This Delgado 6-string tres reflects the instrument’s global history. It’s made with a Sitka spruce top, Mexican rosewood back and sides, a Macassar ebony bridge, African ebony fretboard, and African mahogany neck.
Our columnist traces the history of the 6-string Cuban tres—from Africa, to Cuba, to the top of American country music.
I love that I was taught by my father and grandfather to build a variety of string instruments. I have continued to do this—I have built so many different types, and I learn from each one. I am currently building a nanga, a rectangular, harp-like African instrument played by the Ganda people of Uganda.
As I have been building this instrument and learning from the musician who commissioned it, I am often reminded of the influence Africa has on so many instruments, from drums to the banjo, or akonting as it was originally named. A popular instrument that I have recently been getting more requests for that is equally influenced by Africa’s music is the tres cubano, or Cuban tres.
In comparison to other chordophones—instruments whose sounds come from the vibration of stretched strings—from around the world, this instrument is relatively young, appearing first towards the end of the 1800s. The original tres is said to have three courses with a total of six strings, and while the 9-string version is now more associated to the Puerto Rican tres, a 9-string iteration of the Cuban tres is documented as early as 1913, though it’s believed that the Puerto Rican instrument influenced the additional strings.
Most early models of the tres have a similar body to a classical guitar or the requinto romántico, but the more common shape now is a smaller, pear-shaped body offered either with or without a cutaway. The tres has only begun to get more visibility in the past 25 years, so sizing can vary greatly from luthier to luthier, but to help players who are unfamiliar with this instrument to get a better idea of the size, here are some specs from a Delgado model.
“The note placements of the tres in a changüí summon something deep inside any musician who is stirred by tempo and a hypnotic rhythm.”
One of the models I make has a body depth of 4″. The upper bout is 9″ and the lower bout is 14 1/2″ with a scale length of 545 mm, or 21 1/2″. The tuning also depends upon the player, but the traditional tuning is G–G–C–C–E–E. The outer string pairs—the Gs and Es—are each tuned an octave apart. Their gauges, from top to bottom, are .031–.011–.014–.014–.012–.023.
Again, you will see a range of string placements, gauges, and differences in tuning, but this is the foundation to help give you a basic understanding.
Now to describe the sound and style of the tres—I am literally moving to the rhythms I hear in my mind as I write this. While my heritage is Mexican, I feel so in touch with so many genres of music from around the world, and the music from Cuba is one of them. I like to describe this instrument as a percussive string instrument, because the note placements of the tres in a changüí—the Cuban music form that gave way to the Son Cubano, or “Cuban Sound”—with its strong African-infused beats, summon something deep inside any musician who is stirred by tempo and a hypnotic rhythm.
Like how Linda Ronstadt was key in helping bring audiences to appreciate and invest in mariachi music with the release of Canciones de mi Padre, I would argue that Ry Cooder did the same for Cuban music when, after traveling to Cuba, he helped introduce the world to Cuban artists as old as 89 on the 1997 album, Buena Vista Social Club, the creation of which was captured in the 1999 documentary of the same name.
Since the release of this album, we have seen the tres grow in popularity and availability. Many artists and bands have fused the tres into their music, using it in untraditional styles, but the sound is still recognizable. We have even built custom electric tres cubanos for clients! Pancho Amat, an ambassador for the tres and arguably one of the greatest living musicians to play the instrument, blends his classical and jazz backgrounds with the tres’ natural sounds to create a unique sound. Thinking in terms of a drum pattern and African roots, you will have a better grip on the method when trying this instrument for the first time.
Now, do yourself a favor. Find an evening to relax, mix yourself a beverage—preferably a mojito—and rent the Buena Vista Social Club … then give me a call for your Delgado tres cubano.
G7th has redesigned and upgraded their offering for Classical and Flamenco players with the new Performance 3 Classical with ART.
The ART active string pad mechanism infinitely adapts to perfectly match the radius over the strings on nearly any guitar, delivering unrivaled tuning stability by applying even pressure across all the strings – specifically designed on this model to handle wider flat fingerboards as well as radiused fingerboards.
