Charangon
Encyclopedia
The Charangón is a small lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

-like fretted stringed instrument, of the charango
Charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...

 family.

Its general shape and construction are very similar to the charango, but it is larger and is typically pitched 3 or 4 diatonic interval
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...

s lower (a "4th" or a "5th respectively) than a standard charango.

The overall length varies from 70 to 80 cm, and the string length between 40 and 50 cm.

The "re" charangón ( a "5th" below a standard charango) is typically tuned: do-do, fa-fa, la-LA, re-re, la-la (cc,ff,aA,dd,aa) where the "la" ("a") is "concert a" (between 415 and 450 Hz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....

). Note that this will play a D minor 7th chord with the open strings. (In the above example, the "la" is the course closest to the floor in normal right-handed convention).

The tuning above is re-entrant, so that the "do" of the 5th course is only one whole tone below the "re" course. See the charango
Charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...

for details of this tuning arrangement.

Other charangons are typically tuned with the same pattern, but may be either a whole tone up or down, or even a 4th lower. Sometimes courses other than the middle course have octave strings (typically a lower octave than shown).

It is bigger than the Charango, hence the 'ón' ending on the name denoting the charangón's larger size.
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