Cuban Punto, like all musical genres, is accompanied by an instrumental format, which in turn is composed of different musical instruments. In this case, it is composed mainly of instruments belonging to the family of plucked strings and minor percussion instruments. These include the guitar, the tres, the triple, the lute, the clave, the güiro, and the guayo son.

The tres is a musical instrument belonging to the plucked string family. It is derived from the guitar. It generally has six strings tuned in three even courses, hence its name. It is primarily used in countries such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Its tuning varies depending on the player and the geographical area of ​​origin.

The tres is a sonero instrument par excellence, actively involved in all its variants or generic species, such as the changüí, the sucu-sucu, in sones montunos and guarachas. Its musical function in Son Ensembles is not limited to melodic plucking, but plays an important role on the harmonic and rhythmic level; therefore, it becomes a conductor and factor for interaction and complementation with the other instruments in the Ensemble. In the Ensemble, the tres determines the opening, the flourishes, and simultaneously accompanies. It maintains a melodic-improvisatory function that usually alternates with the guitar and whose execution requires great skill on the part of the musician, as these improvisations require passages of great speed and virtuosity.

The lute (from the Arabic العود al-`ūd) is a plucked string instrument, originating in the Middle Ages and introduced to Europe via Islamic Spain (Al-Andalus). It was widely used between the 14th and 18th centuries, and re-emerged in the 20th century.

It consists of the following parts:

• Pegs: These are elongated pieces of wood, with a slight taper, around which the string is wound to tighten it.
• Frets: Gut strings knotted around the neck. They shorten the string to the desired length when the player frets them between two of these frets.
• Neck: is the elongated handle that emerges from the body of the instrument over which the strings are stretched and the left hand positions are played.
• Fingerboard: This is the surface that covers the neck to protect it from wear and give it rigidity, as it is where the player’s fingers rest when pressing the strings. It is usually made of ebony.
• Sound box: domed, built from longitudinal ribs, shaped like a half pear.
• Mouth: In older lutes it has a finely carved decorative rosette.
• Strings: the high strings are made of gut and the low strings are made of gut core and metal wound. There are six double strings tuned in unison in pairs like those of the bandurria.
• Bridge: Also called a tailpiece. The strings vibrate directly from the knot, without resting on any plate, like today’s guitars.
• Tailpiece: only some medieval lutes had a separate piece to knot the strings, since from then until the 18th century the bridge and tailpiece coincided in a single piece, the tailpiece bar.

The player holds the instrument in a manner similar to a guitar. Their right hand plucks the strings using a pick or plectrum. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the use of the pick was abandoned, and the player played with their fingertips or fingernails. With their left hand, they press the strings, allowing for the formation of chords and the playing of melodies.

The lute enjoyed a worldwide revival in the 20th century. The Cuban lute has 12 to 18 strings and is present in rural areas of Cuba, primarily in peasant music.

Within Cuban folk-popular music, the lute plays both singable and danceable genres, particularly those from the groups of genres corresponding to Punto Cubano and Son. The lute’s musical function is primarily melodic and improvisatory, although it also performs accompanying and harmonic functions.

Claves are instruments of Cuban folk music. They are direct-strike idiophones composed of two separate wooden sticks shaped like straight cylinders, one of which strikes the other. As an exception, straight cylindrical sticks with corniced ends and a slightly conical shape on the striking stick have been used.

Its origin is Afro-Cuban. From Havana, claves spread to Latin American music, where they are used to mark rhythm. And, from dance music, they then made the great leap and found their way into orchestras. Claves are integrated into Cuban musical genres such as Rumba, Punto Cubano, and Son.

From a musical perspective, claves emerged and developed in a popular environment, among the most marginalized classes of the colonial and neocolonial social structure. They were used in the interpretation of Cuban musical genres specific to the rural, semi-urban, and urban populations, during celebrations and festivities.

The musical function of clefs is determined by their middle register and their timbral characteristics, which make them stand out and are quickly and clearly distinguished by the human ear from the rest of the instruments and voices with which they share the musical event. These characteristics lead them to generally serve as a rhythmic line guiding the instrumental ensemble and the song; through the reiteration of a single sound, rhythmic patterns are created, which, once established, are repeated in the same musical discourse, usually without variation.

The Guayo is an instrument, with the essential adaptations for musical use, made entirely of metal, resembling the hand guayo used to grate corn or cheese.

The cowbell is a metal idiophone derived from the clapperless bell and belongs to the group of free-standing, seated bells with strikers and to the Cuban instruments known as hierros. It resembles a container and is characterized by its truncated pyramid shape with a rectangular base, the cavity of which tends to be parabolic or conical. It is also known as gangarria, and Haitian emigrants call it sambá. The cowbell is played by holding it in the palm of the left hand, gripped by the fingers, with the opening facing outward, and striking it with a hardwood mallet.

The cowbell is featured in a wide variety of instrumental ensembles in Cuban folklore and popular music, playing a prominent role in sonero repertoire groups and in conga and comparsas. It is also present in some instrumental ensembles that accompany song and dance during festive celebrations of Cuban popular religions. It performs a secondary rhythmic function and sometimes serves as a metric reference for the instrumental ensemble.