Potentially good case for dizi!

[lbowen]

I'm buying one of these for my electronic instruments after one of them had a minor bug yesterday and I almost had a heart attack... turns out it was nothing!

looks like there'll be extra room for my dizi as well... seems like it'd make a very solid case for them!

item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.10.120.wSvX1q&id=14201187891

[edcat7]

That is a strong case- the type one uses for photographic equipment. For dizis I find the soft case, slung over the shoulder, is more than adequate.

[lbowen]

Yeah, but as for me, I'll also be using it to cart around that machine... my other primary instrument, as well as some guitar pedals and other electronics (Yeah, I'm not exactly a traditionalist). Maybe a soft case is all I need? Other users of that machine said they use hard cases.... and I know mine has been "through the wars" over the 6 years I've had it! Time to treat it right!

Besides, a little extra padding can't hurt, right?

All said I don't know a lot about these things

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[Minh]

That is one impressive looking machine, what is it if you don't mind me asking? hehe.

[lbowen]

Roland sp 555! It can screw up and chop any sounds coming into it, as well as make loops and lots of other stuff! It's been my best friend for the past few years

[Blue]

I prefer cloth-based canvas types of bags that can hold several dizis and xiaos at once. For example:
www.pcstore.com.tw/origem/M00422168.htm

Actually Edcat saw one of my canvas bags in person.

You can actually find a vendor on taobao and ask them to custom make the canvas bag to any length that you may prefer. I don't like imitation leather, however.

Some lesson learnts about storing dizis in canvas bags:
1. Always have the zippers meet at the middle of the bag and never at the topmost or bottommost portions of the bag. The reason is that if the bag is not properly zipped up, there would be a risk that the dizis and xiaos would fall to the ground depending on the bag orientation.

2) Place your root xiao in a small cloth bag and then place it into the canvas bag compartment. You don't want the root portion to accidentally damage the canvas bag cloth and padding. (Something which happened to me today, and which is not good given my OCD that You Know Who also has. Any recommendations on how to repair the cloth? Use duct tape?).

You can also purchase a dedicated hard metal box for dizi:
www.pcstore.com.tw/origem/M03086209.htm

[lbowen]

Thanks a lot for the great advice, Allen. Yeah, because of bags, several of my instruments have fallen out.... oh my god... So, my solution is get this box which nothing can fall out of and clearly shows which end is the top/bottom and looks like it locks firmly!

For me, I only own 2 dizi (f and c) that seem to be very very good quality(and I'm pretty happy with em)! The others were either gifted to me, and are 1 piece, or I made myself from pvc. So, I don't need a huge bag.... but just something that can protect those two!

[edcat7]

I'm interested in the make of dizi you have. The concenus of opinion on this forum suggests that Dong Xue Hua makes the best dizis. I have a yellow sandalwood dizi which if the tone was lower would be perfect for me.

[lbowen]

Hi, these 2 are the only 2 dizi I've bought, and the only ones that come in 2 pieces. I know nothing about them except that I bought the f from a music school (about 200rmb), and the c from xinhua bookstore (about 180rmb)

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[edcat7]

I would love to hear your playing, especially the C

[Blue]

Nice collection. One is made of bitter bamboo and the other is made of purple bamboo.
I would recommend that you also get a D-pitched flute because most Chinese ensembles play at that pitch for some reason.

[lbowen]

Thanks! I've also got a D but it's just a 1 piece that someone else gave me, I'll take some photos later.

Allen, I've got a question, you've got experience with the xin di, do you think a western flute with a wooden body would sound anything the same? or apples and oranges?

[Blue]

Edcat's been mentioning about the alto-C flute again
How come he's not giving me any comment about the bass Bb flute that I gave him? You Know Who looked like when he saw that flute. Maybe I should mail Edcat the alto C version of the flute model that I gave to Edcat . . . . . . . . . .

It seems to me these days that my ears prefer the sound of bitter bamboo flutes because they sound more subtle and less hard than rosewood or queen tears dizi. But I don't mind the dense sound of a rosewood or queen's tear dongxiao at all.