“Since the introduction of the ART has been so successful and popular with guitarists all over the world, Classical players have been constantly asking when they could have it, too! There’s also the added bonus of how well it copes with niche guitars, such as 7 strings, where we’ve seen a rise in popularity through social media influencers.” - Nick Campling, G7th Designer & Chairman
The Performance 3 Classical capos will be available in our iconic Silver finish and come with our Free Lifetime Warranty as standard.
For more information, please visit g7th.com.
Porfirio, Candelario, and Manuel Delgado, from left to right, in the family’s Los Angeles shop.
Our new columnist bares his family’s roots in guitar-building, going back to 1928 and his grandfather, who made instruments for Segovia and many others.
I’ve had the honor and blessing of growing up as a luthier’s apprentice. My entire life, being around instruments and music was the norm, and creating with my hands was equally a joy as playing hide-and-seek or baseball in the street. I’ve never known a world absent of artists or craftsmanship. In fact, many of us who’ve grown up the children of immigrants have had similar experiences, from watching our mothers and grandmothers create amazing traditional meals from raw ingredients to our fathers and grandfathers building what was necessary for shelter or creature comforts. My grandfather would often remind me, “If you can’t make it with your own hands, you probably do not need it.”
It was this patriarch who built the foundation that shaped my father’s future, my future, and the potential future for my two daughters. Porfirio Delgado Flores and Candelario Delgado Flores started our family business in 1928 in Torreón, Coahuila, México. The two brothers, although orphaned at a young age, stayed close to one another and played music together. My grandfather, Porfirio, or “Pilo,” as those close to him would call him, was a craftsman. Mainly starting out as a furniture maker, he would later get requests for repairing instruments, and then be encouraged to build one for a town fair or “faria”. He and his brother, “Candelas,” started a journey out of opportunity and passion.
In the mid-1930s, the business moved to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, just 10 minutes from the México/United States border. In 1944, my father was born in an El Paso hospital, but registered and raised in Ciudad Juarez and baptized in the guitar shop. My grandfather named him after his brother, Candelario.
“My grandfather would often remind me, ‘If you can’t make it with your own hands, you probably do not need it.’”
Seeing greater opportunity, Pilo and Candelas left their families behind and made their way to California and opened a shop in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1948. Their guitars were already gaining notoriety in other countries, and this move helped them garner a clientele, including Theodore Bikel, Narciso Yepez, Celedonio Romero, and Andres Segovia. While concert classical guitarists were commissioning instruments from them, they also had musicians from multiple genres seeking other types of traditional stringed instruments.
My father came to the States in the late 1950s and built his first guitar by the age of 14. After his time in the Army, he made his way back to the shop and helped take the business to new levels and reach even more clients—Arlo Guthrie, José Feliciano, Charo, Burl Ives, the Kingston Trio, and some high schoolers who formed a band called Los Lobos, to name a few.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. The youngest of three children, I stuck like glue to my father. I started playing classical guitar at 5, I started repairing guitars by age 7, and I built my first guitar when I was 12—a requinto romántico that I still have. Everyone called me “Candelitas.” I apprenticed under my father and grandfather and would spend time in the shop every day after school in middle school, and most Saturdays and summers in high school. My father also raised us boxing, and he trained the Los Angeles Police Department’s boxing team.
In December of 1996, I lost my father to cancer. He battled it for three years and even helped the L.A.P.D. win a championship in November 1996, just one month before. My father was and continues to be the greatest man I’ve ever known, and I miss him every day.
In 2005, my wife Julie and I made the move to Nashville. I started over, but quickly made a name for our business. We are very involved in our community and work with music education around the United States. I was also blessed with two daughters who have beaten my record. My oldest, Ava, built her first instrument and completed it just two weeks after her 10th birthday. My youngest, Lila, is nine and in the final steps of her debut instrument. We also moved my mother to Tennessee two years ago, and she, along with my wife and daughters, are all involved in our family business.
Delgado Guitars continues to make instruments using the old-world, hand-crafted methods taught to me by my father and grandfather. We still make over 45 different types of string instruments, and I hope to share some of those with you in the articles to come.