Guitarron Strings

The Guitarrón Mexicano ("big Mexican guitar" in Spanish), is a notably large and deep-bodied acoustic bass guitar native to Mexico and traditionally played in Mariachi groups. While it shares certain similarities with the guitar, the Guitarrón mexicano is not derived from it; rather, it evolved independently from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña, or "fingernail-plucked bass".

Due to its substantial size, the guitarrón produces ample volume and does not necessitate electric amplification for performances in smaller venues. Fretless and equipped with heavy gauge strings, typically nylon for the high three and wound metal for the low three, it is often played by doubling notes at the octave. Its standard tuning, A1 D2 G2 C3 E3 A2, enables this practice.

Unlike the guitar, the pitch of the guitarrón strings doesn't consistently rise as strings progress directionally downward from the lowest-pitched string. For instance, the A2 string, the sixth from the lowest-pitched string, lies a perfect fifth below its adjacent string, E3.

The guitarrón mexicano was reportedly the inspiration for Ernie Ball's development of the first modern acoustic bass guitar in the early 1970s.