Characteristics:
Sound box: Cedar (Cedro de la Costa)
Finger board: Ebony
Type of wood: Jarca
Sound hole: Round
Strings: Nylon 1240
Tuning pins: Metallic
Bridge: Bone frets
Tuning: Mi 4. 40
Frequency: 4. 40 Hz

Approx. size:
Length: 73 cm (28. 74")
Width: 20 cm (7. 87")

Its general shape and construction are very similar to the charango, but it is larger and is typically pitched 3 or 4 diatonic intervals lower (a Řth" or a řth respectively) than a standard charango. It has 10 nylon strings grouped in 5 pairs.
There are many stories of how the charango came to be made with its distinctive diminutive sound box of armadillo. One story says that the native musicians liked the sound the vihuela ( an ancestor of the Classical Guitar) made, but lacked the technology to shape the wood in that manner. Another story says that the Spaniards prohibited natives from practicing their ancestral music, and that the charango was a (successful) attempt to make a lute that could be easily hidden under a garment. It is believed the charango originated in the 18th century Andes somewhere in modern-day Potosí Bolivia, probably from Amerindian contact with Spanish settlers