21-Steel-Stringed Scarlet Bird Zhuque Guzheng
Scarlet Bird brand of the Xi'an Conservatory of Music is the most respected brand that
follows the traditional ways of making guzheng.
This is a steel-stringed guzheng that offers unique sounding that's very different from the
regular nylon-wrapped-steel strings. The strings sustaining long after plucked. It's often
used to play traditional guzheng music with lots of bending skills. This is Scarlet Bird's
concert model. It's known as the best steel-stringed guzheng in China.
The guzheng is made with paulownia wood thats natural air-dried for at least 3 years . The
design of its body structure is unique. The body board made of paulownia (pao-tong)
tree(naturally grows in Henan Province), which is artificially hollowed out in the middle, has
greatly improved the sound quality of the instrument. In the other words, it takes almost
the whole tree just to make one single guzheng.
First, it needs a thick wood of Tong tree that has the same size as the body, the back of
which engraves the sound grooves. In order to guarantee the sound waves unimpeded,
there is no strut in the acoustical resonator. Secondly, the radian of the board is formatted
naturally so that the trace and pore of the wood will not be distorted artificially. When we play
the "Zhuque" zheng, its board is vibrating regularly, with clear, bright, magnetic sound and
the unified timbre. Thirdly, the thickness of the board is made depending on the tree
different parts-high, middle and low ranges of the sound. The three parts can function
respectively as well as coordinate in harmony so that the effective lingering sound will not
drain easily and the volume will increase with the good acoustic. The sound of "Zhuque"
Zheng has the stereoscopic effect.
