Sound and Character of the Uakara Samples
The sound comes from the two lowest pairs of strings, which sit an octave apart. That octave relationship gives the instrument a distinct voice that is hard to reproduce with a standard guitar-style sound. The source instrument is a single-build handmade design by luthier Israel Badilla of Getsemaní Guitarras, so the instrument is rare by nature.
The performer on the recording tunes the fourth string to C instead of D, while the instrument is typically tuned like the first four strings of a guitar. Sounds of the Earth says this tuning choice opens up different fingerings and sound possibilities, which the library captures across its sample set.
