G'day Baz & Chet,

I suspect the operative words are Baz's "...play music ... one of these little beasts". Traditional charangos have a body made out of an armadillo and there are a lot less armadillos than there are charango afficiandos.

I gather that modern charangos are basically a double stringed ~ ukulele-sized instrument with an arched lute-style back ... made of wood. The Spanish American groups around here all seem to have one of the old ones carefully preserved and will drag it out for particularly significant performances.

Regards,

Bob Bolton