(R2) 4-string rabeca, Mestre Curió, 2023

Traditional rabeca for playing fandango caiçara; this is a versatile instrument that can also be used successfully for forró and other styles!

Osvaldo Curió is a builder from Iguape on São Paulo’s southern coast, one of the traditional, persevering caiçara fisherman communities — derived from Brazil’s first european settlers, who have lived in the region for centuries. They have a unique and rich culture, full of fandango music and dance accompanied by the rabeca. This rabeca is brand new, and recently arrived from Mestre Curió’s workshop.

Woods: cedro gaunandi (top, back & sides), caxeta caiçara (neck), gonçalo alves
(fingerboard), ipê (tailpiece), e maçaranduba (bow)— rabecas used in fandango frequently have a more nasal (midrange-heavy) sound with less high frequency harmonics— this works great for carving out a space in the band without being too squeaky; once you recognize this sound, this type of rabeca is very effective and sweet! The bow has a unique adjustment mechanism, and comes with the traditional nylon fishing line as bow hair — this is among my favorite bows.

Professional setup in our Rabeca São Paulo shop, with new maple bridge, fine-tuners, and our strings (tuned GDAE, nickel model). Can be setup in other tunings, as desired, including
fandango tuning: ADAD or DADA.

Comes with original bow and soft gig-bag.