Braguinha

Braguinha (or Braguinã) a.k.a. Madeira Cavaquinho, Machete
For the purposes of the history of the Ukulele the Braguinha can be considered as one of the two parent instruments, giving the Ukulele its basic 4 strings, shape and size, (the Rajao can be considered the other as this gave the Ukulele its tuning, including the reentrant idea). Defining its place is fairly simple but defining the instrument itself not so much.

So this instrument has 4 strings, a figure 8 body shape and a scale length of about 330mm (13 in); it is usually tuned D~G~B~D or G~G~B~D the same as a Cavaquinho. This is fine but can describe a great many instruments, not least the aforementioned Cavaquinho, so the first and simplest thing that sets it apart is its geographical setting; Braguinhas come from Madeira, a Portuguese archipelago in the mid Atlantic. The reason it was a parent instrument of the Ukulele and not the Cavaquinho is specifically because the immigrants on the Ravenscraig came from Madeira not mainland Portugal. I say all this because the Braguinha is a type of Cavaquinho and, apart from geography, saying what the differences are between it and a Cavaquinho is very hard. Most of the instruments I have been told are Braguinhas have a very narrow body, a 17 fret fingerboard that is raised over the top bout of the |sound board going down to somewhere close to the round central sound hole. I was told once that the key difference between the Braguinha and a Cavaquinho was that the Braguinha has gut, (now nylon), strings whereas the Cavaquinho has steel. This does best explain why the Ukulele uses gut or nylon strings, but since being told this most of the instruments I have seen described as Braguinhas are steel strung?