The first accounts exist in an article published in 1849 by Jose Caicedo Rojas; in it he narrates a story that takes place in Chitaraque, near San Gil, Santander; about some soldiers that deserted the military after they became melancholic during a night of party.

In 1923 well known musician Guillermo Uribe Holguin cites Caicedo's writing during a conference in which he criticizes the Colombian tiple as a poorer version of the Spanish guitar by saying "The tiple is a primitive form of the guitar, in other words, is a guitar without the notes E and A (...)[2] In 1951 Bogotanian musician Jorge Añez cites in his book Canciones y recuerdos (Songs and memories) an observation made by professor Robert Pizano in which he points out that Neogranadine painter Gregorio Vasquez Ceballos painted some tiples in the hands of angels inside the dome of the church of Saint Ignace.

[3] Colombian historian priest Jose Ignacio Perdomo Escobar quotes a Jesuit idiom that indicates that by the year 1680 tiples were already sold at stores in the municipality of Topaga,in the Boyaca Department.

[4] Colombian historian Guillermo Hernandez de Alba gives in 1954 a totally different theory in an article published in El Espectador of Bogota.

[8] In 1970 Harry C. Davidson publishes an extensive monograph about the tiple within his book Diccionario Folclorico de Colombia (Colombian dictionary of folklore).

In it Davidson analyzes the concepts expressed by Añez about the paintings in Saint Ignace church and he concludes that there aren't enough sources to accept his theories and then he goes to affirm that "this instrument entered the historic heritage of Colombia at the beginning of the 19th century".

Unfamiliar with the instrument Cifuentes points out a couple of flaws, but his writing is of historic value since it explains that the tiple has by this time 12 strings.

After this time the Colombian tiple maintains its current form but the manufacturing process improves over the years producing better quality tiples reaching a level of high quality such as the ones currently manufactured by Alberto Paredes in Bogota or Carlos Norato and Hernando Guzman in Cali among others around the country.

Frets were traditionally made of red or yellow copper, but in modern instruments brass or steel is more common.

[12] The Colombian tiple is considered essentially a concert pitch instrument (in the key of C), although it is, like the guitar, notated one octave higher than the actual sound.

Many learn to play it from their parents and grandparents as part of a family tradition that in some cases is also a source of income as tiples are popular in trios or serenades.

The tiple is used for many traditional Colombian musics including bambucos and pasillos, where it serves both as an accompanying instrument and for soloing.

[12] Today the tiple is seen as an instrument linked to the folklore of rural Colombia where it remains popular, although it has been used by modern players for other genres such as jazz.

[15] In reference to the social difference between the tiple and the guitar, Antonio Jose Restrepo wrote: "But [the tiple] was pervasive among the bronze-colored people, the ones with working cloth and ruana, [with] a bag plentiful of gossip, [and with] a machete tied to the waist,[with] stick of guasco or verraquillo hanging on the arm, eye of the peasant, [who is] sometimes barefooted, sometimes with espadrilles, [with] a hat of cane of iraca that is maliciously tilted to one side, under the brim of a broken crown; it stayed always with them, I say, the fat bellied vihuela, tiple, always in company of the tambourine (in case a party were to take place).

This instrument is about 10-15% smaller than the tiple Colombiano, and is often made in more of a violin or "hourglass" shape (similar to the Puerto Rican cuatro).

These differences give it a generally thinner, higher-pitched sound than the tiple Colombiano, even though most of its tuning is in the same range as the larger instrument.