Classical guitar in Cuba Classical guitar in Cuba The guitar (in the form of its direct ancestor, the “vihuela”) was the first instrument that was heard in Cuba after the conch horns, flutes and drums that the original aborigines used to play; as it was documented by Spanish chroniclers such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo. . Through the centuries, the guitar has continued to be one of the most important and cherished instruments in Cuba, both in the practice of popular music as well as in the classical music tradition. Founded by renowned professors such as Clara Romero, Isaac Nicola, Clara (Cuqui) Nicola, Carlos
Classical guitar strings the main alternative to nylon strings. The three treble guitar strings are made from sheep or cow intestine, referred to as plain gut, while the three bass strings are made of a silk thread core wound with gut. Since the development of nylon guitar strings by Albert Augustine Ltd., the three treble strings are a single nylon filament, while the three bass strings are made of a core of fine nylon threadlike filaments wound with silver-plated bronze or copper wire. Up until the Second World War animal gut and silk were the materials from which guitar strings were manufactured. Albert