Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans

Woods, metal, mother-of-pearl, ebony
Early 21st century
Length: 35 in; Width: 12 in; Depth: 3.5 in
Chordophone – Lute – Plucked

The cuatro is a fretted lute found in South America and the West Indies.  This cuatro comes from Puerto Rico and was made in the “Barrio” Neighborhood Quebradas de Camuy by Piero Perez Cruz.  His workshop is just a few kilometers away from the Camuy River Cave Park.  The body of the instrument is “Caoba”/Mahogany, while the top is Yagrumo.  This cuatro was commissioned and made by Piero Perez Cruz for the HWMC collection. The national instrument in Puerto Rico is the Puertorriqueno cuatro (note that the same name ‘cuatro’ is used for a small guitar in Venezuela).

The cuatro can be made like a guitar, but the body shape resembles a violin. The tuning of the cuatro, with 10 metal strings in 5 courses is like a Spanish bandurria, so in 5-5-5-5 (pitches) or : bB e’e aa d’d’ g’g’.  It is played with a plectrum, and usually plays the melody lines in a small group.