The Guzheng Forum

miam · Plywood Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

hello everyone,

i'm new to this forum... just a couple of week ago i found out that the instrument i'd been looking at all the princesses and kungfu mistresses look so beautiful playing in all the period dramas is called the gu zhen... and PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE CAN PLAY THEM

-it was a time of epiphany! because for along time i was drooling over them!

i will be in shanghai in a month and i am going to purchase my first guzhen

i'd really really REALLY REALLY appreciate some help on this!

i've been reading the info on the site and in teh forum but i need some more info becasue... what i been reading is scaring me big time

i want to buy a nice guzhen that has character, one that i can keep forever, i'm not into buying a cheap one then replacing it with a better one.. its just a character thing...
-its going to be really hasslesome for me to buy it so i only want to do this tedious operation once

after reading a lot.. i am also considering custom making one.. even though i haven't really played a guzheng... i want a perfect one.. and there seems to be a lot of problems with buying "ready made" ones...

so here are my questions

1. where to buy in shanghai and if you name a street.. can you PLEASE TELL ME a specific shop in the streeet
2. or if you name a factory, what kind of guzhen they specialize in
3. what brand is good, dun huang vs tianyi or sparrow
4. your ideas on custom ordering and how i should go about doin that.. and also teh price difference
5. what is the best way to get it out of shanghai

PLEASE PLEASE help me! i'm so excited because learning guzhen is fulfilling a dream i had since i was 4 years old!

-can't wait to here from y'all ":) :oops:

yukina · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:54 am Post subject:

Hi Miam:

It's probably hard to find a Scarlet Bird or Tianyi in Shanghai. You can find Dunhuang every where in Shanghai. There is a street called Jin Ling E. Rd. with lots of instrument stores. There you might be able to find some low-mid end Tianyi.
Dunhuang factory also has a direct outlet on Nanjing Rd. There you can buy their top of line models available such as 695T and 695J.

Best,

Yukina

jarrelle · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:36 pm Post subject:

If one were to go to china and buy a guzheng how would he/she take it back to america?on the plane?

btw你好carol!你想我的普通话好吗我每天学普通话和广东话。我想说流利的普通话和广东话。但是学习的普通话很不容易。你明白了吗。I remember about 2 years ago you gave me some advice to learn chinese.hehe...so i can understand the title of the songs.well now my putonghua is very good!and i almost have no accent when im speaking it.谢谢老师yukina!
_________________
what color is the wind?

miam · Plywood Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

thank you for your help.

but also, yukina.. hhah you seem to be very on top of things, can you recomend a SPECIFIC shop in that road? i don't want to be side tracked by the rubbish stalls, and it will be my first time going to a guzheng store!

i'm also a bit scared to go directly to hte dun huang factory... can you also tell me about hte process of getting it? is it necessary to negotiate the price with them? .. our hcinese isn't good so i bet they'll try and rip us off..

can you also tell me more about dun huang? and how much a custom one would be and how much a "elite" one would be.

and also how i can ship them back?

THANK YOU SO MUCH

yukina · Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:01 am Post subject:

I don't remember any good shop on Jing Ling E. Rd. There are just a lot of shops selling low-mid end instruments. I used to visit the Parsons right next to Shanghai Music Conservatory, but they closed their Chinese instrument department.

At Dunhuang's factory(Shanghai No1 Factory in the city), there is a visitor shop, which is just the same as the vistor shop on Nanjing Rd. You don't have to go there, because all the stuffs available are exactly the same as the ones in the Nanjing shop. Prices are the same as well, and they are really firm on the prices.

At the Yun factory, where some elites might be available, I don't think they allow any walk-in customers. Plus, the factory is in the country side really far away from the city. The Elites over there are all 10,000RMB+ to 80,000RMB if not considering the golden duo crane one. But not everytime I can find something that's satisfying.

You can check-in guzheng as a luggage on airplane. They'll charge an over-size fee. For the exact amount, you have to check with your airline.

miam · Plywood Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

thank you.,

but also can i ask you, what is "yun" brand?

and how will a mid level tianyi or scarlet bird compare to dunhuang? cause from reading some of the info on teh site, teh dunhuang guzheng dounds "mass produced" and not as good in comparison

it would also be really helpful if you could recomend a shop name, and address?

and also regarding taking the guzheng back, is it better to check it in as luggage or "ship" it back?

THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE:)

yukina · Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:42 am Post subject:

Yun factory is one of Dunhuang's factories. They make "Yun" brand that was mainly for exporting, but now are also sold within China.

I think Dunhuang's quality has improved a lot over the past few years. Generally, Dunhuang sounds sweet and bright with no bass. Scarlet Bird is deep and robust. Tianyi is more versatile and dynamic. Dunhuang's bridges are not stable, but can be fixed by changing a set of bridges.

The Nanjing Rd. shop's address is No. 114 Nanjing East Rd.

I think it's still cheaper to check in guzheng as a luggage. Shipping to Australia probably costs $400+.

miam · Plywood Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

thank you very much yukina,

i noticed that in your shop there are many "shanghai yuesheng" guzhengs. What are they? cause i quite like them, are they another brand in Shanghai? can you tell me the address of their store?
i tried to look for it, but couldn't find anything

haha.. i've edited this like 100 times, and all i see is "also, also, also" .. haha

if you say "yun" brand is for export, is it better than the normal dunhuang brand? and can you buy the "yun" brand from the shop you told me in nanjing rd?

also, you mentioned i will be able to get a low-mid end tianyi in shanghai, do you know where? and will it be better to get a mid-end tianyi or better dunhuang?

how do you change the set ofbridges? can you get them to do it? and can you buy it from them?

and also, i know this might be a trouble but can you please give me the chinese terms for:

rosewood
old rosewood is that "hong hua li"?
paulowina
quartersawn
bottom board
soundboard
air-dried
baked...

i will kinda need to ask them this.. .. and my chinese isn't good:( :shock:

and also, will it be rude for me to ask to see the bottom of the guzheng?

THANK YOU SO MUCH :lol:

yukina · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:10 am Post subject:

Yuesheng is another Shanghai brand. You can also find their guzghengs on Jin Ling E. Rd. I remember seeing some decent Yuehseng models over there. There are at least 20 shops, so I can't really recall any store in specific.

I think Yun has better quality than Dunhuang overall. Sometimes, you can find it in the Nanjing Rd. shop, but sometimes they don't have any Yuns over there. You can probably find Yun on Jin Ling E. Rd. as well.

It depends on your preference. Tianyi has overall better quality as a musical instrument.(resonant, even, more focus, etc.) However, Dunhuangs and Yueshengs have sweeter tone. Some people just like the sweet tone over any good musical instrument characters.

If you buy bridges from Dunhuang shop, they will be exactly the same quality as the ones that come with guzheng. You probably need to buy the bridges some where else and find some taller and more stable ones.

rosewood - hong mu 红木
old rosewood is that "hong hua li"? no, it's lao hong mu　老红木，　红花黎is also a type of hong mu
paulowina - pao tong　泡桐
quartersawn - this I don't know
bottom board - di ban 底板
soundboard - mian ban 面板
air-dried - feng gan 风干 This you don't need to bother to ask, because 10 out of 10 will say theirs are air-dried even when they look obviously flame-dried.
baked... kao gan 烤干

Since you are buying, of course, you take take a close look at every parts of the guzheng.

miam · Plywood Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

Thank you very very much yukina!

you won't believe how much help you have been!

its kinda scary, because from what you say it seems that they will lie!

is it heard of buying guzheng in hangzhou?

but also, i was looking at the model that you have, dunhuang 695T (not sure if right name) but it was one of the better models and it was black with white flowers on it... can you explain somehting

so basically you can select the model, then the wood and then the decoration is it?

so the decoration you can choose?

and this might sound silly but, are guzhengs ever made of hong hua li? because my dad wants to buy one with hong hua li wood .......i told him it is never heard of... but...

yukina · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:26 pm Post subject:

Not really. The "T" of "695T" already indicates the design, which means bone-powder caligraphy. You can't really pick your own decoration. I think there are two kinds, one has caligraphy on both sides, the other has caligraphy on right-hand side, bird/flower on the left hand side.

The Professional Yuesheng Rosewood model used to be called "Hong Hua Li", later they just changed the name to "Hong Mu". Any way, that's hong hua li you are looking for.

I've never seriously looked for guzhengs in Hangzhou before.

miam · Plywood Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to reply to my questions. I really appreciate it!
i will be going on my "guzheng" hunt in 2 days! so excited:) :) :)

Once again, thank you very very much!