Anyway, Liam,

Which aspect of the xindi (note the lower case x) are you trying to compare with the wooden version of the Western flute. One can talk about

* the flute material (bamboo vs. wood)
* the size and geometry of the blow hole (which affects the embouchure)
* the lack of a mo-kong membrane hole in a Xindi which presumably make it sound like a Western flute
* the xindi's fingerings versus a western flute's fingerings given that the xindi is meant to be fully chromatic

If Xindi (note the upper case X) was around, he would give you a thorough 10 page discussion about dizis and western flutes with plenty of embedded in the text.

Or are you talking about the Xindi in Star Trek (I always wondered if science fiction writers were subconsciously racist . . . . . . we had Vulcans T'Pring and T'Pol and Klingons called Kang and Chang when Wade-Giles romanization was the dominant romanization [Tang is spelled T'ang in Wade Giles] . . . . . . . then we have the Xindi in Star Trek and when Pinyin rose to full dominance!)

[edcat7]

Allen

Thanks for your Bb. To be honest I bought another Bb, far costlier but the sound quality is the same as your's.

I wanted a Bb specifically to play one tune, but since my new job haven't had the time to practise anything new.

[Blue]

Show me that other Bb flute that you purchased!

Somehow now I regretted bringing that Bb flute to London that was originally mine

[Flolei]

Ed, which piece did you want to play with your Bb?

(Sorry to see that you're still so busy with your job. Think of you very much!)

[Flolei]

To go back to the topic. I'm so sentimental, that I like to sew by myself with love for each flute a soft case with additional waterproof padding inside (look at the picture some of my creations). After that, I put the flutes in my Sansonite bag and travel with them all around... I know it's funny, maybe a little ridiculous, but it doesn't matter! I like to do it!

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[edcat7]

That Bb is the erhu tune Flo played so well!

Beautiful cases, I can see a market opening up.

Allen, if you want your Bb back then you'll have to collect it in person

[Blue]

Too late: I already bought the same Bb model as a replacement, suffered a crack, and got another one as a replacement. The cracked one, the vendor helped to use super glue to seal it up and told me that I could keep it since she couldn't sell it. Even if I wanted to go back and eat pie and mash and rhubarb pie, you well know Edcat that the One Who Must Not Be Named must invite me back. And I don't want to visit London in a winter again. Too gloomy compared to the summer. By the time it's summer next year, my dizi skills will hopefully improve even better that I would dare perform out in the London suburbs. The reason I say this is that my dizi instructor has wrestled control away from the music club leader so that we don't have to constantly play very difficult tunes. The instructor is getting us to start with the fundamentals again. Three dizi students in a Taiwanese company of 30,000 people is very pathetic in a Chinese-speaking country.

If you were planning all that time to purchase a more expensive Bb flute anyway, then you should have told me. I've been a little upset at work today about it.

Flolei, there are local vendors in Taiwan who sell minibags with Chinese embroidery to store all sorts of things. They can also custom make bags on request. I've been always tempted to ask them to make something that you've shown! Maybe I should order one from you instead and show it to all my dizi friends in Taiwan to impress them. Can the bags help protect single-layer tuning joints? The only reason that I prefer double-layer tuning joints over single-layer tuning joints is that I've very afraid that the metal of single layer joints would bend when placed in a bag.

Another bag one can consider to store disassembled dizis is a cloth bag designed for root xiaos. Such cloth bags have a wider diameter and are long enough to handle each segment of the dizi. Therefore if you happen to live near a large Chinese music store or even a Japanese Shakuhachi store, you can ask to clerk to purchase only the cloth bag.

[Flolei]

Ed, this summer I got a wooden low Bb. I made with it a new recording
that you can hear on Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7vYvGwC9EM
Because od the poem I dedicated this recording to an old friend who has at home about 15,000 books!

Allen, I'm happy to see that you like my cases. I'm not sure you would like to use it (you seem to has quite high quality criterias, but anyway). Don't be angry but I really don't have time anymore to do it. You know, I have no sewing machine, so I sew all handly. I made cases last 2 years, in summer, when I had holidays.

[Blue]

I suppose I could purchase these instead:
tw.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/b74035390?u=Y4244089078

[edcat7]

You needn't be so sensitive Allen I had to buy another Bb, just so to prove how good your one is. Also I can do duets with my teacher.

Hearing Flo play is like an advertisement for that particular dizi....I want one, with the dream I could play as well if I had the same dizi.