Want to see and hear he Braguinha aka machete in action?

A very talented luthier and his son Carlos Jorge make traditional Portugese instruments including the one that sparked the ukulele. They are built in Portugal. He makes machetes (historic) based on Octaviano João Nunes, a lGreat Madeiran Constructor. So glad to see this art living on.

I thinking I'm getting BAS now!!!

The braguinha is tuned DGBD like a Cavaquinho (actually, based on this video, and it is very similar to the continental Cavaquinho - the difference is that the scale of the Braguinha goes up to the soundboard and the Cavaquinho ends in the beginning of the body).

The RAJÃO (edit) is another instrument. Here's a pic. The tuning of the RAJÃO, altough, is similar to the ukulele (with an extra course).

The RAJÃO (edit) leaved descendents here in my country also, and now is known as Viola Caipira. Here's a video.

Here an article http://www.madeirablog.eu/2011/02/16/braguinha-de-madeira/
Madeira

This is from Atlas of stringed instruments.
There seems to be related instruments to these instruments. http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/europe.htm

braguinha
example : custom made by Oficina Carlos Jorge,
bought via internet from Madeira-in-a-box, 2010

L=510 B=185 H=50mm
scale 335mm
You Tube
braguinha
On the Portuguese island of Madeira (just north of the Canary islands, more towards Portugal) they use three typical plucked instruments, that differ from the mainland Portuguese instruments. Note especially that the extra strip bridge is not used on the Madeira instruments.

The smallest of the three guitar-like instruments is a type of cavaquinho, with the name braguinha (or braguinã) - in fact "little braga" (see viola de braga). It is also called machete, or machete de braga. It seems to have arrived on the island from Portugal in 1854 and was taken to Hawaii in 1879, where it became the ukulele (but with the tuning of the rajão - see under).

The construction of a braguinha is like a tiny guitar, with a flat back and 4 metal strings. The tuning head can be flat with friction pegs from the back, or open like a guitar, with tuning machines. Sometimes the top half of the front is covered with different wood, like a scratchplate, but often it looks like a small rajão, so also with a raised fingerboard. The guitar-like bridge is glued to the front.

The tuning of the 4 metal strings is d' g' b' d'' (the 5-string banjo tuning).

The braguinha is played by strumming chords, to accompany folk singing.
Abrigado for the YT link! That sounded very nice

I believe there is a confusion in portuguese language naming instruments. For an example, there is the VIOLA (that is a 10 string, 5 course opened tuning parlor guitar-like instrument). The instrument people call the viola (that big violin) in english, is ALSO called Viola in portuguese. In Portugal, a acoustic guitar is called "Guitarra" (the electric one, "guitarra eléctrica"), in Brazil we call it "Violão" (the suffix -ão means "big", so the guitar is a "big viola"). I did some research, but it is very confusing. I'm searching on non-ukulele related sites, because the information is very confusing. Apparently, "cavaquinho", "braguinha", "braga", "machete", "machetinho" ou "machete-de-braga" are the same instrument, second the luthier on that video, the only difference is the fretboard lenght (in madeira is goes over the soundboard and in continental Portugal it ends on the beginning of the body). Since it is tuned DGBD, the Uke inherited only the shape. Carlos Jorge (the bald bearded guy on this video) says also that the Braguinha (or machete) is a singing instrument (instrumento cantante) - a solo instrument, due to its volume and pitch.

The rajão (second this site), "A curiosioty: The Rajão with its 5 strings looks like a tiny viola. What gives its special sounding is the fact that the third string is the the lowest note. As a rule, on cordophones the 1st string is the highest and the last the lowest. If you go to Funchal don't forget to visit the shops of Master Cambé and Carlos Jorge". There is a video of the Rajão with "cordas duplas" (double strings).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuvDVn_Ad2E

I think it is more appropriate calling that instrument a "cavaquinho" or a "braguinha" than a machete, since some websites called the rajão a machete too.

http://www.jose-lucio.com/Pagina3/SonsCordofones/O Timbre.htm

All this can be very confusing. The Madeiran machete and braguinha are the same instrument: machete is the name that was used throughout the 19th century; after 1900 or so, the same instrument was referred to as the braguinha, the term that remains in use today. Cavaquinho is the term used in mainland Portugal and in Brazil for the machete/braguinha. The rajao is a larger, five-stringed instrument that was tuned reentrantly, that is, D-G-C-E-A, the lowest note being the third string, C. In the earliest published tuning for the ukulele, Edward Holstein's "Chords of the Taro-Patch Guitar" (1894), the standard my-dog-has-fleas G-C-E-A tuning is used -- as Holstein makes clear, "the tuning of which is the same as the Taro-Patch [rajao] deprived of its fifth string."

The tuning described for the 19th century machete is D-G-B-D. In their 1915 method published in Honolulu, Angeline Nunes and A.A. Santos insisted on this Madeiran tuning as the correct one for the ukulele. "The original way of tuning the Ukulele has not been put into print, consequently it is unknown to most people," they wrote. "There are several methods in circulation which are adapted to the taro patch instead of the Ukulele. In fact, it is the taro patch method which has been applied to the Ukulele."

Thank you all for your help
I will call it a machete de Braga, sounds kind of cool.
You guys are all awesome on here and if you haven’t followed the links, you should! Wowee
My little antique machette de Braga has now been snapped up and will be winging its way from Hampshire uk to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean to be used in schools and education as it’s the precursor of the ukulele. It will also be made available for the public to see in a museum over there. I thought it was worthless or at best worth £50-£60 but people kept sending me ridiculous offers and I got over 100 times what I thought! Yes 100. Just shows and I’m glad it’s going to a good home. They are even flying over specially to pick it up by hand not trusting the post.....
I have taken lots of images and close ups if anyone wants. Just email me. Thanks again, your all stars

I played concert on machete & rajão in Madeira last year also for télévision in Madeira.

Here more info on machete & rajão http://ukulelenews.blogspot.com