Puerto Rican Tres

This beautiful instrument is a Puerto Rican version of the Cuban Tres.

The tres plays the montuno in Cuban music. The montuno is a repeated rhythmic vamp essential to Cuban/salsa music commonly supplied by the piano.

A Puerto Rican Tres has a different template (outline) than the Cuban Tres. The Cuban Tres looks much like a small dreadnaught  (see below) while the Puerto Rican Tres has scaloped sides similar to the Puerto Rican Cuatro (see below).  The Puerto Rican cuatro has five pairs of strings. The Puerto Rican tres has three groups of three strings each using nine of its ten tuners.

It’s interesting to note the scaloped template and ten string tuners of the Puerto Rican cuatro were retained in the process of creating a Puerto Rican version of the Cuban instrument. 

Finally there is this curious instrument. The photos were sent to me asking me if I knew what it was.   I suppose one might say it’s proof of extra terrestrial intelligence.  Another might say its the result of one’s voyage into inner space.

                                                                                                                                                        ...I’m still speechless.