Ten strings, six pitches, and the lowest note in the middle
A charango has five courses of two strings — ten strings in all — tuned in what Spanish-speaking players call temple natural: written from the first course down, mi–la–mi–do–sol. In the letter names this tuner uses, and reading the other way round from the fifth course up, that is G–C–E–A–E.
Four of those courses are plain unisons: both strings sound the same note. The third course is not — its two strings are an octave apart. That single fact reshapes the whole instrument, because the lower of those two strings, at E4, is the lowest note on the charango, and it sits in the middle of the fingerboard rather than at the edge where every guitarist expects to find it. The charango is re-entrant: the pitches do not climb steadily from the fifth course to the first, so “tune from the thickest string down” is advice that simply does not apply here.
One more consequence worth seeing before you tune anything: every open string on the instrument fits inside a single octave, from that E4 up to E5. A guitar spans nearly two and a half octaves across its open strings; a charango spans exactly one. And because those five pitches spell A–C–E–G, an A minor 7, brushing the open strings already sounds like a chord rather than a drone.
The first tab follows the courses as your hand meets them. The second shows the same six notes sorted by pitch — worth a look, because it is the clearest way to see that the lowest string is the third course, not the fifth.
Why your chart and your tuner disagree about the octave
This is the single most common charango tuning problem, and it is not a fault in either the instrument or the tuner. Sources genuinely disagree about how to number the octaves.The same physical string is printed as E3 in one reference, E4 in another and E5 in a third. One widely used string-gauge chart labels the thick third-course string “E3” while listing its frequency as 329.63 Hz — a number that, in the scientific pitch notation this tuner uses, is unambiguously E4.
The resolution is to stop trusting the letter-plus-number and read the frequency, which no convention can disagree about. This tuner uses scientific pitch notation throughout: A4 is the 440 Hz A, middle C is C4. Against that reference the charango’s six pitches are fixed and checkable:
| Course | Note (this tuner) | Frequency | Typical gauge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (×2, unison) | E5 | 659.26 Hz | .016″ |
| 2nd (×2, unison) | A4 | 440.00 Hz | .026″ |
| 3rd — thick | E4 | 329.63 Hz | .030″ |
| 3rd — thin | E5 | 659.26 Hz | .016″ |
| 4th (×2, unison) | C5 | 523.25 Hz | .020″ |
| 5th (×2, unison) | G4 | 392.00 Hz | .030″ |
Gauges are for a standard scale of roughly 355–385 mm and vary between makers, but the relationship is the informative part. Notice that the second course (A4) is thicker than the fourth (C5), because A4 is the lower note — the numbering of the courses runs opposite to the pitch in that region. And notice the third course pairing a .030″ against a .016″: nearly double the diameter, side by side, in one course.
Tuning a charango, course by course
- Start with the second course, A4. It is concert A, 440 Hz, the note this dial is calibrated around and the easiest reading on the instrument. Get both of its strings centred and in unison with each other before you move on.
- Do the third course next, and do it one string at a time. Mute or damp the string you are not tuning. Tune the thick one to E4 (329.63 Hz) and the thin one to E5 (659.26 Hz), and check the octave number on the dial for each — this is where every octave mistake on a charango happens.
- Then the first course, E5 — the same pitch as the thin third-course string, which gives you a free cross-check. If they disagree with each other, one of them is wrong regardless of what the needle says about either alone.
- Then the fifth course, G4, and the fourth, C5. Both plain unisons.
- Go back to the second course and check everything again. Ten strings on a short scale put real load on a small top, and bringing the last course up measurably drops the ones you set first. Expect at least two passes, and three on a new instrument.
- Finish each course by ear, not by needle. Two strings can both read centred and still beat audibly against each other. Play the pair together and listen for the waver to slow and stop.
Ronroco, walaycho, and the wider family of temples
The charango is one size in a family. The ronroco is the larger relative, commonly tuned five semitones below temple natural — B–E–B–G–D read from the first course down — keeping the same interval shape and the same octave course, just lower and rounder. There is a reference tab for it above. The walaycho (or hualaycho) goes the other way: smaller than a standard charango, frequently strung with metal rather than nylon, and commonly tuned in temple diablo.
