The vihuela is the small, round-backed five-string instrument that drives the rhythm in a mariachi group. Its re-entrant tuning puts some strings higher in pitch than you'd expect from their position, which gives the vihuela its bright, percussive chord sound.
A classical guitar set is gauged for six strings at guitar pitches. Because the vihuela's tuning, string count and scale are different, those strings won't suit the instrument.
Our vihuela sets were designed with Tomas Delgado of Candelas Guitars in Los Angeles. Both run the same gauges: .033 .041 .030 .033 .041, listed from the first string to the fifth.
- Clear nylon (CG-VHC1) is brighter and more articulate, with more projection, for cutting through a full group.
- Black nylon (CG-VHB1) is warmer, with a softer attack and a rounder, more traditional tone.