunately].Then the developed the vihuela , then the guitar. The lute lasted a lot longer in the rest of Europe.
 
As far as I know there isn't much relation, I think in Mexico people called the Mariachi instrument a "vihuela" simply because it is like a small guitar.

Here's a Wikipedia article.

There are so many variations of the guitar, like the ukulele, etc., this one is just one of many Mexican variants.

Luis
 
The tres (three in Spanish) is indeed larger, it's not common in Mexico but I have seen one, it has six strings in three groups, I believe it is tuned in octaves, meaning than in a pair of strings forming a group both play the same note but an octave apart. I think that the tres is used in Cuba and Puerto Rico with slight differences in tuning. Because it is a six stringed instrument some people modify a regular acoustic guitar (nut and bridge) to make a tres.

Luis
 
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