Help purchasing a pipa

[secretduckie]

Hello all! I'm new to the forums and I'm hoping you can help me. I'm looking to purchase a pipa as a gift for someone, and I'm not sure where to start. I'm going to be getting an erhu myself and my musical genius significant other has hinted that he would love to learn the pipa in the past, and he's extremely skilled with many instruments so I'm very confident he will be great at it and it will be an amazing challenge for him as I've read it's a very technically difficult instrument.

Now that being said, I was looking into purchasing from Eason because I've heard great things about them and I love how helpful they are and the detail the put into shipping and preparation, but I'm not sure what to get him. I think it would be silly to get a beginner one because I'm confident he will not grow bored of it and might also use it for recording for his classical compositions. So basically I know he's going to want a good one, but what is the real difference between the ones in the $500 price range vs the $800 price range? What kinds of woods and tuners are best? What kinds of other things does he need for storage (like moisture packets like you use with acoustic guitars)? I can't afford top tier, but I'm hoping to get him a nice one nonetheless.

Thank you for reading!

[edcat7]

Hi secretduckie and welcome,

yes the pipa is technically difficult but there's a flamenco player here who has taught himself the pipa, so there must be similarities. If your other half is an accomplished musician who may use the pipa for classical compositions he will probably not be satisfied (though he won't show it to your face)with an intermediate one. My guess is his own instruments cost well in excess of $800.

Therefore, and I know you want it to be a surprise, but you should consult him together with Sung Wah, the owner of Eason.

The erhu is a lovely instrument and I got my one from Eason too.

Best wishes,

Ed

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, secretduckie. Eason Music is a great source for Chinese instruments. Several years ago, I bought a used pipa from Eason, that turned out to be a wonderful instrument. However, it turned out that the pipa is not an intuitive instrument to learn, and at the time there was no teacher available. Then a serious shoulder injury made the pipa too painful for me to hold properly. I passed my pipa on, and it is now played regularly by a student taking lessons from a good teacher. So, all's well.

I agree with Ed that involving your someone with the purchase is a good idea. The pipa is not easy to dabble with, and there will be significant time required to learn it, even with a teacher.

If you will forgive some unsolicited advice, you might check out the zhongruan as an alternative to the pipa. The zhongruan is not as graceful-looking as the pipa, but it does have its charm. The sound of the zhongruan is very beautiful, and should appeal to a guitarist. I also suggest that a guitarist should have a relatively easy transition to zhongruan.

Best wishes,

David