Sound box: Oregon Pine
Finger board: Jacaranda
Type of wood: Naranjillo
Sound hole: Round
Strings: Metallic
Tuning pins: Metallic
Bridge: Bone frets
Tuning: Mi
Frequency: 4.40 Hz

Aprox.size
Length: 66 cm (25.98")
Width: 18 cm (7.08")

There are many stories of how the charango came to be made with its distinctive diminutive soundbox 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.