zhongruan fret/bridge adjustments

[davidmdahl]

My enthusiasm for the MRX zhongruan I purchased not long ago has dimmed a bit. I don't know if the wood has changed in its new environment, but the bridge has the treble strings a little higher over the frets than the bass strings. I have also found that the frets don't seem to be well-placed. For example, even when the open strings are in tune together, a fingered bass string at the appropriate fret does not match the tuning of the open string next to it. Finally, there are some notes I cannot get to sound due to a few frets being too tall.

I am thinking that I should sand down one of the feet of the bridge to get it level, and then adjust the position of the frets. This all makes me nervous, since I don't have any extra parts. Advice from experienced zhongruan players would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Best wishes,
David

[edcat7]

David

Well, I'm far from an experienced zhongruan player. I don't want to say this but....

I know you have a penchant for the MRX brand and since I too have a MRX erhu I did some research on MRX zhongruans. I emailed a guy who had bought a MRX zhongruan from Datung Arts and he returned his citing poor build quality, "frets were falling off and the bridge looked as if it has been made by a child", so buyer beware. He recommended me the SGN sold in China on ebay.

Assuming it's tuned to GDGD and say 5 on the first open string doesn't sound like 5 on the second string you can adjust the bridge. Twist the bridge so it angles up towards the first string. It doesn't look good but the sound will improve.

My teacher did this for me when he inspected my SGN zhongruan. He says it's a common fault on modestly priced instruments. I have similarly done this to my expensive liuqin. When he wasn't around I checked his £2000 liuqin to see if it had the same problem. No, damn well sounds the same!

He too has a Tang style zhongruan, with a fine tuner like a liuqin. My guess it was expensive too but he chose it because to his ears it sounded closer to a guqin than a zhongruan.

There are notes I find difficult to play. Say for instance you're playing 4 on both strings, instead of pressing 4 twice you can rest the entire finger on all the strings. As you found out the height of the strings makes playing some notes this way difficult and extremely painful. I'm building callouses on my fingers and my teacher's fingers are heavily calloused.

[edcat7]

I was playing my liuqin in the garden when midnote it sounded different, more mellow, thicker.

I immediately checked it with a tuner, nothing amiss. 5, open string sounding exactly like 5 on the second string. Further more it sounded close to my teacher's liuqin. After half an hour the sound reverted back to normal.

Oh well at least I know at some point in temperature and humidity it sounded like a £2000 liuqin.

[sanmenxia]

I think the intonation problem is common on fretted instruments.

You should position the bridge so that the fretted note at the 12th fret is exactly one octave higher than the open string note. The problem is with a straight bridge some of the string lengths won't be correct, and you have to compromise. That's why electric guitars have an adjustable bridge for each string, and you can adjust the length of each string individually.

[davidmdahl]

Thanks to all for your helpful comments.

I suppose that I have the zhongruan that was returned to Datung. <g> The bridges are certainly not glued on very securely, and the bridge has warped a little. I might go ahead and sand the bottom of the bridge just a little. At least I can shim the bridge if I overdo it.

Rotating the bridge a bit sounds like a good idea to correct the tuning, or at least it is worth a try.

Oh well. If I get to spending a lot of time on the zhongruan, I can always donate the MRX to the local Chinese school, and then get something better. For now, it is fun to pick up for a strum, even in spite of the shortcomings.

Best wishes,

David

[edcat7]

It's very easy to see why you were attracted to the MRX zhongruan, so was I, it's a beautiful looking instrument. The local Chinese school would be enormously grateful if you were to donate it but then again it might wind up on ebay. The zhongruan, at least in the Uk is still quite unknown.

I've experimented with different picks, having disliked that particular zhongruan pick included with my purchase. A 0.81mm pick works well for me.

[edcat7]

The adjustment of the bridge to improve the tuning appears to be more common than I thought. The player's zhongruan looks expensive.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHeT2ipnabw&feature=channel&list=UL