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Post by George on Apr 7, 2011 0:38:27 GMT
I've been asked to help someone who's a stickler for silk strings buy a qin. He and I are both in the UK. Depending on his sense of how durable his commitment might be, I suspect he'd want either a cheap but attractive and tonally satisfying instrument, or one he could spend the rest of his life with. I know that, for the latter, he'd need something of considerable and Classical beauty by a named maker, enormously careful in its craftsmanship at all points, and with reasonable volume, since it'd have to contend with the background noise of central London. I'd be very grateful for suggestions on where to go, who to approach, or what to buy, for either or both instruments. If it's relevant, he at least knows about the London Youlan Qin Society. (As far as I can see, the only fine silk-strung qin explicitly available online from an English-speaking dealer is one by Ni Shiyun at www.cnshope.com/silk-stringed-maestro-guqin-q004.html. With shipping and currency conversion, it would cost £3700; adding import duty at 3.2% and VAT at 20%, it would be £4530. Might you know whether this is a reasonable price to pay, please?)
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Post by Charlie Huang on Apr 8, 2011 16:21:42 GMT
I don't think 'silk strings' and 'loud enough to contend with London traffic' is a possible combination...
Eitherway, the cost of the silk string qin by Ni Shiyun is a bit on the expensive side TBH. I'd say cut the VAT, etc and £3700 is about right for a top quality instrument. However, looking at the listing it is not strung with silk but standard metal-nylon.
Note that 'silk string qin' is a confusing term. You could perfectly do well by stringing a modern qin with silk. Some makers make qins specifically for silk strings such as Wang Peng or Li Mingzhong.
I would contact Cheng Yu as she has connections and may get a better deal by cutting out the middle man. Note that CY is currently busy with organising a summer school in May (at the British Museum, SOAS, etc) so she may not be able to get this done until after that.
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Post by George on Apr 8, 2011 19:40:49 GMT
That's really helpful; thank you.
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