Armadillo Charango

[fromnabulax]

Hi Group,

 

When I first introduced myself here a few months ago I mentioned that I owned an old charango made from an armadillo. One poster asked that I upload a couple of photos, and while it's taken a while, here they are.

 

I got this one some years ago from a fellow who said he picked it up in the 1970s while honeymooning in Peru. For a sense of iscale, you can figure that the body of the instrument (armadillo) is about 8 1/4 inches long by about 6 inches wide at the saddle. He's pretty tiny. Much smaller than a mandolin.From the nut to the last half fret on the treble side is just about 9 inches with the nut itself about 1 7/8 inches wide. Sorry about my thumb in there.

 

 

Check the inlay work on the rosette and binding. Those are all individual pieces of wood and shell cut to form and inlaid. There is no paint or decal work.

 

 

Here's the armadillo back. It's hard to tell but if you look closely you can see the little guy's ear holes and eye sockets. When I first got him I expected a perfectly bleached white shell. I was mighty shocked when I saw all that hair sticking out if him. My daughter was still in pre-school when I first brought him home. Man, did she shriek. The hair by the way is very soft to the touch and not at all bristly.

 

 

And here is from the side.

 

To hear what a charango sounds like is easier nowadays thanks to YouTube. I used to tell people to dig out their Simon and Garfunkle Bridge Over Troubled Water LP and cue up the track El Condor Pasa which features charango.

 

Just a quick last story.

 

When I bought it I arranged to have coffee at a diner on Sunset Blvd. on the strip with my pal. I got there and a tour bus full of elderly Canadian tourists were in there having lunch. As I pulled the instrument from its case, a very special 'aroma' became evident, and the look on these folks face was absolutely priceless. I suspect this alone made everything they had ever heard or read about Hollywood crazies a reality, and they probably still remember the day they saw some guy playing a dead armadillo on the Sunset Strip.