That word temple is worth knowing, because it is where the charango parts company with Western string instruments entirely. There are well over a hundred named temples, of which perhaps ten are in regular use — natural, diablo, transportado, quinsa temple, mauli, falso and others, many tied to specific regions of Bolivia and Peru, and several of them the same interval pattern transposed to suit a different scale length or string material. Sources disagree on the specifics of most of them, so this page teaches the one that is genuinely standard and consistently documented. The dial above is chromatic and will read any of the others perfectly well; it simply will not tell you which one you are aiming for.
Equal temperament, nylon, and what the needle can tell you
This dial measures equal temperament, and for the open strings of a charango that is exactly the right tool — five fixed pitches with no ambiguity about what “correct” means. Where it stops being the whole answer is the octave course.
An octave pair is the one interval human ears judge most sharply, and a nylon string on a short scale is not a perfect harmonic oscillator: its overtones sit very slightly sharp of exact multiples of the fundamental. So a third course where both strings read perfectly centred can still sound faintly sour, and nudging the thin string up by a cent or two often makes the pair lock. That is not the tuner being wrong — it is measuring the fundamental, correctly, while your ear is judging the whole overtone stack. Our guide to cents covers why those two answers differ by a small, predictable amount.
The practical division: use the dial to place all six pitches and above all to confirm the octave numbers, which is the mistake that actually damages instruments. Use your ears to finish each course, where two strings sounding as one is the only test that matters.
Frequently asked questions
My chart says the third course is E3, but this tuner says E4. Which is right?
Both are describing the same string — the sources disagree about how to number octaves, not about the pitch. This tuner uses scientific pitch notation, where A4 is the 440 Hz A and middle C is C4. Several charango references number an octave lower, so the same string appears as E3 in one book and E4 here. One well-known string chart even labels it E3 while printing its frequency as 329.63 Hz, which in scientific notation is unambiguously E4. Ignore the letter-plus-number and check the frequency: the low string of the third course is 329.63 Hz, and its partner is 659.26 Hz, exactly one octave above.
Why is one string in the third course so much thicker than the other?
Because it is tuned a full octave lower, and that is the only way to get there on the same 37 cm scale at a playable tension. On a typical set the low string of the third course is around .030″ while its partner is about .016″ — close to double the diameter, sitting side by side in one course. That is not a manufacturing error and you should not “correct” it by fitting two matching strings. The octave pair is the sound of the instrument: it is what makes a strummed charango shimmer rather than simply sound thick, and it is the same trick a 12-string guitar uses on its lower courses.
Which string is the lowest note on a charango?
The thick octave string in the third course — the middle of the instrument — at E4, 329.63 Hz. This surprises almost everyone, because on a guitar or a bass the lowest note is the string furthest from the floor and everything ascends neatly from there. A charango is re-entrant: the pitches do not rise steadily from the fifth course to the first. In order from lowest to highest the open strings run E4 (third course), G4 (fifth), A4 (second), C5 (fourth), E5 (first and the high half of the third). Every open string on the instrument fits inside a single octave, E4 to E5.
My new charango will not stay in tune. Is something wrong with it?
Almost certainly not — it is the nylon. A fresh set of nylon strings stretches for hours of playing and often for several days before it settles, and a charango feels this more than a guitar does because its scale is short, around 37 cm, so a given amount of stretch is a larger share of the total string length and drops the pitch further. Tune it, play for ten minutes, tune it again, and repeat over a few sessions. You can speed it up by gently lifting each string away from the fingerboard a centimetre or so and retuning, several times. If a single course still drifts after a week while its neighbours hold, look at that peg and the nut slot rather than the string.
Can I use this tuner for a ronroco or a walaycho?
Yes — the dial is fully chromatic, so it reads whatever you play regardless of size or tuning. A ronroco is the larger family member, commonly tuned five semitones below temple natural, which gives B–E–B–G–D read from the first course down, with its own octave course. There is a reference tab for it above. A walaycho is smaller than a standard charango, often strung with metal rather than nylon and frequently tuned in temple diablo. Note that the charango tradition has well over a hundred named temples — natural, diablo, transportado, quinsa temple, mauli and more, many of them regional and several that transpose the same interval shape to suit a different scale length. This page teaches temple natural because it is the standard one; the tuner itself does not care which you use.